SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 30, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - Acquiring
the first years of work experience in the United States is forever
an understated challenge for recent graduates as they enter the
economy. It is a jaw-clenching situation that generally applies to
us all yet proves to be unique from generation to generation -
often slipping into hazy memory once the hurdle is cleared and thus
little guidance ever seems to pass on. While some were able to
acquire an entry-level job thanks to friends and family or
internships through school, inking the first few lines of a resume
can sometimes be an arduous process that relies on more than luck
and simple favors. Imagine then how much more complicated things
can become for international students from China, often lacking the
same roots within the domestic market and already dealing with the
disadvantages of assimilating into a new country - affected by
politics, short on time, drawn out by geographic distances.
Shanghai native, Delysia Song lived through these difficulties
herself and decided that others should not face them alone. Just as
many in the internet era, Delysia sought to use technology as a
game-changing tool. And like others of the entrepreneur generation,
Delysia's approach to an age-old dilemma is to redefine the entire
process to present a new solution. The result was Song's 2017
co-founding of the I-intern Career Consulting Group in San
Francisco, a platform focused on providing students from abroad
with internship opportunities and career advancement.
She elaborates, "The initial job search is a problem faced by every
graduate, particularly if they lack experience. Traditionally, we
looked at it as a step towards basic survival. Finding a job so you
can feed yourself, manage to cover your expenses, and if you're
lucky, provide for your family. It was rarely looked at as more
than that. However, for those that undertook this journey of
leaving their homes to study and live overseas, the job search
isn't and shouldn't be that simple. If our goal was a better
overall life and we sacrificed so much to achieve it, then the
first step in our careers instead becomes a means of improving
ourselves and realizing our potential. What used to be a scramble
for a paycheck becomes more about gaining expertise and honing a
vision of our future."
To that end, Delysia built upon the years she spent in Silicon
Valley as a talent supplier and HR consultant for top companies
that hire on both sides of the Pacific, such as Alibaba, Google,
LinkedIn, Huawei among others. Noteworthy is a lesson Delysia
quickly realized, that these employers do not simply try to fill
ranks. Human resources development, empowerment, and the fostering
of fresh ideas have led to countless breakthroughs in the
respective organizations therefore tech employers, perhaps second
to no other industry, see the value of newcomers. As the practice
of venture capitalism and tech incubation suggests, if the idea is
great enough even those with marginal experience are given valuable
resources and powerful support. Delysia dubs this, "a progressive
social and hiring trend."
Expanding her network from there, in particular as veterans shifted
to their own startups and other growing companies in the San
Francisco Bay area, Delysia saw demand for top talent increase and
the need for a new kind of company.
I-intern, after all, took the premise of simple recruiting and
staffing beyond the crude method of flooding candidates to job
openings and vice versa, hoping that among all the shifting tides
something useful washes ashore. Ms. Song instead looks at the
students and soon-to-be graduates she helps as treasured
participants, a relationship that can carry over into the
employee/employer dynamic, "Talent, skillsets, and entrepreneurship
itself are the result of long-term perseverance. The most important
assets across all companies are ultimately the people. Products can
be adjusted, the market constantly fluctuates, changes are
inevitable. Only a unified team can successfully navigate these
transitions. Therefore it only makes sense that we attach the
rightful importance to each individual, we want to care for them
just like family and be conscious of their needs, thoughts, and
emotions. At I-intern we hope to pass along and contribute our own
transition and job search experiences one-on-one."
In that regard, I-intern promotes a variety of methods to best
gauge and understands candidates. Delysia explains, "The experience
of studying abroad alone is not enough to find the best
opportunities. We look instead to additional means like online
coursework, career development planning, occupational and
professional analysis, solutions for personal development, to
provide a multi-dimensional diagnosis of an individual's abilities
and interests. Only from there can we move into something as
life-changing as their internship and job search."
And while I-intern is now successfully backed by CRCM, cooperates
with top Chinese schools such as Nankai University and West Normal
University, and is recognized as a valuable bridge for China-US
campus recruiting, building from the ground up imparted many
lessons on Delysia. She reflects, "There is certainly a lot you
won't learn at university. It is not like homework where there's a
given solution someone can refer you to. In a lot of ways there
isn't ever a standard answer. Especially when you're a young team
starting on something that's built from the ground up. For us, in
the beginning, everything was done by hand. It can be imposing
because entrepreneurism does not tolerate shortcomings. What helps
is to accept that something as demanding as starting a company will
require skills that are simply too much to learn by yourself.
Building a team allows you to support each other, to collaborate,
and face things together."
It is likely this shared knowledge that shaped I-intern's approach
to caring customer service and business development. On a personal
level, Delysia points to support from Kai-Fu Li, eminent AI
specialist and tech pioneer, and others that imparted meaningful
enlightenment along the way.
"When you are a young leader, it's difficult to gain recognition
from most industries, from society as a whole. At some point people
would call me 'the persistent Shanghai girl' and so I embraced
that. Persistence plays a major factor in being acknowledged.
Persistence is vital when you step away from the stable,
comfortable path to go into the wild."
"Then I had the dream of I-intern becoming the most trusted
institution in the field of career development and building it to
be a full-scale platform for students. When you start moving into
the issue of trust, there is no substitute for working with people
one-on-one and proving yourself. You can't market trust, you build
it through repeat customers and word of mouth. You prove to people
that you'll be there for them."
This attitude is reaping rewards with I-intern doubling its sales
figures in less than three years and literally, as Delysia was
selected as one of the All American Chinese Youth Federation's
"California Chinese 30 Under 30" in March.
Contact:
Delysia Song
delysia@iintern.com
I-intern Career Consulting Group
http://www.iintern.com
Source: I-intern, LLC
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