Meet Our International Professionals Program Participants (Fall 2021 Cohort)
On Thursday, October 21, 2021 The Welcoming Center hosted a recognition ceremony for the Fall 2021 cohort of our International Professionals Program (IPP).
IPP is an eight-week course for career readiness training followed by six months of job coaching. It brings together a diverse group of international professionals with bachelor’s degrees or higher and U.S. work authorization seeking to enter the U.S. workforce through meaningful employment or fellowship opportunities.
We asked our participants to share more about themselves. Read their responses below.
Tell us about yourself.
Hi! My name is Alejandra. I’m from Colombia. I have been living in the U.S. since 2015. I have a bachelor’s degree in visual design. I have more than 5 years of experience in traditional printing and digital design.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
My greatest accomplishment has been coming to this country by myself and getting along with the culture and the language and now having a lovely family. In my career, my greatest achievement has been planning and executing the launching event of the app that I designed which was a huge success because more than 100 people attended the event and everybody was very excited about the new app. We had press from different channels, TV, and newspaper. They published an article about it and we even had a note on TV.
What are your career goals?
My wish is to start gaining visual design experience in the U.S. Learn new skills to acquire more experience, also, I would love to work in something related to event planning. It is something that I have always been passionate about. In the long term, I want to run my own design business.
What was your favorite job? Why?
My favorite job was being creative director and customer care manager in a startup company. Not only because it was my first job here in the U.S., but because I learn a lot about how to solve any problem in a short time. We were a small group and we had to multitask all the time. This position was challenging for me but at the same time, it was all worth it because of the results. Some of my accomplishments were my first app design and being able to see it live. Also the planning, and execution of the launching event of the app.
How did you become interested in your career or field of interest?
I have always been creative since I was a kid. When I was in school the thing that I enjoyed the most was making crafts. I think it is something that I am born with. As for event planning, it is because I love planning and I am very organized.
What is your greatest asset/strength as an employee?
Organization and reliability. I think when you are an organized person everything works with the flow. I consider myself a dedicated person who is always willing to give the best of myself in every job.
What are your hopes and dreams for your future? Both for yourself and your family?
I would like to pursue a master’s degree in marketing or something similar. In a long term, I dream to have my own business.
What have you learned about yourself over the past year?
I have learned to be more confident in what I know and the skills that I have. Also, that nobody can stop your dreams except you. I have learned to be positive and to be patient because what is going to be for you, it will be.
Tell us about yourself.
I am from India and I moved to the U.S. in the month of January 2021. I have a master’s degree in chartered accountancy from The Institute of Chartered Accountant of India.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
My greatest accomplishment was completing my master’s degree. I started my course after my bachelor’s degree. I prepared for it along with my 3 years apprenticeship and after completed apprenticeship , I joined full time job. Many times, I was unsuccessful to pass examination, but I never gave up and again gave examination until I passed in my examination. Finally I got my master’s degree after a long period.
What are your career goals?
Getting a good position in my field – accounting.
What was your favorite job? Why?
My favorite job is as a Tax Manager. I have a interest in this field.
How did you become interested in your career or field of interest?
Initially I started my career as a teacher in a school. My school owner said me to finalize my account and share with accountant after that I got my interest in this field. I joined an accounting firm to get experience and from there I got an idea to get a master’s degree in this field.
What is your greatest asset/strength as an employee?
I am punctual, honest, team worker, problem solver and never give up .
What are your hopes and dreams for your future? Both for yourself and your family?
My hopes for me and my family are to getting the best accounting position and buying a house and vehicle.
What have you learned about yourself over the past year?
I learned that we have to work as a team, leave comfort zone, be punctual, and never give up.
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Chabha Harb, I am from Algeria. I came to the United States in 2015 with my family: two kids and husband. I got my bachelor’s degree from my original country in Management Sciences, option: International Trade.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
My greatest accomplishment is my bachelor’s degree because it allowed me to get an excellent job in my field as an administrator.
What are your career goals?
My career goals are to get a job in my field, I would like to get a better opportunity, in a bank or a good and big company like Comcast or Amazon!
What was your favorite job? Why?
My favorite job was when I worked as an administrator because I learned lots of important things about payroll, accounting duties and inventories!
How did you become interested in your career or field of interest?
I have been interested in my field since I was in high school. I chose to become a management student and when I went to the university I loved it more, especially the accounting subject! My final project to graduate from university was about international trade and the externship was in the office of import & export!
What is your greatest asset/strength as an employee?
As an employee, I’m a hard worker, organized, especially confident. I take the opportunity to help others that are in need because I had the opportunity to be a leader in my original country as an administrator and another opportunity as a leader as well here!
What are your hopes and dreams for your future? Both for yourself and your family?
My hopes and dreams for my future are to ascend in my career path and be one day in the U.S. government and a good future for my kids of course.
What have you learned about yourself over the past year?
