Getting a job

[Marilyn. 340]

About the online jobs, I guess I just hate to have to create a profile and load all of my personal data to a website. I just miss that in Mexico I used to only send my resume by email.

my hubby looked up a bunch of different companies and emailed them his resume...

[TchauEUA 0]

Hello Folks,

Glad to see that we are not the only ones having difficulty getting a job. My poor baby, I just feel so bad because you know hes been on a couple of interviews and all seems well and they tell him they will call him so he gets all psyched about the job and then they never call and i just hate to see him disappointed like that.

We got here in Feb. He got a job pretty quickly from a connect with another Brazilian guy but we quickly learned why everyone told him not to work for Brazilians in the US. long story the guy was crazy, business failed and he let mostly everyone go.

Then he got pretty steady work as a TV extra (which if you are in LA and looking to make a little cash then I would highly reccomend) and he was pretty much working everyday bringing in nearly $100 a day which was really helpful and he loved the work. BUT production wrapped on the show he was doing and now the only shows we've been able to find only have 3-4 hours which is a bummer.

So now he's been applying at restaurants and hotels mostly (he was a tour guide in Brazil) but we havent had much luck. two interviews w/ no result. ugh!! and its just so stressful and frustrating. and I just feel so bad for my boy because he takes it personally and im sure it hurts his male ego.

anyhow, sorry for the long post but its been an even loooooooonger day. but you know what - it doesnt even matter because at least we arent 8,000 miles apart anymore

ps sorry for typos, didnt bother to spell check

[pereira 0]

TchauEUA,

My husband is "in between jobs" and we live in LA. How do you go about finding work as a movie extra in LA? My husband was also a tour guide in Brazil. How is he adjusting?

Pereira

[LizC 0]

I just want to hear how the experience of getting a job have been. I am looking for a job but I just feel so nervous about everything. My husband and other people have told me that I need to send my applications to jobs on line but I feel they will not look at my resume...

As a follow-up - my fiance seems to be quite employable as he works in IT. Is it worth it for him to apply for jobs before he enters the US and immediately after, before he gets his EAD?

[xmgirl 4]

I just want to hear how the experience of getting a job have been. I am looking for a job but I just feel so nervous about everything. My husband and other people have told me that I need to send my applications to jobs on line but I feel they will not look at my resume...

As a follow-up - my fiance seems to be quite employable as he works in IT. Is it worth it for him to apply for jobs before he enters the US and immediately after, before he gets his EAD?

May be he can start sending his resume, who knows and somebody hires him. I also think he will have to check with the employeer about his employment permit status...

[bora bora 1]

All the Brazilians I know living in the U.S. - and that's a lot - complain about working for/with other Brazilians. I'd also suggest for your SOs to avoid those jobs, especially because they'll probably being working with a lot of illegals and there can be problems there.

My husband's first job was working w/ Brazilians and he HATED it. Most of them were illegal and I know there was tension/jealousy there. It was ok for his first job because he learned a lot about working in the U.S. and he knew no English so he was able to get a job he would other wise not have had...

BUT, at the same time, he didn't learn English.

I helped my husband (along with friends) find him jobs. We used www.craiglist.com as well as stop by all of the touristy areas in Orlando. I'd send his resume 20-30 times in one night, so he got a lot of calls/e-mails/interviews. He's been at his current job for 3 months and he likes it. His boss is Pakistani so no one speaks Portuguese (or even Spanish) at work. He's happy and has learned A LOT of English this way (along with his ESL class).

[TchauEUA 0]

Okay so here is the new plan:

I printout like 20 resumes a day while I'm at work and then the next day he has to deliver all of the resumes to possible employers. I figure just by odds and numbers that if we do this daily for a few weeks to a month then he will surely get a job. If not, we're going back to Brazil, lol.

ps. pereira- i will send youan e-mail w/info for extra work

[G&A 1]

Hey all....i am pretty late in the thread but this was my situation. I made contacts at 3 different staffing agencies and let them do the work for me. Luckily, i got an offer after only a week of job hunting (in my field and very good salary) and I intend to take it. I would suggest working with staffing agencies for atleast your first job. They do a good job of selling you to the companies. It doesnt cost you anything to work with them...you have nothing to lose.

