Struggling to find work

[Niceb 2]

My husband and I won the DV Lottery and landed in Philly three months ago. To date our job search has been fruitless. We both have tonnes of experience between us. I'm Irish with over 10 years experience, have worked in Australia and Brazil. I have a degree, and post grad in Marketing, speak another language, and have worked with lots of American multinational clients in the past. I've been networking like crazy but I can't even get a temp job paying $10 an hour!

My husband is Brazilian with 15 years experience, has also worked in Australia, is an Industrial Engineer with an MBA , has managed teams of over 100 people, has worked for American multinationals in Brazil and speaks three languages. My husband's actual experience would net him a salary of about $90- $100k per year, according to a recruiter, if he was American. However,being a foreigner with no local experience he is willing to work for less than half that. My husband's English is advanced but not totally fluent, so that may be holding him back. He has been going to English classes every day to try and perfect it.

We both have good LinkedIn profiles and are active on Monster, Dice, Indeed etc. My husband has had more luck with getting a few job interviews than I have (I've only had one) but neither of us have been able to secure anything. I've always done really well in job interviews in the past. The strange thing we have found is that we haven't got any feedback from interviewers. We go for the interviews and then they don't get back to us, even after trying to reach out to them via phone and email. My husband also had that on a second round interview. Is that normal practice here?

We don't know if it is the way we are presenting ourselves. We always dress professionally, arrive early, are polite and try to be super upbeat. My husband is starting to get really depressed and I don't know what to do.. I am getting extremely worried. We brought a lot of savings, but are running through them really fast, as the rent and health insurance are so high. I reckon we only can survive another 4-5 months before our money runs out. We lived in Brazil before moving to the USA. The economy is in a shambles over there. My husband, along with 100's of his co workers got laid off in November. Ireland is not much better so we are really caught between a hard place. Sadly (as we love Philly), we are at a point where we may have to consider moving to another state , somewhere cheaper while we can. Has anyone got any suggestions of states with lots job opportunities for manufacturing and marketing professionals?

[Saffer 27]

Have you adapted your Resume's to a US format? Are you applying through HR departments or going directly to Managers in the relevant companies? Are you only looking in one State/region? I'm not saying you haven't done these things, it could just be a case of bad luck. Remember you must tailor each application to each specific job, a cover letter is very essential as well as a Resume that pushes WHY you are going to add value to that company/position.

You could also be coming across as "over qualified". Remember you can leave out experience if you want to appear more "green". There's nothing wrong with that.

I am about to enter the US and I am having fears too about finding a job because I only have foreign experience. I wouldn't give up just yet because the next interview may land a job.

[charmed2006 31]

Don't lose hope. Hang in there. I feel that you might be over qualified.

Try sending resumes to other states, check the amount of replies. If you believe moving to a different state will be the answer then go for it..

I wish you good luck on your job search..

[mrbravod 4]

Hi Niceb, don't feel bad about it, I have had the same problem as yours. I'm not a US citizen yet, I am married with an American and I'm from another country, I'm bilingual and yes, I had to improve my English as well. It seems to be very difficult to find a job as an outsider, americans still are facing economic problems depending on which state are you in. In my opinion, they offer jobs to americans instead of outsiders. For almost three years, I have applied for every possible job always keeping in mind my vocational studies outside; they may think I'm overqualified, they don't need bilingual people, the interviewrs/recruiters don't give you any feedback, etc. etc. etc. I have some tips it can be helpful. What I did is to update and improve my Resume and cover letter, almost once a month, I had to buy books (through Amazon, 2nd hand books) on how to excel in interviews and how to build better resumes. When you go to interviews, you have to have in mind which answer they would like to hear ... that's true, and you can google it to know the better answers for job interviews nowadays. Also, you can call, or send your updated resumes to job agencies within your city (Aerotek, Kelly Servs, or other you can find near your city), you will find a good Recruiter who will help both of you to excel in your interviews. Where are living, in Philadephia? Do not throw the towel yet!!!

Monica

[TBoneTX 45,570]

we may have to consider moving to another state , somewhere cheaper while we can. Has anyone got any suggestions of states with lots job opportunities for manufacturing and marketing professionals?

