Jobs in the USA

[Reba 2]

just check with the community colleges there, they'd know what the requirements are, and they'd know if and where there are any openings.

[BJZags 17]

It cracks me up when I explain to my fiancee that finding a "good" job in America is extremely difficult, even if you are American. Then I go on and explain how my first job AFTER college was at Taco Bell. Not everyone walks into the perfect situation, it takes leg-work and effort. The temp. agencies are a good way of gaining experience and padding the resume. Another thing that can help is to volunteer somewhere while waiting on work authorization. This could show a potential employer that you are serious about working and not one to simply sit on your butt. If you have a foreign degree, maybe a possibility would be to obtain a Masters Degree from an American school, then any doubt about educational requirments would be eliminated. Just some thoughts that I've been kicking around for my fiancee's situation.

[Anna C. 4]

I'll try the temp agencies also, as well as Spherion and other companies like that. I hope it'll work out!!!

Though my first job will be being a waitress, until we find a better job for me. *sigh*

I think the resume is important, but also that you are able to do marketing about yourself during the interview. I'll let you know how my experience will be!

Good luck,

Anna

[villagespin2003 0]

Niko had a terrible time finding a job when he moved here in the summer of 2004. He sent out a ton of resumes, all over the northeast (we are in New York state) and the market was so tight that he never even got a response. I mean, a Thanks but no thanks form letter? Nothing.

So he decided to try to volunteer at a refugee center in the small city we were living in. It ended up being a part time position, paid, but it did wonders for his energy and self-confidence, to be teaching English to people from all over the world--none of them believed him that he too was a recent immigrant!

Once we moved to where I got a new job, another small city, he canvassed for jobs something fierce. He ended up working at Lord & Taylor, taking 3 buses (we only had one car) and even riding a bike in the snow to work!

Here is the kicker: he went to college here in the US--at Yale!! He speaks 9 languages fluently and I am yet to meet anyone who believes he is not American because he has no accent. He ran his own travel company and taught English to high school students as well as film to college students in Slovenia. The job market where we live just really really sucks and people are not open at all to immigrants. I know someone who was a lawyer in his country and delivered pizzas here in the US when he came over because no one recognized his skills (and I am not even talking practicing law, even filing in a law office!).

Now before we get too depressing, I will move on to the hopeful, light at the end of the tunnel portion of the story. While at Lord & Taylor, he met someone who told him about a corporate training company. He worked there for a few months, but he had to travel all the time. He called a temp agency a friend of mine from work had worked with and he ended up doing business to business marketing and audits, but he worked on a lot of projects that let him use his French. He met someone getting his MBA at a university here with an excellent program and realized that the coursework really appealed to him. He is now in his second year of his MBA, half the tuition is being paid for by the school for his academic record, he loves his classes, he was able to meet lots of people from all over the world at school and he was just offered the job of his dreams (with one year of school still left!) which will let us go back to Europe for a year to live while he works!

What a ramble! Anyway, you might have to take a job that is not what you expected or that you want, but you never know where it might lead you. Every job Niko had, he met someone or had some experience that led him to where he wanted to be. A lot depends on where you are going, who you know that can make connections for you and how open the area is to immigrants.

Good luck with everything. Don't get discouraged because it really all will work out for the best in the end. I am hopeful that you will have an easy time finding a wonderful job.

[homesick_american 1]

Being foreign has hurt me badly in my job search in the UK, since recruiters here seem to be too stupid to understand that people educated in the United States will not have ANY GCSEs, O-levels, or A-levels. They also seem to be 100% blind to the fact that US bachelor's degrees are very broad-based whereas UK ones are narrow and as such, take less time to complete.

Americans still have an inferiority complex when it comes to our education system so if you're coming from Europe, people will probably assume you're smarter than you actually are anyway.

[aidan80 9]

My experience so far has been well.. I’ll summarize it.

Back home I worked as an ICT Technician; I’ve applied for about 5 IT jobs since I’ve got my EAD in August. I’m limited to where I can apply as we only have one car and there isn’t any public transport in this area.

