Employment... are we getting anywhere anymore?

[Gemmie 142]

(I'm going to post this here as the whole thing affects our new life together in the US.)

I'm sorry, it's rant time.

My fiancee (American) has been having a lot of problems with employment. I decided to take it here as he's getting sick of hearing me complain about the situation.

He's an IT guy... he has an Associates degree and offered his technical support as well as his other skills to his former job; he worked at KOA. Initially as the person at the front desk, though it progressed into everything... outside jobs, cleaning, painting, DIY, driving etc. I always told him that they were using him as he was there for SIX YEARS and never recieved ANY pay rise... he got $8 per hour. You can get a better paying job at Walmart, or so we heard. His position here was Shift Supervisor. They always promised that they would try and find him a better salary and/or position but it never happened. One day he was even offered a position in Connecticut as Assistant Manager... for $9 per hour! They wanted him to move states for that? I don't think so!

Eventually, he left the company to work part-time with an IT and web-design company (which is what he really loves to do). My fiancee was asked for an expected salary and he told them that he needed to make around 20K due to immigration requirements. He was hired on the understanding that his hours will increase once they see what kind of work he can produce. Well, they liked the work. That was December, and months passed where nothing was found for him. In fact, his boss rarely even responded to his emails asking if he had anything for him as agreed, though he had no problem responding to questions about the work itself.

In March, his boss let him come to England to see me for a month and keep working from over here. He got back in April.. he hasn't even been PAID since getting back to the US. His boss claims that HIS employer hasn't paid *him*, so he's unable to pay his own employees. We've been waiting all this time, and finally on August 1st my fiancee sent him an official letter of warning since he hadn't been paid in almost 4 months. That letter hasn't even been acknowledged... meanwhile, he's still been asked about projects that need doing. We waited 2 months to send our K1 application off because he had no income. The only reason we were able to send it this month is because his family let him borrow the money.

We've been trying to look for another job but with the way the US is right now, there's nothing. He went through 2 months of applying and waiting, to be turned down for the perfect job... the rest don't even bother to respond. It feels hopeless. Why can't we just find an employer that isn't out to take advantage of us? I always tell my fiancee that he's too much of a pushover when it comes to saying "no" and going for what he wants, but he's convinced that he needs to do this just to keep the jobs he does have.

Just a rant, really.

I get so angry when I hear that his boss has emailed to ask about a project but doesn't even acknowledge the fact that he agreed to find him a full-time position 8 months ago... or that he hasn't paid him in 4 months.

His mother is hopefully going to co-sponsor if we haven't found anything by the interview. The fact that it's come to this has made me soooo annoyed, because he could easily make the income if his boss had kept his word.

(The funny thing is, his boss is my fiancee's dad's best friend. A few times I've stayed with him, they've been downstairs having beers together and my fiancee pretty much begged me not to go down and ask questions.)

[AlHayatZween 2]

sounds tough!

i don't know where your fiance lives, but the job market is BLEAK out there.

for everyone, us citizens and foreigners alike.

maybe he should try sending his resume to a temp agency. or try applying to random organizations he's never even thought of before... the good thing about IT is that there are jobs available in almost any industry from government jobs to private organizations, publishing, fashion, nonprofit... everyone needs an IT guy.

good luck out there!

[Gemmie 142]

My fiancee says there are no agencies in the area (he lives in Massachusetts) so it would be no different than dropping yet another resume on another server. Online applications seem to work the least.

Does anyone know of any good agencies?

Edited August 16, 2008 by Gemmie

[trinket 30]

Have your fiance tried Goodwill?

And you are right, people at walmart earns more, at least my hubby did, and he was just into warehousing, he started with minimum wage of 6.5 dollars per hour and within 2 years time, it was raised to 10 dollars and overtime used to be of 13 dollars per hour.

Though he had to leave the job after coming back from India and had to struggle a lot, he couldn't find any job for almost 2 years, actually became homeless, anyways long story short, Goodwill helped him finding a new job, he was into some program where they evaluate and take dozens of tests, though it did take around 3-4 months for the Goodwill agent to give him a job, but its worth it. He started with $8 per hour last august but within one year he is getting paid as 10.50 dollar per hour, so not so bad.

I know the situation is grim but hopefully he will land something better

[Gemmie 142]

Hmmm it appears to be for people with disadvantages such as disability or welfare dependence.. my fiancee doesn't have any of those.

Thanks for your support though, I'm glad your husband found his way into the working world.

Edited August 16, 2008 by Gemmie

[trinket 30]

Hmmm it appears to be for people with disadvantages such as disability or welfare dependence.. my fiancee doesn't have any of those.

Thanks for your support though, I'm glad your husband found his way into the working world.

I will have to ask him, but I am 100% sure he wasn't in any welfare dependence and he doesn't have any disability, may be him not having a job for 2 years worked his way. But do know he was in a program at the shelter where he would get to spend some nights.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Is he willing to relocate? (I mean assuming he is paid a decent wage). Perhaps he should be looking further afield with an eye to the possibility of moving to a different State.

[catrocks 0]

Gemmie,

This lovely boss you speak of.... is that a freelance job for your fiance? I work freelance right now and when I started I had to sign a contract (I won't leave and then steal their customers, etc) which also said that I had to send an invoice every 2 weeks, and that they would pay me within 30 days of the invoice. Did your fiance sign anything like that? If so his boss is breaching the contract. Who cares if his boss isn't being paid, if your fiance has done work for them and not been paid in 4 months something needs to happen! Find out if he signed anything like that and if he did, get him to call his boss on it. Not being paid in 4 months is unacceptable.

