Anusha Agarwal (COM ‘27)

Tell us about your current employment at the Student Activities Office (SAO): What is the function of the SAO? What are your responsibilities?

Working at the Student Activities Office is great. I get to oversee all the various clubs and organizations that BU has. My responsibilities include answering phone calls, and emails and assisting student groups with planning their events. I do this by helping them book rooms, meeting with them to discuss what the best course of action is for different types of events they want to host, and aiding with their financial needs. I work with a large team of students under the role of Activities Consultants. It’s overall a great experience working here and I’ve learnt so much about BU student life that I didn’t know much about beforehand.

What has been your experience with searching for employment in the U.S. as an international student?

It’s a little bit difficult as students can only work on-campus which limits the places that I could apply to. Also, offices tend to prefer those who have a Work Study award and would prefer hiring them instead of international students. However, applying to SAO and getting the job was an absolute breeze.

What resources, at BU or elsewhere, helped you obtain your current employment?

When I was searching for jobs, BU didn’t have JobX which is the student job portal. This made it harder for me to find a job as the old system wasn’t very user-friendly. I ended up cold-emailing the office and got an interview. At first, I was told that there weren’t any positions available for this semester but eventually, I got an email during the summer to tell me that a space opened up for me. I definitely find JobX to be super useful in finding jobs for international students as well and I would recommend using it.

What is your biggest takeaway from the job search process that you would like to share with international students?

My biggest takeaway from this process is to not get bogged down by the idea that international students have a lesser chance of being hired as local students or those with an award. Send that email, and apply online, you always have a chance. Definitely use JobX as well because the new technology is extremely handy.