How long did it take you to get a job?

[Eric-Pris 1,606]

My wife is going on 6 years of looking.. we're not giving up.

[chimey123 0]

HK12, I am an Accountant in Nigeria and will soon relocate to Chicago to be with my wife. What will you say are my chances of getting a job within 3months or less on a scale of 1-10. ?

[HK12 273]

HK12, I am an Accountant in Nigeria and will soon relocate to Chicago to be with my wife. What will you say are my chances of getting a job within 3months or less on a scale of 1-10. ?

I really can't give you a definite answer on that one. I don't know how good/bad the labor market is in Chicago, but I do think Accountants are always wanted/needed. I personally am not a CPA, and I am still somewhat at the entry-level, but still, I had no trouble finding a well-paying job. Good luck!!

Edited August 30, 2013 by HK12

[asharuet 1]

i think adminstration job is easy to get

[Anna Grant 169]

I have been a management trainer for 20 years and managed teams for 30 years. I have a number of relevant training qualifications but I have no degree. That is an immediate rejection for most jobs at my level in the US - the job market means they can demand to have a degree although I am more qualified with experience than a grad.

So. I've been attending all the local job seminars I can and visited a job fair in downtown Chicago 3 weeks ago. I visited a stand at the job fair and the person on the stand realized that I have so many transferable skills. So I have now changed career path and became licensed yesterday as a life insurance producer! I have a contract waiting for my EAD (I may contact USCIS on Tuesday as I have heard that they may possibly expedite my EAD because of the job offer).

So my advice is to get to job fairs - check your local area for 'job clubs' and workshops (my local area have a LinkedIn workshop in a couple of weeks) - check the Indeed website as that pulls job adverts from plenty of places - don't put yourself in a box and say 'this is what I've always done, so this is what I must continue to do'. Getting this job doesn't mean that I won't still look around for a training job but at least I will have income whilst I do (having taken 12 months to get through the K1 process, our savings are severally depleted!)

[elle13 15]

3 weeks of job hunting resulting in an interview. A week later, I got the perfect job! Praise God! I am really blessed and grateful because I know it's difficult to land a desirable first job with no US qualifications. As I'd moved from the UK, I had to update my resume to speak to the US audience (you'd be surprised how "foreign" a resume can look just because of its writing style). I also brushed up on my interview skills and made sure to prepare answers to more difficult common interview questions.

[agnesb 47]

As I'd moved from the UK, I had to update my resume to speak to the US audience (you'd be surprised how "foreign" a resume can look just because of its writing style).

Good to know! Will work on that tomorrow :-)

[elle13 15]

Good to know! Will work on that tomorrow :-)

Definitely! I think it made a world of difference. I got feedback on my first résumé by a kind HR manager who basically said it needed a complete overhaul because US recruiters wouldn't be used to it and would chuck it straight into the bin!

[HK12 273]

3 weeks of job hunting resulting in an interview. A week later, I got the perfect job! Praise God! I am really blessed and grateful because I know it's difficult to land a desirable first job with no US qualifications. As I'd moved from the UK, I had to update my resume to speak to the US audience (you'd be surprised how "foreign" a resume can look just because of its writing style). I also brushed up on my interview skills and made sure to prepare answers to more difficult common interview questions.

Yes, I agree about the American style resume. I got a whole bunch of books about resumes, cover letters and interviews from the our local library and worked through all of them. I believe preparation is the key to a lot of things.

[CJ8611 6]

I arrived Apr 30th but didn't actively look for a job until June. I'm in the market research field and it was pretty challenging because most of the job openings were in the east coast (I'm in Seattle). But regardless, I feel blessed as I got a job offer 2 weeks ago and it's in my field of specialization. I'll be starting on Oct 7th! That's about 4 months of job search, interviews and waiting.

The things I did:

1. Resume overhaul. Just like what the others said, following the American style is important. I revised and revised until I was satisfied. Also, making sure the important keywords from the job posting are present in the resume is a good thing. So that the resume gets picked. I believe they use a search program to go through their database of resumes.

2. Customized cover letters.

3. Read a lot about how to handle interviews.

4. I also preferred using LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor. I think recruiters are banking on LinkedIn, so it's good to have a LinkedIn profile and keep it really updated.

5. Just applied, applied and never gave up!

Something which I think I should have done was, maybe it would have been better if I started studying the job postings when I was still back in my home country. I realized that even in the same field, there are certain job requirements that vary from country to country. There are qualifications here in the US which were not required back in the Philippines. I could have studied the job requirements, took note of keywords and preferred certifications. I could have enrolled in a certification course which I didn't have yet while waiting for the immigration process to be completed.

Edited September 23, 2013 by CJ8611

[Arinlars 19]

I live in Seattle too.its been 3 weeks now and nothing

[Cam54 84]

When I lived in Santa Barbara two years ago temporarily I had permission to work with my student visa, I had to apply to jobs relating to my degree which was American history so was a little limited but I applied for jobs for about 3 weeks then ended up volunteering at a museum who agreed to have me as a volunteer until a paid position came up which took about a month, it was only part time minimum wage with no perks but it was in the right field, foot in the door and all that so volunteering at a company until your EAD comes through is the right move I think

[ruchi225264 0]

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[Pooky 3,780]

I got my visa (CR-1) in June and accepted a job offer in October of that year. Only once I had a job to go to did I complete immigration, that November. Mind you, I work in a fairly specialised field and, through some connections, found a position with a small British company, working in the USA.

Although I am no longer with this company, I will always be grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to follow my dreams and give my family an awesome start on this side of the Big Pond.

[HollyGolightly 72]

I live in Denver and have been actively applying since October. I was already looking but did not apply until I got my EAD. It took me over 2 months of actively looking and sending resumes before I got an interview for a job for the city Judicial Department. A week passed and I had been certain that I did not get the job and was ready to let it go. Then they called a day before christmas eve and offered me the job. It was a great christmas present. I start in January after a short trip to see my family. I applied using https://www.governmentjobs.com and www.indeed.com. You'll have to make an online profile and upload an updated resume but sending in applications is easy after that.

Edited December 29, 2013 by HollyGolightly