[mrsaright 0]

My husband and i have been back stateside for almost 2 months now. He had a job offer before he had received his SSN in the mail, but then again he's had extensive experience in his field plus previous experience working overseas in an English speaking country, which makes him a desirable candidate (good english, lots of experience, and minimal time in between his last job). He was told by his current employer that he'll have to start on a "temp to hire" basis, because since he didn't have any US experience coming in, the employer was essentially "taking a risk" on him (no professional references or job history in the U.S.)

I'm not one to give advice, because while my husband got his job in his area quickly, he still finds it's frustrating to be working as "entry-level" whereas he's got over 10 years experience under his belt and knows way more than top management. He's considering pursuing a US degree here, just to be able to move into higher-level positions faster than he would otherwise, and I fully support him in that.

I have zero experience and contacts in terms of his area of work, so I put him in contact with some friends in our area, and through them we found someone for him to talk to. The guy was a small-business owner in my husband's area, and had a lot of good tips and ideas for my husband. I went with my husband to meet with him, even though my husband's english is quite good, it was more for moral support and in case there was any crisis in understanding. The next few days we made up a spiffy resume for my husband, and then we made a list of businesses that he was interested in working for, and we hit the road. We went door to door to the businesses and my husband went in to speak with the managers. I think going in personally helps to give the managers an idea of who is behind the resume, especially if a person's resume doesn't have U.S. experience or gaps in employment history.

Also, when you apply online, you have to be really sure that your resume is "scannable"--meaning, you need to have words in it that match what the company/position is looking for. This will mean tailoring your resume to match what the job description says are necessary qualities to have almost every time you send it. I find that the more I focus on certain positions or certain companies the more successful I am with getting an interview.

I also think that the way I structured my husband's resume helped him out--we put all of his skills at the top in bullet lists and wrote a summary of the years of experience and in which areas of expertise. This took up half of the first page, and then we followed it by Relevant Work History--so the first thing they saw was all the good qualities my husband had, and then after they were impressed by his skills, they would see that his work experience was from overseas. It took me a whole day to make his resume into this way, but it's worth it. He got a lot of good feedback about it.

That said, my husband's got a job and I don't! I ended up putting my job search on hold so that I could help him get a job first. Thankfully I've got one job offer and another one in the works, which I landed by going to a local Job Fair and going up to employers and making a good first impression. The biggest hurdle I've got now, though, is explaining what I've been doing for 2 years outside of the U.S. and why I have 10 month gaps in employment on my resume. Thankfully, at a job fair, you can do that before they ask about it and make it into a positive and also ask for feedback (well, great speaking with you; would you mind providing me with a bit of feedback about my resume or my skill set since I'm always looking to improve myself?) At job fairs, they're all hiring managers, so they know what they like to see and what they consider red flags. Also, you can go to job fairs in groups (a lot of people do) so you can go with your significant other, and you can help each other look at different employers/positions available.

Food for thought. As for employers who never get back to you: follow up with them! Call their office, send them emails, remind them about yourself, and always ask for feedback from them so that the next time around you know why you weren't picked for a position and can put a positive spin on it. And don't let them just say nice things about you, ask them for constructive criticism. Another thing you can try in this situation, is if they're willing to give you feedback, ask them if they know of anyone who might be looking for someone with your skill set. You never know what they may say.

[xmgirl 4]

My husband and i have been back stateside for almost 2 months now. He had a job offer before he had received his SSN in the mail, but then again he's had extensive experience in his field plus previous experience working overseas in an English speaking country, which makes him a desirable candidate (good english, lots of experience, and minimal time in between his last job). He was told by his current employer that he'll have to start on a "temp to hire" basis, because since he didn't have any US experience coming in, the employer was essentially "taking a risk" on him (no professional references or job history in the U.S.)

I'm not one to give advice, because while my husband got his job in his area quickly, he still finds it's frustrating to be working as "entry-level" whereas he's got over 10 years experience under his belt and knows way more than top management. He's considering pursuing a US degree here, just to be able to move into higher-level positions faster than he would otherwise, and I fully support him in that.

