Recruiting for the Buy Side on an F1 STEM OPT
Finding it virtually impossible to recruit while on F1 OPT. Employer has been completely unsupportive sponsoring analysts for H1b (despite giving offers, insisting they would be supportive at the start) and I realized a few months ago that I need to jump ship. While I did get some final rounds at the start I'm finding it especially difficult to find supportive employers, especially on the buy side.
Recruiters auto-ding me if they end up asking about sponsorship, PE/credit funds that I talk to eventually ding me just before case rounds when I ask them for clarity on whether they would be willing to sponsor and apply for a H1B. Increasingly fewer and fewer banks seem to sponsor too (especially those with good lev fin/sponsor/rx arms, which are the roles I'm interested in the most, former two of which I don't think are recruiting heavily right now)
OPT expires in a year and change. Would greatly appreciate any advice at all, continuing to remain as optimistic as possible and starting to look into how to break into UK/Canada. Posting this anon for obvious reasons.
Bump, would seriously appreciate any advice lads
Feeling your pain brother. In similar shoes as well.
Try asking your current employer if they’d sponsor you for this upcoming H-1B application cycle (believe apps start Mar 1st?). If you get it this year, it may make this a little easier as changing firms will only require minimal paperwork.
Honestly not sure about how to deal with this. My presumption is that employers are reluctant to:
1) fuss with legal about it
2) deal with the meaningful likelihood that you won’t win the lottery
yeah pretty much both. bosses aren't backing me up either bc of the bureaucracy
It is definitely doable to get buyside offers on STEM OPT. I went through multiple processes on my first year and second year of OPT and have received good offers. The truth is that you will 100% be discounted in many processes if you need sponsorship, especially if you are already on the second year of OPT (i.e. having one less shot of the lottery). However, you WILL get looks and offers if you are persistent enough and excel in interviews.
My advice is to be absolutely upfront with HH on the need to be sponsored, but there's no need to bring it up for more than one time in your interview process. After all, your interviewer is not HR and the topic of sponsorship will only create confusion and extra layer of complexity in the quick decision making process (especially during on cycle). Know that it can be difficult, but learn to bear the uncertainty and focus purely on crushing the interviews once you're in a process.
There will be situations where you do incredibly well and offers end up getting rescinded just because you need sponsorship, there will be times that HH puts you at the bottom of candidate list even if you have great resume. But don't give up, because it's a number game and you will find someone that is willing to go bat for you in the end:)
I have found that I have the most success in progressing (reached final round a few times) when I mention it to the employer 1-2 rounds in before my case rather than mentioning it to the HH. Would you recommend me waiting till later? HHs I have told before seem to auto-ding me and never respond once I tell them I need H1b and recently a few employers dinged me a round in once I tell them I need sponsorship (but they say they appreciate the transparency).
What HH are you working with? I would just focus on the ones that have been receptive to OPT candidates (HSP, CPI and Ratio). IMO you should always confirm with HH first, they are the ones that talk to HR most often and will likely put you in a process only if the firm might consider sponsoring. Going through random processes without having a sense of if the firm might sponsor will only waste you a lot of time and it's not worth it. You want to cast a wide net, but you should also do it wisely
Remember that HHs are not your friends but they are not your enemies either. They WILL put you in a process if you seem to be a good fit AND the firm might consider sponsoring candidates
Yeah speaking to all those and more. I feel like a lot of the time it's worth at least having a first convo with the fund before mentioning/re-mentioning.
Some HHs like DSP, Odyssey had very visceral and almost hostile reactions when I told them directly that I need h1b sponsorship lol (before speaking to any fund). They have never sent me stuff/never put me in a process and whenever I reach out asking for 5 mins to go through potential opps they just say "we will let you know". Genuinely kind of funny.
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