From the past years, I have learned that I can go so far in my career because I’m a quick problem solver and I love to work individually or as a member of a team!
Tell us about yourself.
I am from Côte d’Ivoire also called Ivory Coast. Côte d’Ivoire is on the west part of Africa. It is connected to many countries such as Ghana, Mali etc. I graduated in Sociology and French in the University Felix Houphouet Boigny in my home country. Then I graduated in Development and international studies in the Graduate institute of Geneva in Switzerland. I moved to the U.S. in May 2020.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
My greatest achievement has been managing France Voluntaires (a nonprofit organization) for 12 years in three countries. In these countries, I succeeded in negotiating the renewal of the conventions for the establishment of the NGO in the countries. I also succeeded in accompanying the volunteers in the achievement of their mission. I have also managed to develop partnerships despite the deteriorated security context.
What are your career goals?
In this new context that are the United States, I wish to be able to integrate a nonprofit organization which works on social topic such as childhood health, immigration, humanitarian issues or international cooperation.
What was your favorite job? Why?
My favorite job was working with development (social, education, etc.) and management and monitoring team.
How did you become interested in your career or field of interest?
After school and in work practice.
What is your greatest asset/strength as an employee?
I am a hard worker. I like challenges and I am open minded.
What are your hopes and dreams for your future? Both for yourself and your family?
I hope my family and I will be well integrated in the American system. I have big dreams for my children, and I want them to have a good education and live safely.
What have you learned about yourself over the past year?
I’m collaborative and adaptable.
Tell us about yourself.
I’m from Albania. I came to the United States 2 years ago by family immigration. My uncle has been living here for more than 25 years, so he applied for his brother(my father) and his family to get the documents as Lawful Permanent Residents. I graduated from the Faculty of Economy at the University of Tirana in 2016. My major was Informatics and Economics. And before I came to the U.S. I was pursuing my master studies, Master of Science in Accounting and Auditing.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
For now my biggest accomplishment, I would say is graduating from college with a 3.7 GPA and having
What are your career goals?
First of all, I want to expand my knowledge, so I have a full skillset needed to be a good candidate for the competitive US job market. And more specifically, I’m pursuing the path to becoming a data scientist.
What was your favorite job? Why?
My favorite job was being a business analyst, as it had a lot of similarities and things in common with my future job objectives. My passion for data analytics combined with my math skills, programming language expertise, tech support, critical thinking and attention to detail made a great addition to the team.
How did you become interested in your career or field of interest?
Because the job market in the last years for data scientist positions has grown exponentially and it is expected to grow even more in the future.
What is your greatest asset/strength as an employee?
Commitment, critical thinking, problem solving, team player.
What are your hopes and dreams for your future? Both for yourself and your family?
First of all, I want to become a professional data scientist and after gaining the right experience and capital, I want to be that’s why I got my PA real estate license last week and I’m doing research to find the right product to set up an Amazon store.
What have you learned about yourself over the past year?
I’ve learned that no matter the obstacles in my way, if I set my mind to a goal, I always achieve it.
Tell us about yourself.
I’m from Algeria, I come to the U.S. in March 2020, I have a bachelor’s degree in architecture and urbanism and I’m trying to go to the university here.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
Being in the United States is great in itself but maybe this time talking and understanding the English language it’s the most important thing that I have done since I came here. Why? Because the language is the key for everything. If you aren’t fluent in English, it can limit your job opportunities. It can also lead to social isolation and it’s very difficult to immerse yourself into a new culture when you can’t speak the native tongue.
What are your career goals?
Like I said, I have bachelor’s degree in architecture from my home country. I would like to find a job in my major but also I’m going through another field over here (medical). I have a phlebotomy certification and I’m in process to finish a pharmacy technician certification so I would like also to work in a medical environment.
How did you become interested in your career or field of interest?
I wanted to work in medical services because I enjoy taking care of others, especially when I see them lying on the bed and waiting for help. I feel empathy.
What is your greatest asset/strength as an employee?
Having the ability to change and adapt quickly. Why? Because the first thing I leave my country and come to the United States like a neonate. I don’t know anything about this country then I started learning little by little. Now I have friends and a job. I know about the American culture and I speak their language. The second thing like I said before I studied architecture before and I’m doing medical study right now so the same thing as an employee I have the ability to do whatever they ask me for and I can handle any situation I am put in.
What are your hopes and dreams for your future? Both for yourself and your family?
I hope that me and my husband we get a notable job that makes us live in an outstanding level.
What have you learned about yourself over the past year?
I learned that I’m a strong woman who can take care and be responsible for herself, her husband and her family (from parents to brothers).
Our participants are a highly skilled group of bilingual and multilingual talent with global experience who bring years of knowledge, skills, and experience with them. To connect with any of our international professionals for employment or fellowship opportunities, please contact Rochelle T. Cooks, Director of Workforce Development, through our contact form.
