Update!!!

[moon1968 0]

Hello to all on Visa Journey,

Things are going wonderful with my Husband and myself. He has been here in the states now for 6 wonderful months. At times I cant belive that he is here......He is such a wonderful man.....Anyway.....The one problem we are having is finding work for him.......He has been employed with Mervyns and has been working there since June, However due to their money problems they have cut hours and for the last two weeks he has had no hours.....We live here in Cal. and Jobs are not easy to find......What seems to be the problem for him is that when they see he is from Africa they dont want to give him much of a chance......we are trying to hold on until Dec. then he can start with the temp angency......... Has anyone else had this type of experience???.....

[boo boo 1]

I am sorry to hear about this and I hope that things get better very soon. I think today's economy is horrible and it is affecting so many businesses and even the average American. My husband works in a hospital and they cut his hours down and some days when he is scheduled to come in, the hospital will call him to say that they do not need him to come in. The hospital did have a meeting with its workers and informed them of the cuts it was making, so it is was not a shocker when hrs started getting cut.

When my husband was unemployed, I would look in the employment section of Craigslist in the general labor section and sometimes I would find him work for that day or week and he usually got paid daily. It helped out alittle and I was grateful that he had something to keep him busy and get his mind off of things.

Hopefully your husbands employer has cut hours of others and not just his because that would not be right and I pray that everything gets better very very soon. I believe that the economy is bad right now and it has affected alot of people in some way, shape, or form.

[Enlighten one :) 5]

Hello Moon,

Have you two considered looking into the social service sector for positions such as Direct Support Specialist. Here in Maine there are tons of positions. The pay is not that great, but it is easy fulfilling work. Most positions are working in residential homes or one on one with mentally or physically disabled individuals.

Just a suggestion.

Best of Luck!

Missy

Hello to all on Visa Journey,

Things are going wonderful with my Husband and myself. He has been here in the states now for 6 wonderful months. At times I cant belive that he is here......He is such a wonderful man.....Anyway.....The one problem we are having is finding work for him.......He has been employed with Mervyns and has been working there since June, However due to their money problems they have cut hours and for the last two weeks he has had no hours.....We live here in Cal. and Jobs are not easy to find......What seems to be the problem for him is that when they see he is from Africa they dont want to give him much of a chance......we are trying to hold on until Dec. then he can start with the temp angency......... Has anyone else had this type of experience???.....

[Simply_Uno 1]

have you tried looking into the "workforce development" office in your area.....

[chispas 0]

Hello to all on Visa Journey,

Things are going wonderful with my Husband and myself. He has been here in the states now for 6 wonderful months. At times I cant belive that he is here......He is such a wonderful man.....Anyway.....The one problem we are having is finding work for him.......He has been employed with Mervyns and has been working there since June, However due to their money problems they have cut hours and for the last two weeks he has had no hours.....We live here in Cal. and Jobs are not easy to find......What seems to be the problem for him is that when they see he is from Africa they dont want to give him much of a chance......we are trying to hold on until Dec. then he can start with the temp angency......... Has anyone else had this type of experience???.....

Have you tried applying to FEDEX? The work is hard, but they have great benefits.

[reeses16 8]

Why wait until Dec to consider a temp agency? If he is underemployed (not making hours) he should start looking now. Also, maybe he could ask if there are any other depts/teams at mervyns that needs workers, maybe he can move into a different department.

If getting an interview is a problem, consider using an American nickname or only initials. My hubby has had an American sounding nickname all his life. He never got any interviews with his given name, when we switched to his American nickname and given last name he had many interviews. If you try this make sure he explains its a nickname and his fills out all his paperwork with his given name.

[ose_n_me 0]

We are having a similar situation. Since my hubby attends school till 12 or 2pm..we are having to limit his search to places that have afternoon and/or evening and weekend shifts. He just got his EAD a couple weeks ago, so he hasn't been actively job hunting for very long yet. He is signed on with a temp agency (in which a friend of mine is a manager) and he still hasn't been called because of his lack of availability during the week. He has applied to many of the larger retail companies like Walmart, Safeway, Costco, Toy's R Us, Mervyns, JC Penney, Sears etc. because most of them will be hiring for the temporary holiday season. Many have online application process which makes it nice. He also applied at places like UPS, and our major hospital. The main problem I see is that he doesn't have any local job experience, in addition to the fact we live in a semi small college town, and he is competing with the students for part-time work. And because his work experience is so specific in Naija, and doesnt necessarily transfer as the same here, it makes it even more difficult. We feel if he can get to the interview...he will have no problem. Here are a few websites we have found helpful: snagajob.com....allretailjobs.com....jobcentral

Luckily he finishes school in January and will be able to find a good paying job after he takes the National exam...but we were hoping for extra money for Xmas...especially so we can send a nice care package back home!

God Bless

[Perseverance 1]

My suggestion for now is look for the stores that hire "holiday or seasonal" help. I know it is on a temporary basis but temporary is better than nojoborary. Many stores are in the process of doing this. Also several of the Wal-marts , Targets, ECT have night stocking positions, this may work for anyone going to school. Be careful when using an agency to help you look for work, they will take part of your wage as "repayment" for a period of time. GOOD luck on the job quest everyone

P

[ara 0]

Hi Moon,

Good to hear from you and that things are going well (except for the job thing) Sorry and just to let you know something will come along.

We went through the same thing I think first of all it is hard enough for a US Citizen to get a job these days not to mention someone new to this country. My husband wanted to work for all these companies that required a background check and when they found out he was from Nigeria we never heard from them again. We tried the temp agencies and they never called. Like ose_n_me said they want someone with job experience in the US and now he has some so just hang in there something will come along as something finally came a long for my husband and of course he wants to do something bigger and better but he will in due time. Just be patient times are hard.

Good Luck!

[Mags 112]

Grey area thread, please leave in African forum as per moving guide.

Thanks.

[NigerLA 1]

Hi Moon,

I don't know what industry your husband is looking for work in; I started out years ago as a Security guard because of the flexibility it provided me to go to school and work at the same time.

I hope everyone who is looking for work finds work, for any one looking for professional job searches can use this site www.indeed.com. It consolidates searches from all job sites and makes managing your search a lot easier.

All the best.