Location: Virtual
NOTE: This webinar is for advisors, coaches, and career staff who work with international students.
An international student can receive the right advice, nod politely, say thank you, and still leave the room unsure what to do next. This session begins in that gap between advice that is technically correct and advice that students can actually use.
For many international students, career guidance is never just about careers. It can carry the weight of family sacrifice, visa uncertainty, cultural expectations, accent insecurity, financial pressure, and the fear of being seen as ungrateful or unprepared. A student may understand the advice clearly and still struggle to act on it because they are filtering it through a life context that is often invisible in the room.
Drawing from my own journey as an international student, my coaching work with students from more than 50 countries, and employer-facing programming with organizations such as Google, Meta, and Waymo, this session explores storytelling as a practical tool for international student career development.
In this context, storytelling is not about performance or polish. It is a way to translate career advice into something students can recognize, relate to, and apply. A well-placed story can do what a checklist often cannot. It can lower defenses, reduce isolation, make uncertainty feel normal, and help students see themselves in the next step.
When used with care, brief and intentional stories can make conversations about non-linear career paths, failure, belonging, global employability, and professional identity feel more honest and easier to navigate.
Participants will explore how storytelling can strengthen coaching, advising, classroom conversations, and career programming for international students. They will leave with practical ways to use short stories, reflective prompts, and culturally aware framing to help students not only hear career advice, but understand how it applies to their own lives.