Alumni Resources

Use Your International Internship Experience to Launch Your Future Career

An internship in the U.S. is an incredible learning opportunity that should significantly boost your future career prospects. These professional, personal, and cultural experiences were likely part of the reason you decided to participate in the first place!

Now that your program has come to an end, it’s time to take a look at that experience and how you can use it to develop your career. InterExchange Career Training USA wants you to succeed, so we have compiled some resources on how to leverage your internship or training experience in your future job search.

Refer Your Friends!

Would you like to receive $100? If you have friends who want to intern or train in the USA, share your referral code with them before they start their InterExchange Career Training USA application. They will receive a $100 discount off their program fee, and once they arrive in the USA, you’ll receive a $100 reward!

Learn more about how to refer your friends to InterExchange here!

Keep in Touch

Want to feel inspired? See what your fellow Career Training USA alumni are doing now on our Career Training USA blog!

We would also love to hear about what you’ve been up to since completing your Career Training USA program! Take this one-minute survey and tell us about your new job, promotion, projects, whether you’ve returned to school — anything you’d like to share with InterExchange and your fellow program alumni.

You can also connect with other alumni and build upon your exchange experience through the State Department’s International Exchange Alumni website.

Going Home: Reverse Culture Shock and Reentry

The W Curve illustrates the ups and downs of culture shock.

Though you may have been confronted with “culture shock” when you arrived in the U.S. for your internship/training program, you may also experience similar feelings upon your return home.

Reverse culture shock, though lesser known than culture shock, is a phenomenon experienced by those returning to their home country after spending substantial time living abroad. We’ve compiled a list of some of the challenges faced as well as some tips for dealing with them.

Intern or Train Again!

Repeat participation for interns is allowed with some conditions:

The candidate is still a student or has graduated within 12 months of the new program start date.
The candidate returned to school for at least one term before applying for another intern visa.
In most cases, applicants will not be permitted to return to the same host employer. The maximum time an intern can train with a host is 12 months.

Repeat participation as a trainee is allowed with some conditions:

The participant resides outside of the U.S. or its territories for at least 2 years after the end of the previous J-1 Internship or Training program.
In most cases, applicants will not be permitted to return to the same host employer. The maximum time a trainee can train with a host is 18 months (or 12 months in the fields of hospitality and tourism.)
Please contact us to discuss each applicant’s particular situation before submitting additional applications for the same employer.

If you participate in the Career Training USA program again and apply to us directly, use the coupon code GOAGAIN to receive $100 off your program fee!