Employment Help

[Gemmie 142]

I know, I totally regret letting her in on that. I think I was just nervous, so when she asked me if I was going to continue this internship when it started back up again, I said I would probably do so in my spare time as it's great experience and she's also a friend of mine. Doh! We live and learn. I think at the back of my head, I was thinking if I make it clear that it's more of a friendship rather than a professional commitment, it's more flexible should I get this full-time position.

I do have a LinkedIn account but honestly I don't understand it at all, and have no one on my list. Is it a professional networking site?

But I did send her an email afterwards to say thank you for the meeting.

[TimandJoyce 1]

And truth be told, i don't know what i really want to do. I thought about going back to school part time, but we just don't have the funds for that right now, and i'm going to be 37 this December. Starting over at this age, well kinda feels meh lol.

I know how you feel!! I gave up an excellent job back in BC.....*sigh*...and I really don't want to do retail..etc. I'd like a job that has some kind of meaning to it. I, too, am thinking about school....and I'm 46!!! There is a massage therapy course that just started this year, but I won't be able to take it until next fall, so that will put me at 47...and 48 when I'm through!

I'm quite worried about it because after a 45 minute phone call, a 2 hour interview, and then having to track down some old references and scan a copy of my work for her, it would be awful if it didn't work out. The sad thing is that everyone made it quite clear that it's the bottom of the ladder and I would be doing the jobs that no one else wants to do. I'm willing to do that, please give me a break here.

I hear ya!! I had a 2 hour interview at a retail store!! The whole first part was fine, and I actually thought she was going to hire me...then I had to do this weird "test" thing, *94 questions..do I agree or disagree with the statement*, credit check, and criminal check. So really, it wasn't even up to her if I got hired....I didn't. I ended up going away a week after the interview, so was too busy to call back and stuff, but I told Tim, that I'm not sure I wanted to work there anyway after all that!

I really think in some areas it's harder to find work for non citizens. We just got to keep trying, and hope for the best. As others said..volunteer where you can, and just keep sending out those resumes. Where I live, it's really not that easy, and a lot of the stores around here are kinda "trendy" and managers can see that I'm, well, not. LOL. So that makes a BIG difference too.

I know a waitress in one of the restaurants here. She told me she could talk with her boss about getting me on as a hostess, (seating people, cleaning tables) I may look into that when we get back from my son's wedding in October.

[sachinky 464]

I thought I'd pop in here and give my two cents.

I POEd on May 20. I had a job at a local community bank in Michigan by mid-June. I applied through their corporate website. Had a phone interview, an in-person interview with the Assistant Manager (who would've been my supervisor) and then another one with the General Manager. Was supposed to start mid-July but Mr. Sachinky (the USC) got an offer in New Mexico that we couldn't turn down. So we packed up our bags and moved to Albuquerque end-July. I got hired as a kindergarten teacher at a private academy close-by in mid-August. I responded to their listing online and they called me in for an interview. I applied on Friday, interviewed on Saturday, signed the papers on Sunday and started school on Monday.

Honestly, don't bust yourself about it. It's gonna happen, when it's gonna happen. Heck, I remember whinging for hours the Friday before I got called in for the interview at the school and saying things like, 'we should've never moved here.'

My pointers: Apply, apply, apply. Follow up in-person. Streamline your resume. Dress professionally for the interview. I go all out. Irrespective of what the job is, I wear a business suit. Seriously, I was shocked to see the other teacher (who was waiting outside while I was interviewing) wearing a tight t-shirt and a short skirt. Don't be too nervous. I know, easier said than done. Use your 'difference-ness' as a non-USC to your advantage. Explain the differences. Always. Be confident. Talk about how you do things in UK/India/Egypt and how you understand things are different here and that you can't wait to overcomes those challenges. I always treat it like an interesting conversation and I find that most people respond to that. Smile. Look them in the eye. And DON'T RAMBLE.

Edited September 10, 2010 by sachinky

[Krikit 1,163]

Congratulations on your two jobs, Sachinky!

Gemmie, I am keeping my fingers crossed for you. Congratulations on surviving the interview!

[sachinky 464]

Thank you, Krikit! Teaching kindergarten is exhausting but I love it!

Technically it was 3 jobs. I also got hired at a Best Buy in MI while I was waiting to hear back from the bank but only worked there for a week. Same drill, apply through their website, one phone interview. And two interviews in-person.

Edited September 10, 2010 by sachinky

[Inky 1,110]

Well after being jobless for a really long time since I got here and trying tons of things, im borrowing Iggs note she used on her resume, put a little note on mine as well as revamped the entire thing. All my friends I had showed it to said its fine but maybe its not since im getting no interviews at all and no call backs. Ended up rewording some things on it and moving sections around and omitting some sections completely. Its still two pages long! no idea how I crushed that much info before into 2 pages. Also I never thought of looking on craigslist and I took a poke on there today at the job section, some of them looked really questionable but there are a few that were posted today that I can drive over and give my resumes too. Have to wait for the furnature guy to get here first tho.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I think I've mentioned before that the insurance agency I work at is hiring. They have been looking for someone for over a month now, and they haven't been able to find a good applicant to fill the position. They actually offered the position to someone earlier in the week, but they waited too long and she already accepted an offer with a different company. I just find it interesting that there are so many smart, motivated people here in this forum looking for work, and we can't seem to find anyone like that. I was looking at some resumes today, and you just wouldn't believe the ridiculous things some people put out there for a prospective employer to read. It really blows my mind. We received a resume via e-mail today from a woman who attached a picture of herself wearing a tank top with massive cleavage hanging out. I'm not sure what kind of job she thought she was applying for! There was another person who typed up this sob story in the cover letter about how he's been in the hospital and is going to be evicted from his apartment because he's unemployed and can't pay his rent. Did he really think that approach was going to work? They just discarded it.