Texas.

[agnesb 47]

Sadly (as we love Philly), we are at a point where we may have to consider moving to another state , somewhere cheaper while we can. Has anyone got any suggestions of states with lots job opportunities for manufacturing and marketing professionals?

Florida is more multicultural so I believe it's easier to find a job for a foreigner.

[VOL 425]

Texas.

Agreed....

[Dualie 185]

You may want to think about North Dakota. There is tremendous growth here right now. The city of Fargo is growing exceptionally fast and I see tons of jobs of all kinds available when I look online. I threw my resume out there on a couple of job search websites,not really expecting much, and I was approached (by email and telephone) by several companies within days. Mine was a halfhearted effort because I was actually going to wait and settle in a bit more before going full bore into the job search. I was amazed at the response I received. I am in security/loss prevention, which requires licensing and such, so I did not expect to go far but I have had three interviews and an offer for full time employment within two weeks of initiating my search.

The weather wouldn't be much different, maybe less lake effect storms. I wish you luck in whatever you decide .

[usmsbow 802]

Are you looking for work outside the Philadelphia area? What led you to that city? While it is affordable compared to some other east coast cities (such as NYC, DC, Boston), I don't know if its job market is that great.

The advantage of Philly is you are close to a lot of other metro areas that might have jobs (such as the aforementioned NYC and DC, plus Pittsburgh, Baltimore to name a couple others). I would definitely recommend looking at those cities too, if you haven't already. You can cheaply reach them via Megabus or Bolt bus too.

Someone else mentioned FL. Miami is a big hub for business focused on Latin America.

As for manufacturing, there are a number of car factories in the south (most notably SC, AL, TN, TX) and Boeing also has a factory in SC.

[AELF 1]

Do not worry at all. I have been in the US for 1 year and 7 months. I have my BS in Electrical Engineering from Morocco. I have 2 years of experience with a multinational company in Morocco, I do speak French not English!

I went to school in the US, for 6 months, and I have not finished my degree yet. After 6 months from my arrival, I found a job as an Engineer with $65k, and after 1 year, I changed to a new job with a higher salary.

In the US, you just need to be smart AND hardworking, do not give up!!! My advice is that LinkedIn will not help you. I will list the websites that I think they are going to help you all out:

www.careerbuilder.com/

www.monster.com

www.glassdoor.com/

Your resume also plays a crucial role, it is your key to your dream job. English is not a problem, I have many friends working in our company from India, China, Japan, Mexico, etc their English is not good.

Good Luck,

​Persist, Dream High, Learn!

[Expat1 971]

My husband and I won the DV Lottery and landed in Philly three months ago. To date our job search has been fruitless. We both have tonnes of experience between us. I'm Irish with over 10 years experience, have worked in Australia and Brazil. I have a degree, and post grad in Marketing, speak another language, and have worked with lots of American multinational clients in the past. I've been networking like crazy but I can't even get a temp job paying $10 an hour!

My husband is Brazilian with 15 years experience, has also worked in Australia, is an Industrial Engineer with an MBA , has managed teams of over 100 people, has worked for American multinationals in Brazil and speaks three languages. My husband's actual experience would net him a salary of about $90- $100k per year, according to a recruiter, if he was American. However,being a foreigner with no local experience he is willing to work for less than half that. My husband's English is advanced but not totally fluent, so that may be holding him back. He has been going to English classes every day to try and perfect it.

We both have good LinkedIn profiles and are active on Monster, Dice, Indeed etc. My husband has had more luck with getting a few job interviews than I have (I've only had one) but neither of us have been able to secure anything. I've always done really well in job interviews in the past. The strange thing we have found is that we haven't got any feedback from interviewers. We go for the interviews and then they don't get back to us, even after trying to reach out to them via phone and email. My husband also had that on a second round interview. Is that normal practice here?

