Many international students join graduate programs at US universities to advance their knowledge in their subject area and to provide them with the skill set that allowed them to join the US job market. Some of these students have the permission to work in US, and others hope that they will have the competitive skills to attract employers who are willing to sponsor them to obtain work VISA in the US, and eventually become US citizens. While some of these international students come with the required global knowledge of the subject matter, they struggle to fit in the current US job market. This research investigate the obstacles that faces the International Construction Management graduate students in joining the job market. The research includes surveys and interviews with major contracting companies in Georgia which identify the soft skills and hard skills that are required to make international students more competitive to join the US job market. The research findings showed that most obstacles are related to soft skills and software skills that are specific to the US market. The research findings will help the Graduate Construction Management Programs to focus on certain learning outcome that makes international students more successful if their future career in the US. The research findings also provide general guidelines that help other programs to create their own learning outcome to improve the marketability of their graduates.

Authors:
Hussein Abaza, Kennesaw State University, United States
Lantz Holtzhower, Kennesaw State university, United States
Amaal Shenawa, Kennesaw State University, United States
Druthi Katragadda, Kennesaw State University, United States
Nada Hassan, Kennesaw State University, United States
Poonam Karoti, Kennesaw State University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Abaza is a Professor, Assistant Chair and the Undergraduate Program Coordinator at the Construction Management Department, Kennesaw State University

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