When she walked into Lehigh University’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD), Ojaswi Joshi MS’25 didn’t know what to expect. As a newly arrived international graduate student from Nepal, Joshi was a bit overwhelmed, homesick, and uncertain about her English.
“My first concern was finding a job on campus, but I didn’t know who to reach out to,” says Joshi, a master’s student in the Data Science program in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. “I was hesitant to go to the career center because I just didn’t know anything about places like that. But I made an appointment, and that’s how it all started.”
That first meeting set her on a path from loneliness and insecurity to confidence and community.
CCPD helps graduate students translate their academic experience into professional success through coaching, digital tools, and programs such as seminars, career expos, and bootcamps.
“Our graduate students also have access to our Career Lab, which provides personalized assistance five days a week,” says Ali Erk, associate director of graduate student career development. “They can also schedule individual career coaching sessions to cover topics like resumé writing, interviewing, and networking.” International students can also get help with “navigating cultural differences in job search practices and searching for positions in the U.S.,” she says.
Erk met with Joshi during that first appointment, and quickly solved Joshi’s most pressing concern. CCPD had an opening for a career fellow, a paid position where undergraduate and graduate students are trained to support the coaches in the Career Lab. After her training, she became a resource for her peers, guiding them through resumés, mock interviews, and networking basics.
“We’re a one-stop shop for everything career related,” says Joshi.
Through her own coaching sessions, Joshi learned to modernize her resumé and, with Erk’s help, overcome her discomfort with networking.
“Networking really isn’t common in Nepal,” says Joshi. “But I knew from my work at the center that it’s the key to getting an internship. So I decided to tap into my network, even though it initially felt weird to ask favors of people I’ve never talked to before. I also learned how to make small talk. That was crucial because, at first, I really didn’t know how to do that.”
Working with Erk and her peers, Joshi practiced smiling, maintaining eye contact, and making small talk—a skill that wasn’t introduced growing up in Nepal.
“Talking about weather always helps,” she says.
While CCPD taught her the mechanics of small talk and networking at expos, it was the atmosphere in the lab that truly gave her the courage to act on her new skills. She had arrived worried about her English, but from day one, found patient listeners who helped her gain confidence to speak up and network.
“Everyone was so nice,” she says. “In the beginning, there were so many things that I wanted to say that I couldn’t translate into English, and all the career coaches were patient, and such good listeners. I think that’s why I was able to develop the confidence to network with people, and why I was able to do well in my interviews.”
Combining everything she learned about resumé writing, networking (which she calls her “number one takeaway” when it comes to job searching), and interviewing, Joshi landed a summer internship last June in the Analytics, Digital, Technology, and Data department at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield in Rochester, New York.
Joshi has also heard from students she helped guide through the job-search process, like the woman she helped prepare for an interview.
“I saw her on campus one day, and she stopped and said, ‘Thank you so much, I used your tips and I got the job,’” she says. “For me, that was heartwarming.”
As CCPD’s first international graduate career fellow, Joshi helped staff better understand how to support international students. Her feedback led to a new section on Handshake, the university’s online career management platform, devoted to explaining the types of on-campus opportunities and how to access them.
As she prepares to graduate in December, Joshi is applying for both industry jobs and PhD programs. Her new abilities, she says, apply equally to both.
“The skills I’ve developed have been very helpful in my conversations with professors,” she says. “I started with small talk, I kept the professor engaged, and I sold my experiences as assets that would help them. Whatever it is you’re applying for, the strategies you learn at the center will translate.”
They are skills and strategies that can, of course, be Googled. Or ChatGPT’ed. But for Joshi, nothing compares to the human connection she found in the Career Lab.
“Navigating the job market is difficult, and for international students, it’s so different compared to what we’re used to in our home countries,” she says. “Being able to go into a physical space and talk to someone who is empathic, who understands what you’re going through, really helps.”
Erk remembers that first meeting clearly, and says helping students like Joshi discover their strengths is the best part of her job.
“It’s so rewarding to connect amazingly talented graduate students like Ojaswi to the resources they need, and help them activate those skills to advance their career,” says Erk. “It’s exciting to see their stories unfold. I get to be a part of that story, and it means so much to me to be able to celebrate their accomplishments along the way.”
For Joshi, Lehigh’s Center for Career and Professional Development was more than a resource—it was a place that welcomed her, renewed her confidence, and prepared her for what’s next.
“My time there has been the most meaningful part of my Lehigh experience,” she says. “It feels like I found a family.”
—Story by Christine Fennessy