[Inky 1,110]

When i worked in canada at the pet store, we used to get this guy come in ALL the time and drop off " his resume " it looked like it was typed on one of thos really really old fashioned type writers, and it was so unbelievable and made up.. he worked for all these HUGE corperations for many years some even overlapping he was in his late 50tys and wanted to work at a pet store with this huge 4 page resume..

Another one we got was from this girl looked like she never went to highschool maybe was on welfair, her resume was hand writen FULL of spelling mistakes, double spaced all capital leters and said things like " i right good, i can organize, i love pets and animals " etc etc

i dont know!

also when i got employed there one of the FIRST questions i was asked was " do you have poor health or take a lot of sick days? " I would think saying u were in the hospital would be a bad thing and make your prospective employers think you have poor health and might not go to work to much!

[Inky 1,110]

Ahhh there is an opening for a Volunteer surgical assistant and i really want to apply for it! im totally qualified beond what they are asking and it would be great to put on my resume till i can find an actual job, plus help get me more current with american practice!! but I just found out i might be able to go to england or greece if i pass up on this offer... but its possible i might not get to go even if i do pass the offer @_@ hateeeeeeeeeeeeeee lol

[milimelo 4,413]

Took me close to 3 months to get a job when I first came here - this with lining up interviews even before I was in the US. What seemed to work for me was by-passing the monster.com and other websites and going straight to employer websites and applying directly. I didn't even have problems signing up with a couple of employment agencies in Chicago but ended up finding a full-time position with benefits on my own.

For the current position (over 2.5 yrs now), I just sent in my resume and forgot about it only to receive a phone call for a short over the phone interview followed by 3 in-person interviews at their Chicago office. I think sending to each of the 3 in-person interviewers hand-written thank you messages made the difference and got me the job.

Of course, once I accepted this position, other either offers or interview requests started rolling in but had to turn them down. One interesting one was at UofChicago offer that came to my mailbox without anyone even calling to say hey we're offering you this position you interviewed for...

The place I work for has probably close to 500 openings throughout US - if anyone is interested, send me a pm and I'll direct you to the website.

[Krikit 1,163]

Ahhh there is an opening for a Volunteer surgical assistant and i really want to apply for it! im totally qualified beond what they are asking and it would be great to put on my resume till i can find an actual job, plus help get me more current with american practice!! but I just found out i might be able to go to england or greece if i pass up on this offer... but its possible i might not get to go even if i do pass the offer @_@ hateeeeeeeeeeeeeee lol

Nice on the possibility of a trip! But apply for the position as if you knew nothing about the trip. As you said... it may never materalize..... but the job has. Good luck!

The place I work for has probably close to 500 openings throughout US - if anyone is interested, send me a pm and I'll direct you to the website.

I may be interested. What type of industry is it?

[Gemmie 142]

Me too, can you give more details please?

[Ontarkie 14,133]

Me too, I've looked at all kinds of places started to think its hopeless.

[The_Dude 1,142]

She did ask me to give her some references but said I couldn't use the supervisor for my internship as she is also my friend... and she doesn't want academic references like teachers, she wants professional ones. I had no idea what to tell her. All of my previous jobs in the UK either closed down, the supervisors left, or it was from like 5 years ago where they wouldn't even remember me. She kinda scanned through my resume and noted that I didn't have much to offer there, so I told her I would find a summer job from a couple of years ago when I worked in a kitchen serving food. Not really the best, but.... honestly, studying in the UK is MUCH different than the US. We're covered by the government with living expenses so we don't have to find jobs other than in the summer when our grants are on hold. None of my friends had jobs in school. It seems in the US that you HAVE to work a lot to support yourself during school. I think she didn't like that I have no professional references.

I know I might get eviscerated for suggesting this, but........ If you don't have a good reference, you can lie about it. Just do some social engineering and get a friend to pose as a former supervisor, or colleague at a former job. As long as they are intelligent enough and you can fill them in with enough background information, it works. Yes, I know it's dishonest, but if you're stuck with no other option, what can I say.

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I have a question for others, regarding thank you notes after an interview. I know all the job hunting etiquette books say you should send them off one so that they remember you, and remember you in a good light. However, I was in a position previously where I did several hires and have subsequently spoken to half a dozen friends and former colleagues for whom hiring is a part of their job. All but one said that they don't actually read the thank you cards. One even went so far as to say that he doesn't read them, and thinks of it as brown nosing, which she despises. The other four who said that they don't really read them were indifferent about it. The only person in my little informal survey who did read them was much older (62) than the others (29 - 38).

Personally, I have always been against sending out thank you cards. However, I can at least see some context into where it would be appropriate, I suppose you would need to get a good read on your interviewer.

[Inky 1,110]

I have never heard of thank you cards for interviews.. thats an interesting thing for me to learn today.. I might only send something like that to a large company tho not some random retail job.