Even though your primary goal is to participate in the university exchange program, you might want to consider the possibility to get yourself a job or internship in one of the many good places here in Madison.

Frankly, it's hard to overestimate all the benefits of having a job - you'll get pocket money, you'll meet new people and make new friends, you'll get yourself a bunch of references if you perform well and, most importantly, you'll learn new things and develop your professional skillz!

Yes, yes, you do! If you are a J-1 or F-1 Visa holder (and you probably are), you can work legally for up to 20 hours a week!

Right, here it is:

1. First, find yourself a job offer you are interested in. A good place to start looking is the UW-Madison web page: Click dat! If your major is Computer Science or Computer Engineering, then you probably don't need to search no more: there is usually a bunch of cool job offers right away on the first page. Another good site to use is Jobs In Madison.
2. Write you resume (CV) and cover letter. Cover letter is important and every employer will want it. It's quite easy to write one though: all you have to do is to briefly describe yourself, state your goals and expectations, also don't forget to mention, why you want to work in that particular company. Employers love that. There is also plently of cover letter and resume examples on the internet, so Google can possibly be very helpful.
3. Send your resume and cover letter to the employer via email.
4. Wait for reply.

Usually, that's all you can do. If your resume sounds interesting, people from the company will reply on your email and arrange an interview with you. Interview usuallys last for one or two hours and consists of the following:

• „Describe Yourself“ (~10 mins). Usually this part is used to make you feel more comfortable and less stressed. It helps!
• „Technical Part“ (~60 mins). One or two company specialists will sit in front of you and ask you different questions one after another. The most important thing here is not to forget to speak. Never be silent. Even if you don't know the right answer, just try to explain your ideas and possible solutions you come up with. And draw diagrams! People love that.
• „Your Questions“ part (~10 mins). This is the time for you to ask questions about the company. The more you ask - the better.
• „Lemme show you the office“ (~15 mins). Then the employer usually walks you around the office and introduces you to the future collegues. Even if they already know that you don't fit them, they will still walk you around the office. Which is kind of fun, because at least you have an opportunity to look at the american corporate culture from the inside.

Congratulations! You've got admitted and received your Job Offer letter… Well, the sad thing is that for international students the hard part has just started. Now your employment process depends on whether your employer is On-Campus employer or Off-Campus employer.

Off-Campus employment is officially called the Academic Training Program. Here's the To-Do List:

1. Get the Job Offer letter from your employer.
2. Go to International Student Services web page and download the Academic Training Application. This application consists of three parts - one must be filled in by you, another one by your employer and the last one by you academic advisor.
3. Fill in your part.
4. Visit your employer and ask him to fill in his part
5. Arrange a meeting with your academic advisor. In your case it will be someone from the International Engineering Office, probably the person you communicated with when you still were in Czech Republic.
6. Come to the meeting. The academic advisor will conduct and interview with you in order to decide whether to approve your job or not. The problem is that if your job is Off-Campus job, it must be the job closely related to your major! So, in the case of Computer Science, it may be the software developer job or something similar. So no night shifts in McDonalds, kids! If advisor approves your job, she will fill in the respective part in the Academic Training Application and hand it back to you. Now you finally have the application completely filled in!
7. Go to the International Student Services office. It is located at the Red Gym, close to Memorial Union. If you don't know what Memorian Union is, then forget about the job and go check it out! For the rest of you, I'd like to continue: go to the office and ask for a meeting with one of the advisors. Hand in the filled in application, job offer letter, job description, copies of your documents and ask them to approve your application. It usually takes about one week or so.
8. After you get the Academic Training Program Approval from the ISS, it's time to apply for Social Security Number. Every person who wishes to work in the US, must have his Social Security Number. So, get the approval and make a visit to Social Security Building, which is located quite far away from the down-town, but public transport will help.
9. After you apply for SSN, it will usually take about 2 weeks until they mail the card to you.
10. After you get your SSN, you're all set! Now you can go back to your employer and get officially employed!… which means that you have to fill in 10 more papers or so: I-9, W-4 and others. The good news is that you are not on your own any more and usually HR department of the company will help you to figure those things out.

I don't have personal experience with this one, but it is supposed to be a lot easier to set up. So if you can, go with On-Campus employment!

The minimal wage in Wisconsin is US$ 7.25 (at the time of writing this paper). You will probably get from 8 to 12 dollars an hour. Soo.. it definitely worths the effort!

You might want to open an account in one of the local banks, because your employer will probably pay you salary by transfering money on your account. I have my account at US Bank and think that those guys are awesome!

Phew, this document is already too long, so I guess I'll just stop here. There is still a lot of things to take care of, so be persistent and let the force be with you!

Lots of important stuff on ISS web site.