4 year degree in economics and 6 years sales experience. Just looking at what we need to do next.

[Chris M 1]

Hey all. So Tanya has been here for almost a month, and is already talking about getting a job. As stated in the subject line she has a 4 year degree in economics, and another degree in fiance/accounting. She had been working for an oil and coal company in her home town selling oil and coal to companies. Not trying to "toot her horn," but she was tops in her company of 15 salespeople, and was given awards and holidays to Turkey a couple times for a job well done. She is good at what she does. So my question is what can we do, or what experiences have some of you endured to find employment for someone with a 4 year degree? She is a little concerned about working because she had talked to some other people who live here who are from Russia and it has been tough for them. I'm not expecting it to be easy, but at the same time I know we can work together to find her something. I know lots of people here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who might be able to help. Lots of recruiters, and headhunter types I have worked with in the past, and recently. If anyone needs help in Pittsburgh, and I can forward you their emails. This is mostly for IT and engineering positions, but at the same time most are big enough companies that could point you to someone else in your career field.

She is also taking an English class at the local community college, and I told her just work on her English for now, and the rest will follow.

I am also talking to the HR department of my company to see if she can volunteer in the marketing department without an EAD or permit of any kind. I am waiting to hear what they say. I hope having an EAD, or not, will not prohibit someone from volunteering/working for free. What company wouldn't want people to work for free, right? UPDATE: HR here said she probably still needs a work visa/permit even if she wants to work for free or volunteer. Kinda silly, but they are going to look in to it for me a little more.

Am I leading her on with false hopes? Of course I do not want to do that, but she wants to work, and contribute to the "family income" I guess you could say. Let me know what we can do to better her chances, and I appreciate the help. Thanks.

[YuAndDan 153]

Moving to finding work in the USA forum...

[AmyWrites 593]

I'm not a Russian but my field is economics and finance (although mine is more research based so my advice will have a bias towards that).

Where did she get her degree from? Unfortunately being a foreigner she'll need a degree from a fairly well known uni in Russia. Good news is that those degrees are "useful" degrees, not a doomed from the start degree like philosophy.

What type of job does she want? Does she want to stick to sales?

She'd have a good chance at a good career (research based academia at least) if she pursued graduate degrees in economics. She might be stuck in academia for a while though. The fact that she has multiple degrees and experience would help her towards getting accepted in a grad school and in many cases she'd get a stipend or some part of the tuition paid if she became a TA and then she could have that on her resume as well, so she could pursue a research or teaching based career in academia.

If she can find any type of recommendation or something (proof, really) of her experience in Russia that would help. If she can't do that, volunteer work or internships it is, unfortunately, even if it means she needs her EAD. She certainly needs to have a good grasp of English, and like you said, without that her chances aren't so favorable. If her English is already good (or when it improves) some marketing courses could help her excel in a sales based career in the US.

So I'd say, you need to:

1. Make sure her english is at least at intermediate-advanced level, and then

2. Have her get experience whether it be through volunteer work or an internship OR take some courses in an area she wishes to specialize in OR go to grad school (I'd say this route has a better chance of guaranteeing her a good job but it'll take a while before she gets there).

Of course she can teach/tutor in Russian as well. I don't know how your city is but it was damn near impossible to get Russian classes or tutors where I'm from.

If you need anything else feel free to message me.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

She should get her degree evaluated by WES http://www.wes.org/ or a similar service - there are a few threads on here from people who have done that. That will help any potential employer understand her qualifications.

I would also look and see if there are any companies in the area that have an international sales operations, where your wife's languages and international experience would be an asset.

