Getting discouraged looking for work

[Shauna&Wael 211]

My husband has his greencard for 10 years and his social security. No license yet (should that be first on our list?). Looking for a job for him is much harder than I originally anticipated. He is incredibly bored while I'm at work and is itching to start working which I completely understand. The problem is his education stops at highschool and his work experience is scattered. He has low experience as a mechanic, furniture salesman and a furniture painter. Medium experience as a barista. And high experience as videographer (JUST the filiming portion though).

What I've told him is before he can start applying it would be best to get a certificate from a school proving he can speak English. My reason being is he is only very comfortable speaking English with me. He was even too shy to go to a barber shop alone while I was at work. We both know his English is not at 100% proficiency and I don't have confidence that he's ready (linguistically) to do all the things that a job requires.

Please --- I'd love some advice from anyone who's been here before. Are there any entry level jobs which don't require much speaking? I was thinking factory jobs or stocking jobs? What do you all think? Should he go to a local mosque and try to network with others? He is muslim. By the way, don't bother saying he needs a degree. He's completely against college but open to tradeschools.

Even if only one person replies I will be so happy and grateful!

[Alaska2012 462]

Why is he against getting an education? He has his whole life ahead of him wouldn't he want to be able to work with something he really enjoys? Maybe at least taking some english classes?

A mosque is a good starting point, he could make connections there. Maybe someone there knows of someone that could need a helping hand.

I'm sure a stocking job is something he could do but how long will he enjoy doing that if he doesn't feel comfortable talking to people? Yeah it doesn't require him to talk but wouldn't that get old in the long run?

[military-wife 9]

He should definitely network, ask for help from his community and if I was him, I would go to trade school. He will become good in English over time.

I'm also new here (although I am fluent in English), but I still plan to get some degree to have a better chance to get a job. I have only a few years of employment.

[Shauna&Wael 211]

Why is he against getting an education? He has his whole life ahead of him wouldn't he want to be able to work with something he really enjoys? Maybe at least taking some english classes? A mosque is a good starting point, he could make connections there. Maybe someone there knows of someone that could need a helping hand. I'm sure a stocking job is something he could do but how long will he enjoy doing that if he doesn't feel comfortable talking to people? Yeah it doesn't require him to talk but wouldn't that get old in the long run?

Come on, you gotta agree that college isn't for everyone. And in the US, it's especially not for those who aren't blessed with money. While I agree that getting an education IS critical, I don't believe college is the only way to get one. There's plenty of avenues here in the USA, it's a matter of getting your foot in the door. Right now I think it's best he gets ANY kind of US work experience, whatever that may be. I don't even have my own career path figured out yet. I definitely agree with you on taking an English course. My question is should that come first before finding a job?

[Shauna&Wael 211]

He should definitely network, ask for help from his community and if I was him, I would go to trade school. He will become good in English over time.

I'm also new here (although I am fluent in English), but I still plan to get some degree to have a better chance to get a job. I have only a few years of employment.

Trade school would be awesome! But right now money is tight for us and I really need help from him in order to keep us afloat. It's a hard decision to make, because once he starts working it will be very hard to stop for the sake of school. And doing both would be overwhelming at this stage.

[military-wife 9]

Trade school would be awesome! But right now money is tight for us and I really need help from him in order to keep us afloat. It's a hard decision to make, because once he starts working it will be very hard to stop for the sake of school. And doing both would be overwhelming at this stage.

No I definitely agree he should get any type of job right now so he can help out. That's what I plan to do too, but eventually down the road he should plan to have a career. Not sure if you are planning to have kids in the future, but having a stable, career focused job that he loves is important.

