Solving the challenge of International students, UK Jobsearch and Visas (Part2)

Why this terrible advice is helpful to international students in the UK

In 2014, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella advised women against not to ask for pay rises or promotions. According to Satya, they should simply wait and hope something comes along. His remarks were widely criticised, not only for being sexist, but because they contradict?negotiation research.

Negotiation strategies developed from hostage or terrorist situations. The tactics used have been adopted widely in the business world - how can they benefit international students looking for work in the UK?

In Humanising the international student experience: the post-study reality of gaining UK employment, one international student said:

“Most employers are still looking for graduates with permanent right to work in the UK. Some make it pretty clear in the job advert. In some cases it has been the first question an employer asked me in our first correspondence.”

How can you handle this? How do you prevent the conversation from ending when you mention your visa? Most importantly, is it possible to move the conversation from a no to a yes? How do we do that? What can we borrow from negotiation?

I’m no expert on negotiation, but I know someone who is. Jack Austin from The Negotiation Club kindly agreed to chat to me.

?Me: Can you tell me a bit more about negotiation Jack?

Jack: Often people think negotiation is a battle, where whoever makes the most logical argument wins. But it really isn’t. Negotiation is about discovery. Your goal is to discover as much information as you can. When negotiating with employers about jobs and visas, the goal is to understand what the employer is thinking. Negotiation begins with listening.

The most effective way of obtaining information is by simply asking for it. Asking great questions is one of the most effective techniques in negotiation. Questions allow you to discover information. Open questions are where you should start. Open questions can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”.?

?Me: In part one of this series, I wrote about the importance of understanding the employer’s perspective around visas. Could students ask open questions like “What is it about the Graduate visa (or sponsorship) that you aren’t sure about?”

?Jack: Yes, because then they might discover that the employer is missing some information, which they could provide (more on that in part 3 of this blog series!)

?Plan your questions in advance

You should consider:

Once you've thought about the information you want, create open questions that start with how or what. These questions will encourage the employer to think. To generate possible solutions and ideas. How or what questions are solution focused. Asking a question like "what roles in your company would be suitable for someone with a visa?" encourages the employer to come up with possible solutions.

Me: How about questions like;

• What circumstances might make you consider hiring someone with a visa?
• What roles exist in your organisation where someone could achieve to results in 2 years?
• What skills or experiences would impress you enough to hire someone with a visa?

Jack: Yes, those could work. And remember not to start your questions with “why”. Why questions can make people feel as if they have to defend themselves. We want the conversation to be positive and constructive, not defensive.

Claire: Ok, so we need well thought out, open questions, planned in advance, and starting with “how” or “what”. What else could international students try?

?Jack: Another effective technique is summarising. Summarising achieves several things…

• ?It lets the other party know you are listening to them and when somebody knows they are being listened to they are more likely to want to share information with you

• It allows you to check that you have understood each other
• Interestingly, it also makes you sound like you knew the information already. So even if you hear a piece of information you didn’t know, by repeating it back to the other person you also gain some “ownership" of the information.

Me: So, some examples of summarising might be;

Jack: Yes! By showing that you understand their position, you increase the likelihood of agreement. People love to feel understood. Not only have you allowed them to get their points across, but you’ve also proven that you understand where they’re coming from by summarising.

Are there any other strategies that might be useful?

Jack: One of the most influential elements in negotiation is the appearance of confidence. In fact, many decisions aren’t based on what was said, but on the confidence of the speaker. When talking to employers about visas, as in negotiations, the impression of confidence will go a great way to influencing the final decision. Even if you don’t feel confident, you can appear more confident by:

• Slowing down your speech (speaking fast often suggests nerves)
• Pause before responding (always take a moment to consider what you heard, what you are about to say and the impression you want to leave)

Claire: I guess there’s a fine line between being confident and being too forceful. For a lot of international students there’s so much resting on getting a job offer, and it could be tempting to try and be a bit forceful.

What about leverage Jack? What is it and should it be used?

Jack: Leverage is the belief that one person has a stronger position than the other. Leverage is borrowed from physics. It means the ability to move objects of larger mass with less force. When we talk about leverage, we are talking about moving other people (i.e. employers and recruiters) closer to your way of thinking (i.e. to offer you a job). Leverage can grow or fade at any moment in the discussion and switch back and forth too. As a new graduate, especially in an unfamiliar country, it’s easy to believe the employer or recruiter is in the stronger position. But if they have reached out to find out more about you, invited you to interview or even offered you a job, then feel confident that you already have some leverage.

If you can find things that are important to the recruiter or employer, you can get them to move of their own choice by giving them something they want or need. It’s in their interest to move. It’s much better to use this kind of leverage rather than trying to force people to move with threats or pressure.

?Claire: So a simple way to gain leverage is to highlight how closely you match the job description. Or explain the ways you're connected to the company's values or vision. Your university careers service can help you do this.

?Jack: Another strategy to gain leverage might be to search on LinkedIn for other people working at that company, with the same title as the job you are applying for. So if you’re talking with the employer about a job in assurance at EY, look for all the Assurance Graduates at EY on LinkedIn. Look at their skills and qualifications and compare them to yours. Maybe you have a master’s and many of them don’t or maybe your experience level is higher? This kind of research can give you leverage.

Claire: Don’t forget your unique skills as an international student! Revisit part 1 of this blog to remind yourself of those. So Jack, we’re looking at a process for a student that looks something like this:

1. You’re having a conversation with an employer or recruiter and they ask you about your permissions to work in the UK. You mention the visa and they say that they’re afraid they can’t hire you
2. Instead of ending the conversation there, you ask some open How and What questions to understand their concerns about the visa and potentially to offer you some solutions
3. You use summarising to show you understand their point of view
4. You communicate in a confident way
5. You bring your knowledge of the role and the company, and your own unique selling points to help you gain leverage in the conversation

Jack: Yes, and finally you should investigate and understand the sponsorship process for you and for employers. Some businesses may find the visa system to be laborious. They may be inclined not to participate but if the student can explain the documentation needed and clearly understands the processes needed then an employer may be more willing to provide their support. In that sense, preparation for visa conversations should begin long before these conversations happen.

Me: That's actually what we're going to cover in part 3! See you there.

If you would like to learn more about negotiation and in particular, practising your negotiation skills with other students, then do get in touch with Jack at [email protected] or visit The Negotiation Club Ltd's Linkedin page.