Edited April 4, 2011 by Trompe le Monde

[Jojo92122 1,924]

Hey all. So Tanya has been here for almost a month, and is already talking about getting a job. As stated in the subject line she has a 4 year degree in economics, and another degree in fiance/accounting. She had been working for an oil and coal company in her home town selling oil and coal to companies. Not trying to "toot her horn," but she was tops in her company of 15 salespeople, and was given awards and holidays to Turkey a couple times for a job well done. She is good at what she does. So my question is what can we do, or what experiences have some of you endured to find employment for someone with a 4 year degree? She is a little concerned about working because she had talked to some other people who live here who are from Russia and it has been tough for them. I'm not expecting it to be easy, but at the same time I know we can work together to find her something. I know lots of people here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who might be able to help. Lots of recruiters, and headhunter types I have worked with in the past, and recently. If anyone needs help in Pittsburgh, and I can forward you their emails. This is mostly for IT and engineering positions, but at the same time most are big enough companies that could point you to someone else in your career field.

She is also taking an English class at the local community college, and I told her just work on her English for now, and the rest will follow.

I am also talking to the HR department of my company to see if she can volunteer in the marketing department without an EAD or permit of any kind. I am waiting to hear what they say. I hope having an EAD, or not, will not prohibit someone from volunteering/working for free. What company wouldn't want people to work for free, right? UPDATE: HR here said she probably still needs a work visa/permit even if she wants to work for free or volunteer. Kinda silly, but they are going to look in to it for me a little more.

Am I leading her on with false hopes? Of course I do not want to do that, but she wants to work, and contribute to the "family income" I guess you could say. Let me know what we can do to better her chances, and I appreciate the help. Thanks.

It doesn't matter if she is willing to work for free. She is not authorized to work in the US period.

This is similar to someone who wants to have a foreign relative come to help with a baby. The work is free. Give this as a reason for wanting a non-immigrant visa to the US and the applicant will be rejected.

Edited April 4, 2011 by Jojo92122

[thatbritishlass 2]

It doesn't matter if she is willing to work for free. She is not authorized to work in the US period.

This is similar to someone who wants to have a foreign relative come to help with a baby. The work is free. Give this as a reason for wanting a non-immigrant visa to the US and the applicant will be rejected.

Volunteering is acceptable though, so this is a grey area. I started volunteering for a local wish charity organisation in January before I got my EAD. No problems. It would depend whether your company would require her to be on the payroll (even if she is not being paid) for insurance purposes. But somebody in your HR department should deal with eligibility to work etc and give you a definitive answer.

I don't know what it's like in Philly but down here in Orlando pretty much every job I have been sent via Monster or CareerBuilder has been in sales, and I have absolutely no experience. If you are willing to go into insurance then there are definitely plenty of opportunities

I would say she has a decent shot of getting something in that area, just work on the English and I would also consider getting her degree evaluated by WES or similar as someone mentioned above. Good luck

[Chris M 1]

Thanks all for your input. She has sold Mary Kay on top of her normal job as well, so the girl may be a born salesperson. I think there are enough temp agencies, recruiters/headhunters, people I know, etc... that we should be OK. I think just wants something to do now. we are going away for a week Friday, so I told her to relax, and just continue to learn English. English is the key at this point. the rest will fall in to place.

I looked in to WES before, and also did some review searching, and found nothing but bad reviews. Seems like a scam. As of now she is not looking to go back to school, other than learning better English which she is taking currently at a community college. The good thing is she has met some new people, and one of which is from Ukraine so they have Russian things to talk about.

[Jojo92122 1,924]

Volunteering is acceptable though, so this is a grey area. I started volunteering for a local wish charity organisation in January before I got my EAD. No problems. It would depend whether your company would require her to be on the payroll (even if she is not being paid) for insurance purposes. But somebody in your HR department should deal with eligibility to work etc and give you a definitive answer.

I don't know what it's like in Philly but down here in Orlando pretty much every job I have been sent via Monster or CareerBuilder has been in sales, and I have absolutely no experience. If you are willing to go into insurance then there are definitely plenty of opportunities

I would say she has a decent shot of getting something in that area, just work on the English and I would also consider getting her degree evaluated by WES or similar as someone mentioned above. Good luck

Volunteering for a charity is very different from an unpaid internship with a for-profit company.