[JR loves JR 196]

I would recommend working on the driver's license because that's our biggest hold up for getting a good unskilled job. He can't get himself to and from work if it's beyond a 20 minute bike ride. The written test was challenging because of the different vocabulary on it so we found a website offering practice tests for it and so he practiced on those until he was familiar with the wording and the layout of our multiple choice tests. He passed and now has a learner's permit so we're working on the driving portion to act

As for jobs, we found him some thing that he could be good at. It's not glamorous and it doesn't pay amazingly well but it's a place to start. He's working at a mall helping with their maintenance and cleaning crew. It's also evenings so he can go to English classes in the morning or to trade school next year and maintain his employment. We also applied to temp jobs in warehouses and factory work but this was full time. We found that he couldn't work with money as he isn't familiar enough with our coins to accurately make change. We also had to watch out for "friends" of his trying to get him into different pyramid sales scheme jobs.

[indiana_sweetie 120]

My husband has his greencard for 10 years and his social security. No license yet (should that be first on our list?). Looking for a job for him is much harder than I originally anticipated. He is incredibly bored while I'm at work and is itching to start working which I completely understand. The problem is his education stops at highschool and his work experience is scattered. He has low experience as a mechanic, furniture salesman and a furniture painter. Medium experience as a barista. And high experience as videographer (JUST the filiming portion though).

What I've told him is before he can start applying it would be best to get a certificate from a school proving he can speak English. My reason being is he is only very comfortable speaking English with me. He was even too shy to go to a barber shop alone while I was at work. We both know his English is not at 100% proficiency and I don't have confidence that he's ready (linguistically) to do all the things that a job requires.

Please --- I'd love some advice from anyone who's been here before. Are there any entry level jobs which don't require much speaking? I was thinking factory jobs or stocking jobs? What do you all think? Should he go to a local mosque and try to network with others? He is muslim. By the way, don't bother saying he needs a degree. He's completely against college but open to tradeschools.

Even if only one person replies I will be so happy and grateful!

My hubby wouldn't go to the barber shop alone, either, at first. Now he has no problem going alone. He was worried about his English, but he relaxed after he realized people could understand him well enough. Usually he tells them his English is bad and they respond by saying they can understand him. Then they usually ask him where he's from, which helps break the ice. Getting his driver's license was hard, but that is something a lot of employers look at. Another thing employers look at, which makes it hard for immigrants, is job experience here in the USA. My hubby had a hard time finding someone who would hire him. He did find work by printing out a resume' and going door to door to local companies and just talking to them. That's where going to the mosque and networking with others might help your husband more. I don't think your husband needs a certificate showing he can speak English because he will be speaking when he talks to potential employers. My hubby was so nervous about this at first. He asked me to go with him. I told him I can't do that, so we settled for me driving him and waiting in the car while he went in. First he worked for a flooring company, then a roofing company. Then we moved and he got a job as a stocker. Now he has a good job at a company that makes cheese. They have trained him to do several different jobs within the company. It just takes time to find a company willing to take a person in and train them.

[hopeful 4 XMas 19]

the confidence building takes time and america is over whelming to almost anone from any country other europe or UK

but as others noted he needs to get out and start driving, you can take him to remote areas and let him drive a little a couple of times a week, this will help to build his confidence in driving and himself.

all the while he needs to spend time with other people even if it is with you to get him out of the house and over time he will begin to feel comfortable around other people and eventually without you.

next is some kind of a job without you, it will give him exposure to others and help with his english and confidence building once again, this is a situation where he must just do it. I have had to travel internationally for business where they do not speak much or an english and i did not speak much of their language, but i just said ok, here goes and es i made a fool out of myself and sometimes ordered something to eat i really did not want but, i survived and actually began to enjoy it after a while

[Adil & Jeanne 296]

College is not for eveyone but you are inCalifornia and so much is offered there

i went free for 2 years when my late husband and I lived there

AT least getting a GED would help

Unforunatiely, some have to take any job they can get

Good luck

allah yessir

[Unidentified 2,930]

I would definitely work on the driver's license as some job may require them. Going to the mosque is a great idea. Knowing the "right" people can be super beneficial. Thanks to my fiance's contacts I had only had my EAD for about a week before I got a job. I don't have a college degree (just done a few college classes) and I also have a resume from a little bit of everything in all kinds of fields. I'm also not going to go to college. I believe it is not necessary.