We don't know if it is the way we are presenting ourselves. We always dress professionally, arrive early, are polite and try to be super upbeat. My husband is starting to get really depressed and I don't know what to do.. I am getting extremely worried. We brought a lot of savings, but are running through them really fast, as the rent and health insurance are so high. I reckon we only can survive another 4-5 months before our money runs out. We lived in Brazil before moving to the USA. The economy is in a shambles over there. My husband, along with 100's of his co workers got laid off in November. Ireland is not much better so we are really caught between a hard place. Sadly (as we love Philly), we are at a point where we may have to consider moving to another state , somewhere cheaper while we can. Has anyone got any suggestions of states with lots job opportunities for manufacturing and marketing professionals?

Try a job search on the Houston chronicle website. Texas is the place if you want work.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Expat1

[Blue Bianchi 77]

When I was searching for jobs, I thought of it as a numbers game. I just sent out as many tailored applications as I could, thinking that they more interviews I do, the more chances of finding a match. There were openings I really liked, was interviewed for, but didn't get. And these were disappointing. But after a few days I always had to force myself to keep going. I also had to familiarize myself with US-style resumes and even job interview styles. When not working on applications, I studied resources from public libraries--videos, CDs, brochures, you name it. I guess it helped that I wasn't limiting my search to one state. My search covered the U.S., the Philippines, Japan, and Switzerland. But because I was already in the U.S., that was my priority.

I agree, the slowness can get depressing. As does the uncertainty. But keep at it and support each other. Do things that will cheer yourself up. Sing Broadway songs while driving! Explore nature parks! Hang out at a coffeeshop where the barista looks like a young Christopher Reeve (I was single then!).

In the end, I think that a non-work related detail in my resume was what got me the job that I liked. I did a San Francisco to Washington D.C. social change bike tour many years ago and this piqued the interest of my now current employer. No surprise that I snagged this job in the bike-crazy city of Boulder, Colorado.

I think that means that there are really a lot of qualified people out there. But employers are looking to hire people they can work well with and get along with, and who will probably be happy in their particular workplace. So, show a little of your personality in your resume, if you haven't already.

And for some reason, as soon as I got this job, I got several more nibbles on applications I had sent before. Perhaps this means I was writing my cover letters better by then, or was tailoring my resumes better by then. It was all that practice I guess.

Some of the HR people I worked with during interview phases were very nice. If I had wanted to, I think I could have asked them for feedback on my applications. Perhaps this is something you can do?

As for marketing jobs, there is a big need for people who can market apps in Denver and Boulder. If that's your niche, check it out.

Good luck!

Edited June 10, 2015 by Blue Bianchi

[sf786 22]

Hi can u plz heel me too. M here in Boston since 1.5 months n I did my MBA from India n was professor in MBA college in India for 3 years. Now m looking for job in US,but in banks also they are offerinf Teller. I want to start with good position either in bank or in sny good firm .

Do not worry at all. I have been in the US for 1 year and 7 months. I have my BS in Electrical Engineering from Morocco. I have 2 years of experience with a multinational company in Morocco, I do speak French not English!

I went to school in the US, for 6 months, and I have not finished my degree yet. After 6 months from my arrival, I found a job as an Engineer with $65k, and after 1 year, I changed to a new job with a higher salary.

In the US, you just need to be smart AND hardworking, do not give up!!! My advice is that LinkedIn will not help you. I will list the websites that I think they are going to help you all out:

www.careerbuilder.com/

www.monster.com

www.glassdoor.com/

Your resume also plays a crucial role, it is your key to your dream job. English is not a problem, I have many friends working in our company from India, China, Japan, Mexico, etc their English is not good.

Good Luck,

​Persist, Dream High, Learn!

[AELF 1]

Hi can u plz heel me too. M here in Boston since 1.5 months n I did my MBA from India n was professor in MBA college in India for 3 years. Now m looking for job in US,but in banks also they are offerinf Teller. I want to start with good position either in bank or in sny good firm .

How may I can help you?

[teddy k 35]

Hi,i brought my wife over 4 months ago i told her up front don't expect nothing to fast just relax and get to know the place first and after you feel comfortable start looking for a job well she's getting antsy cuz no one is getting back to her but since she's worked as a nanny and a CNA T00 I'm sending her back to school to get recertification so she can get a job now she has something to do cuz with all the cleaning of the house the paint is coming off the floor so stay focused and good luck