So far I’ve had no responses to anything but I did get one interview last Friday 15th September for a County Government job. I arrived early, dressed nice and brought a folder containing references and certificates. All in all, the entire interview lasted approx 40 – 45 minutes.

I was told about a former employee from Europe they had in the past, who had problems with “citizenship” and had to go home they said this former employee also had trouble obtaining a driving license. I informed them I shouldn’t have any problems & had only just been given permission to work and had applied for a learner’s license & would obtain a full license ASAP. At the end of the interview I was told the position opened in approx 2 weeks, shown around the office and was told they’d give me a call during the week. When they called to setup the interview they did make a salary offer over the phone which seemed fairly decent.

So far, almost 1 week later I’ve not heard a thing; don’t know if that’s good or bad. I don’t know if they’ll hire me or not or if being from a different country will put them off or if the driving license will.

[SuzyBandseer 0]

Anna,

Did your husband help you rework your lebenslauf into an American style resume? I would also try to just translate the titles of the degrees into the closest things to the English equivalents. You can always explain anything in more detail when you get to an interview. I would also try to avoid using German job titles on the resume unless it is absolutely necessary because it might look scary.

We rewrote my husband's English CV into an American resume so it was in familiar format and wording. Things like hobbies and marital status are a big no-no. We also included a line about his eligibility to work in the US because if there is no info they are likely just to chuck your stuff out unless you are really outstanding or they have no one else.

It's always important to take the time to submit a cover letter when you send in your resume. If you summarize your qualifications for the specific job you are applying for, it makes it easier for them to take a better look at you. And helps them be convinced they will like you before they even talk to you! Another thing that I think might be unique to the US is sending a thank you (email is OK) after an interview. It is fairly standard in the US, but my German boss thought "wow, this guy is really interested!" after we got a thank you from an American interviewee the other day.

My husband and I are both looking for jobs in NC from overseas now (we're in Munich til Oct 24) and sort of in the same position-- you have to be local. And many, many, times the jobs are given to people who know someone working at the company. So the other day I sent out an email to my friends and old colleagues with a few lines about what sort of jobs we were looking for, our skills, and backgrounds. I asked them if they heard of any openings or knew people who worked at our target companies (we listed examples), please let us know, and told them they could forward the email and that we had resumes ready.

Another idea is to join a professional organization. Then you have another source of networking and also another name on your resume a recruiter might recognize.

Hope this gives you some more ideas. Job hunting has never been my favorite thing so I feel your pain! You sound really with it though and in the end I think you will find a job that values your international experience rather than holds it against you.

[daveandlirio 0]

Two thoughts:

1) Consider starting a business of your own in whatever field interests you. Starting a business (especially a sole proprietorship) in the US is pretty easy and many resources are out there that help minorities with funding start-ups (see the Small Business Administration for specifics).

2) Pick a specialty that is in high demand, but requires minimal effort for certification.

For example, massage therapy, hair syling, dental assistant, security guard, etc.

[karenros 0]

Anna

I live in Charlotte, NC and i am basically from india, and i came to the US in Jan 2005 and i started working on Aug 25 2006, yeah it does take a long time to get a job in charlotte, u can try taking a small course at CPCC, at the charlotte campus, or mathews or huntersville so that u can get access to their career center. thats what i did and i got many interviews from there and also got my first job thru the CPCC community college, my course just costed around 63 dollars, i took continuing ED class and getting access to their career center really helped me. the cousenlors are good and really helpful and they will set up some mock interviews.

hope this helps.

Karen

Edited October 3, 2006 by karenros

[Anna C. 4]

HI guys,

Thanks for the adive!

1) My resume is already in English-American style, my hubbie helped me back then when I got the offer to do my traineeship in New York. Fortunately I worked for Infineon in Munich, and their company language is English so even my letter of recommendation is in English!

2) I tried monster.com so far, because I am still waiting for my EAD. But I have an interview today with a marketing company in Charlotte! I would start in January, my EAD should be there by then.

3) Yeah we translated as much as possible - also calculated my GPA for my MA into the American version (it's vice versa somehow, a 4 is the optimum, that's the worst grade you can get in Germany).