I have zero experience and contacts in terms of his area of work, so I put him in contact with some friends in our area, and through them we found someone for him to talk to. The guy was a small-business owner in my husband's area, and had a lot of good tips and ideas for my husband. I went with my husband to meet with him, even though my husband's english is quite good, it was more for moral support and in case there was any crisis in understanding. The next few days we made up a spiffy resume for my husband, and then we made a list of businesses that he was interested in working for, and we hit the road. We went door to door to the businesses and my husband went in to speak with the managers. I think going in personally helps to give the managers an idea of who is behind the resume, especially if a person's resume doesn't have U.S. experience or gaps in employment history.

Also, when you apply online, you have to be really sure that your resume is "scannable"--meaning, you need to have words in it that match what the company/position is looking for. This will mean tailoring your resume to match what the job description says are necessary qualities to have almost every time you send it. I find that the more I focus on certain positions or certain companies the more successful I am with getting an interview.

I also think that the way I structured my husband's resume helped him out--we put all of his skills at the top in bullet lists and wrote a summary of the years of experience and in which areas of expertise. This took up half of the first page, and then we followed it by Relevant Work History--so the first thing they saw was all the good qualities my husband had, and then after they were impressed by his skills, they would see that his work experience was from overseas. It took me a whole day to make his resume into this way, but it's worth it. He got a lot of good feedback about it.

That said, my husband's got a job and I don't! I ended up putting my job search on hold so that I could help him get a job first. Thankfully I've got one job offer and another one in the works, which I landed by going to a local Job Fair and going up to employers and making a good first impression. The biggest hurdle I've got now, though, is explaining what I've been doing for 2 years outside of the U.S. and why I have 10 month gaps in employment on my resume. Thankfully, at a job fair, you can do that before they ask about it and make it into a positive and also ask for feedback (well, great speaking with you; would you mind providing me with a bit of feedback about my resume or my skill set since I'm always looking to improve myself?) At job fairs, they're all hiring managers, so they know what they like to see and what they consider red flags. Also, you can go to job fairs in groups (a lot of people do) so you can go with your significant other, and you can help each other look at different employers/positions available.

Food for thought. As for employers who never get back to you: follow up with them! Call their office, send them emails, remind them about yourself, and always ask for feedback from them so that the next time around you know why you weren't picked for a position and can put a positive spin on it. And don't let them just say nice things about you, ask them for constructive criticism. Another thing you can try in this situation, is if they're willing to give you feedback, ask them if they know of anyone who might be looking for someone with your skill set. You never know what they may say.

Mrsarigh,

Thank you for sharing with us about your husband's experience. I just think it is a challenge this transtition from coming to live permanently to this country then find a job that fits our expectations. I have been shocked that they ask for an entry level job 2-5 years of experience. I know everything is hard, but I really trust that you need to try and try till you get what you want.

I am still on the process of looking trought internet job hunters and companies web sites a job position I could fill in. Because my long term goal is to continue studies I am just looking for a job that is in my area of expertise and education ( CS ).

Greetings

Edited June 3, 2008 by xmgirl

[kittybear 0]

My work background is in admin assistant, and I'm currently working as one for a local company. I have a uni degree, which has been a hindrance in some interviews, but these took me anyways.

Another questionmark has been the references, since they're all from my home country, they're hard to get a hold of.

Anyway, I applied to temp agency, they tested me for office skills and then went on to find a job for me. Not highly paid, but once I get into this company's payroll, that will change too. Oh, and it took me a month or 2 to get the job.

[sweetpink 1]

My work background is in admin assistant, and I'm currently working as one for a local company. I have a uni degree, which has been a hindrance in some interviews, but these took me anyways.

Another questionmark has been the references, since they're all from my home country, they're hard to get a hold of.

Anyway, I applied to temp agency, they tested me for office skills and then went on to find a job for me. Not highly paid, but once I get into this company's payroll, that will change too. Oh, and it took me a month or 2 to get the job.

did they consider you as over qualified ? or is it more of a question that you went to a university out in the US?

[Mina76 0]

My husband applied for the bank by posting his resume directly with the bank's website and was called within a couple of weeks for an interview.

[kazuki 0]

The first job I got in the US was when I was in college. I applied for a campus job online first. No answer. And then, second semester, I applied again, and I got a call from my supervisor.

Now, I am looking for a new fulltime job. I think it really depends. My husband had to take a lot of computer tests because of his positions. But, I am more interested in having a customer service/sales job. Does anyone work as a customer service or sales? I am a little worried about my English.