The student did not find a job for more than a year, then landed Tesla

• Dhruv Loya came to the United States to study in 2020, but he had trouble finding a job after graduating.
• He won a job at Tesla but had to ask questions about visa sponsorship along the way, he said.
• International students face job search regarding visa sponsorships, he said.

This trial so racy is based on a conversation transcribed with Dhruv Loya, 22, from Buffalo, New York, on the job search and the landing of a role in Tesla. The following has been modified for duration and clarity.

I did more than a year of job research before winning my first job after university, working for Tesla.

I started looking for jobs in the summer of 2023. In 2020, I moved from Pune, India, to study biomedical engineering at New York State University in Buffalo. I spent a lot of money, taken student loans and received financial support from my parents to study in the United States, but it was really difficult for me to get a job. I applied to hundreds of lists, but I have often heard or rejected.

Although I have a job now, I am aware that it is a very difficult period for students looking for work. There are special difficulties for international students who rely on businesses to sponsor their visas.

I continued to be a ghost or rejected for jobs. Being an international student made things even more difficult.

I did not know exactly what I wanted to do after university, but as I grow up, I always wanted to enter a company where I could use my technological skills to do something innovative with an impact.

I did several internships at university and I also had work on campus to help students and teachers with technological problems. I wanted to use my time at university to understand my future career.

In the summer of my third year, I started to apply for full -time jobs. I wanted to be employed by December so that I can take advantage of my last semester and the following summer without worrying about finding a job.

I had an interest in the entry -level roles of sales engineers, but I was not very successful because I had no experience for sale. I pivoted quality engineering roles because I had done an internship in this area.

When I applied for jobs, I was a ghost or received automated rejection emails. I tried to change my CV models and make YouTube videos to sell me to recruiters, but nothing seemed to work.

Things seemed to be improving in the fall of 2023 when I started to optimize my curriculum vitae for ATS, the follow -up software employers use to assess whether your curriculum vitae corresponds to the description of the position. I obtained chatgpt premium and asked him to do an ATS analysis on my curriculum vitae using work descriptions for the roles to which I apply. I would try to keep my score at around 85% because I thought it could help me avoid automated refusals.

I do not know with certainty if Chatgpt helped, but when I started using the tool, I saw a difference and I received more reminders.

But I also faced another obstacle. During the application process or interviews with recruiters, there would be a question of whether I would need visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Because I was a STEM student, I had access to three years of opt – an optional practical training – with my student visa. This meant that I would not need sponsorship for three years after obtaining the diploma, but I would always answer yes to the question because he asked me if I needed sponsorship in the future. After admitting this, I would receive rejection emails.

Being unemployed was difficult, but I finally won a job in Tesla

When I graduated in May 2024, I still had no work. My parents did not come to my diploma because they decided to support me financially in my unemployment instead of spending money for the trip from India. I was very upset about this.

My lease expired in August and I had nowhere to go. I stayed with friends instead of spending money on rent.

I was looking for a job on the time borrowed. I had 90 days to find a job on my opt, which took me at the end of October.

A friend with whom I studied obtained a job at Tesla and recommended me to the recruiter. I sent my curriculum vitae and they interviewed me.

When I spoke to the recruiter, I mentioned that I would have the authorization to work for three years via opt, and it was good if they do not sponsor me after that. They gave me a job offer in October 2024 to work as a PowerWall technical support specialist. The role is to help the product of the Tesla battery, which stores solar energy to supply people’s houses. It is also more customer oriented than the quality engineering work for which I previously applied.

I hope I can get into the company and get a role in which I would be sponsored and assume more engineering and management responsibilities. However, if I have to go back to India after three years, I would do it with pleasure.

It is a difficult period for students to find work

In the end, finding a job was not as difficult as the trip. Tesla hired new people, and the timing was right.

I have a lot of friends who find it difficult to find jobs at the moment, international and national students. In 2023, there were so many layoffs in large companies that more people were returned to the market.

Companies are trying to reduce costs, and it seems to me that they avoid sponsorship for international candidates. There is a limited number of visas available in the United States, so there is a lot of uncertainty to know if the candidates will really get a visa, even when the company spends as much money for them.

I do not think that the mass application to hundreds of jobs is effective in the current labor market. Instead, candidates should focus on the quality of the quantity. Be strategic, contact people and try to get references. Connections and references can considerably improve job search results.