4) We contacted two recruiting companies. I have appointments next week!

5) We attend the meetings of the German society here in Charlotte. They have good advice and also I will send out my resume and cover letters to the German companies, there are a lot. For insiders: Tesa Tape and Berndes are here!

I will let you know how everything works out... But so far it seems not to be too hard to find a job. The most important thing is to be prepared, polite and good at self-marketing. I'm happy that I have the work experience from New York, I feel more confident that I know from there that not-knowing one word is not the end of the world (I was concerned about that).

@ SuzyBandseer: Will you live in Charlotte or somewhere else? The most attractive local employer is Bank of America, followed by Wachovia. The triangle area (Raleigh & co) is good for IT people.

Anna

[Jahan&Veena 4]

Hello ALL!

This is a very interesting topic and I have been following it for some time. We are also in NC, about 50 miles from Charlotte.

We just filed for our AOS/EAD on Oct 2nd. Without the EAD there is not much to do so I am home most of the day, either on VJ or on job hunting websites! My favourite is careerbuilder.com

I have a 2-year college degree from UK in IT (Software Development) and have posted my resume on careerbuilder.com. Fortunately, I have already received a few *good* offers already...but unfortunately I had to tell them I was waiting for my EAD. Two of them have asked to call them back as soon as I get my EAD! Most offers are from Charlotte area.

A previous poster has suggested to join a college for a short course to make use of their Career Development services. I think this is a great idea. I have decided to join New Horizons in Charlotte to get some industry-recognized certifications to pursue a career in Network Administration. I am expecting to have my EAD around Xmas time, so couldnt think of anything better to do in this time. This way, I will have my certification by the time I get EAD and New Horizons will do the job hunting for me, which is good

For IT professionals, New Horizons is Microsoft Gold Certified and they also have a Career Development plan with links to many IT employers.

Will keep you all updated and looking forward to hearing your experiences too.

Jahan

[SuzyBandseer 0]

Sorry Anna, I have not been on VisaJourney for a while. We are moving to Raleigh/Durham next week. I accepted a job with a software company in Raleigh after a few phone interviews. I found the job on Monster. My husband was working for o2 here in Munich and he has put his resume on Monster and on a tech job site (dice.com). He has gotten a couple calls but so far nothing has been quite right.

Too bad you are not moving to RTP since there is an Infineon office there! I am guessing you have found something by now anyway.

[gtigiant 0]

Read thru most of the thread, and honestly I can't offer much more help on top of what has already been stated. Just want to wish you the best in your job search.

[Anna C. 4]

Hi guys,

I can truly say that all offers on monster or other websites for marketing and communications are traps. All they are looking for are sales reps, and that's not what I want nor ever did. I don't like interacting with customers, only with business customers, but I don't want to be the sales person!! I mean I spent 6 years at college to get a scientific degree, there must be more out there.

And yes there is. The good jobs are there. You need to contact recruiters for that. We are now in touch with several of them, but unfortunately winter is a slow hiring season. There won't be any openings till January, but that's fine since I will be at home all December.

I am just a little furious because those monster job offer people tell you on the phone that it is a regular marketing position (ergo product marketing, you invent strategies how to sell a new product), but then you go there for your interview and are told totally different things. Happened twice!!!!! Be aware of those companies!

Yeah I'm sad not to be in the Triangle, I already know some people at Infineon there! That would have been a good chance, since their boss' boss was my direct boss back in Munich, he could have arranged something for me!!!

Anyway, we will find something, it just takes time. I'll let you know when I found something!

Anna

[Reba 2]

I got spammed quite a lot from Insurance companies looking for sales people. Even after I removed my resume from CareerBuilders.

If you have the word "sales" or "marketing" in your resume or profile *anywhere* you're going to get spammed for sales positions. I had one rather rude interview wherein after the guy told m the job was insurance sales, I said "no thanks, I'm not interested". He got huffy and said "is it because its insurance?" I said "no, its because its sales!" when I had already stipulated on my cover letter and profile that I do not want a sales job

I've done sales. Dont like it.