Some temp agencies (they have locations in MA but not sure if it's close to where your fiance lives):

http://www.us.manpower.com/uscom/index.jsp

http://www.kellyservices.com/web/global/services/en/pages/

http://www.adeccousa.com/pages/welcome.aspx

http://www.ajilonconsulting.com/

http://www.ajiloncom.com/

[catrocks 0]

Ooh here's some more

http://www.coworxstaffing.com/

http://www.plymouthcountybusinesslist.com/...nt-Agencies.htm

http://www.hwtemps.com/

[Gemmie 142]

Yeah, it is freelance.

I don't think he signed a contract as their communication has mostly been over the phone and through email. Also, my fiancee's dad works there too and since they're best friends (dad and boss), a formal contract was never brought up (to my knowledge, I'll ask him later when he's awake). Looking back, it seems so foolish to get involved with a company and not sign a contract when no much was on the line. But looking at the friendship between dad and boss, and the casual way it all began, I don't think anyone expected it would come to that.

My fiancee's dad hasn't been paid either. I told my fiancee that in the UK, this would NEVER happen. Last week, someone I knew went to Citizen's Advice because she hadn't been paid for 3 days... It would just be seen as unacceptable and something would be done immediately. I think the mentality is that if EVERYONE hasn't been paid, then my fiancee doesn't have a right to kick up a fuss about it either. No one else has, they're all waiting. Since he didn't even respond to the letter, I said we should be taking this to the next level, but my fiancee was like "I can't take him to court, that will make it worse.." I think he's worried because of the relationship between his boss and his dad.

I just really want him to find somewhere else to work. I've always had a bad feeling about this employer ever since he began ignoring our requests for more hours as agreed. This has been the last straw and every day that passes, I get more angry about the fact that my fiancee is just sitting around waiting for jobs to call him back, or his boss to pay him still. We need this job more than ever due to immigration. At the moment, it looks like I'll be living with the in-laws and having them sponsor me as well.

About re-locating... I asked him about this and he said it's the 'catch 22' thing... he needs money to move to another state (needing somewhere to stay) and he can't have money without an income. The best thing we can do is find somewhere that he can get to that actually hires him and then save up for a place closer to a city where he has more opportunities.

Thanks for the links... they are really helpful, and I'll be sure to send them along later this afternoon.

[Sylvia_n_Joseph 3]

Part of the problem is everyone is an IT/Web design specialist now days. They go buy a bit of software and sometimes take a class at a non accredited school and add IT/Web design to their resumes. It really isn't such a special skill anymore and the market is glutted with people. We get to pick through hundreds for any job we have and only pick those that are good at a secondary skill, usually in programming or building e-training. Does your fiance have a good collection of his work to show prospective employers ? What are his other skills ? Does he have training from anywhere acredited ? It makes a big difference. We don't really look at the certificates some have and they don't help get more $$ as the places selling them imply. Maybe he can target small businesses that have a product that is easily sold on the web and offer to help them get set up.

[Reba 2]

I certainly wouldn't be doing anymore jobs for this "employer" that's for damn sure. If nobody is being paid, everyone is just better off looking for some job where they *will* be paid. And despite the relationship with the bos and his dad, he (and his dad for that matter) should be looking to the labour board to report the lack of payment for work done.

[Gemmie 142]

Hmm... he graduated from ITT (specialises in technology) and he's been picking up experience along the way. Obviously with freelance, it's all different kind of work. He's put a few websites up online, designed things for a local school, and his job now requires all kinds of things. Sometimes he'll be doing web-design, othertimes he'll be going out and fixing hardware or programming. The hours just aren't enough. He's only making around 11-12K because he only works around 15 hours a week.

He does have a portfolio of his design work, though we haven't even got any reason to believe that people read his resume, let alone get to the stage where he can come in for an interview and show his work. He's submitted his resume to countless companies and gotten nothing back. He's only had 2 interviews... one for a large company in Boston working on design and one outside Boston for a computer technician for an elderly home. He feels that everything went fine at those interviews and they were impressed, though he'd been overshadowed by the other applicants that already have tons more experience. My fiancee is (almost) 24 years old and only graduated last year... how is he supposed to get his foot into the door and gain more experience when no one will hire him?

He's even trying to pick up jobs that don't require IT, seeing as he was supervisor for years, hoping to just make some money while he looks... but it's all so hopeless out there.

Edited August 17, 2008 by Gemmie

[Gemmie 142]

I certainly wouldn't be doing anymore jobs for this "employer" that's for damn sure. If nobody is being paid, everyone is just better off looking for some job where they *will* be paid. And despite the relationship with the bos and his dad, he (and his dad for that matter) should be looking to the labour board to report the lack of payment for work done.

I totally agree, but he remains certain that he should at least keep working so that he'll have money coming in *eventually* - if he quits, he'll have nothing anyway. He's already just sitting at home and applying for jobs, so he might as well work on some projects while looking for something else to grab.

Oh, and he said as it's with an independent contractor, there was never a contract to sign.

The whole thing is just bullshit really... it's really putting stress on our relationship as I feel so frustrated at the thought of not doing anything about it. He feels frustrated that I'm pushing him when he doesn't have anything else. We can't talk about work without it ending in a fight.

[Reba 2]

Perhaps ITT could help him find a job. Isn't that what their ads say?