I think he'll become more confident with time as his English gets better. I think finding a job where he doesn't have to speak will be hard as American's are very chatty people (I'm a bit socially awkward and had a hard time adjusting to chatty people when I first got here).

Edited December 13, 2015 by Maria&Seve

[JRF 117]

My husband has his greencard for 10 years and his social security. No license yet (should that be first on our list?). Looking for a job for him is much harder than I originally anticipated. He is incredibly bored while I'm at work and is itching to start working which I completely understand. The problem is his education stops at highschool and his work experience is scattered. He has low experience as a mechanic, furniture salesman and a furniture painter. Medium experience as a barista. And high experience as videographer (JUST the filiming portion though).

What I've told him is before he can start applying it would be best to get a certificate from a school proving he can speak English. My reason being is he is only very comfortable speaking English with me. He was even too shy to go to a barber shop alone while I was at work. We both know his English is not at 100% proficiency and I don't have confidence that he's ready (linguistically) to do all the things that a job requires.

Please --- I'd love some advice from anyone who's been here before. Are there any entry level jobs which don't require much speaking? I was thinking factory jobs or stocking jobs? What do you all think? Should he go to a local mosque and try to network with others? He is muslim. By the way, don't bother saying he needs a degree. He's completely against college but open to tradeschools.

Even if only one person replies I will be so happy and grateful!

My wife took free ESL classes at a local community college for a year, until she qualified for instate tuition (we live in the SF Valley). Suggest your husband pursue his ESL and a trade school, and in the meantime look for work as others have suggested (e.g., maintenance, janitorial, etc. that won't require a lot of interaction. Although, why not Starbucks - he is a barrista. Aren't they offering education reimbursement?). Going to the local mosque and networking sounds like a great idea - anything to get him plugged in with daily life is good.

Best of luck!

[JRF 117]

Trade school would be awesome! But right now money is tight for us and I really need help from him in order to keep us afloat. It's a hard decision to make, because once he starts working it will be very hard to stop for the sake of school. And doing both would be overwhelming at this stage.

Many skilled jobs go unfilled - do some digging and look for an employer that would be willing to train your husband (or help with his education), in return for work as an apprentice. And I really think the English skills are necessary and urgent. Education (in a trade is perfectly good) and English language skills are a key to advancing economically in the US.

Again, best of luck.

[tanzaniawinter 10]

I would definitely work on the driver's license as some job may require them. Going to the mosque is a great idea. Knowing the "right" people can be super beneficial. Thanks to my fiance's contacts I had only had my EAD for about a week before I got a job. I don't have a college degree (just done a few college classes) and I also have a resume from a little bit of everything in all kinds of fields. I'm also not going to go to college. I believe it is not necessary.

I think he'll become more confident with time as his English gets better. I think finding a job where he doesn't have to speak will be hard as American's are very chatty people (I'm a bit socially awkward and had a hard time adjusting to chatty people when I first got here).

Hahahaaaaaaa I thought I was only one noticing chaty people in US, it's so hard for me American can talk and talk ,it's nice but if your not chatty its bit weird

[shahara2013 16]

My husband took the written drivers test in Arabic here in Georgia. It did take him 3 times to pass though - because the signs are in English. Also one of my Iraqi neighbors gave him a cheat sheet on how to pass the test. They pass this from person to person to new people that get resettled here. If you know any recently resettled Iraqis maybe they will give you a CA version. I almost bet it's the same thing. My husband still isn't working either. He's in full time ESL and in a job training program for immigrants to learn a trade. My husband's itching to work, and I'm stressing to him that he has to learn English and drive ( have a car) before he can get a job. Best of luck!!! I would try to get him driving as soon as you can - get the learners permit, and then have a friend tesch him. Me teaching my husband how to drive ... Not my finest moments