Do employers discriminate against immigrants?

[Boiler 45,715]

Wedding Shows, Wedding Planners etc would know what the demand vs supply is.

The weddings I have been to of late do not seem to do that as everybody has their phone/camera.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Wedding Shows, Wedding Planners etc would know what the demand vs supply is.

The weddings I have been to of late do not seem to do that as everybody has their phone/camera.

Are you just going to naysay in this whole thread?

[*Snowdrop* 604]

A good way to start as a wedding photographer is to freelance as a 2nd camera for established wedding photographers.

With your experience you can look for virtual web and graphic design work on sites like upwork. You can use fivrr but you should be able to make a much higher hourly rate setting up as a virtual assistant offering graphic design - $25-45 an hour depending on your level of experience.

The only downside is you will have to sort out your own health insurance etc and there are no benefits. It could be that in your current situation you do a combination of part-time employed work and have a side business bringing in freelance income.

[lost_at_sea 995]

"I have an extensive bacground and titles in computers more specifically in graphic design, HTML and Flash."

With your computer background and graphic design & web skills, you could go for some freelance contracting. You could do it at home, that way. I'm a professional web developer and designer, and I work freelance and a lot of the time I do that from home. Flash is basically dead, though.

Oh, and if you feel comfortable doing so, feel free to PM me and I'll keep an eye out for anything that looks like it might suit your background - I often have to turn away work or get asked if I know someone with a certain set of skills.

This is a fairly popular and legit website for finding such gigs, if that interests you: https://www.authenticjobs.com/ Many are remote and/or short-term / part-time etc. Once you've had one or two gigs, people will recommend you to others / come back for more.

Edited September 8, 2016 by lost_at_sea

[lost_at_sea 995]

Are you just going to naysay in this whole thread?

Indeed.

Every single wedding I've been to in the last 5 years (including my own - and I'm in that age bracket where EVERYONE I KNOW IS GETTING MARRIED, ughhh) has had a professional photographer. We recently went to my husband's family reunion / someone's wedding anniversary shindig, and they had a pro photographer, too.

[Boiler 45,715]

Indeed.

Every single wedding I've been to in the last 5 years (including my own - and I'm in that age bracket where EVERYONE I KNOW IS GETTING MARRIED, ughhh) has had a professional photographer. We recently went to my husband's family reunion / someone's wedding anniversary shindig, and they had a pro photographer, too.

I take it back, not really something I know much about. But acknowledge it is a big industry.

[NikLR 13,228]

It is a big industry and wedding photographers are a dime a dozen. I suggest following up on the other leads first.

[Ash.1101 1,756]

I noticed the post about leaving the baby alone. How old are your other children? Right now "child safety" is a hot issue in America. You don't want anyone thinking you're abandoning your children to watch a baby. A mother here recently got arrested for leaving her 8 and 10 year old home alone while she ran to get milk from the store and the neighbors noticed. They considered her negligent.

While back when I was a kid, my parents left me alone around 9 or 10 years old and it was no problem, it seems to be an issue now adays for what ever reason. While I don't agree with it, I do make sure to warn against it since it's taken seriously now.

I wouldn't take the job if it meant leaving the kids alone for any amount of time, you never know what may happen.

The 10pm-630am position works well for my husband and I because I'm always off no later than 930, and I recently changed my schedule to where I'll be working more shifts that end at 7pm. There's also a lot of times where they keep him later. He's part time, but if the stocking job isn't done then he has to stay to get it done. So depending on that, I either wait for him to come home so I can use the car (we only have one car) if he's off on time, or if he's not off work on time then I walk my daughter to school since her school is close enough. Then I come home after I drop her off and take a couple of hour nap before work.


But yes, sleep is harder for the one working over night. My husband only sleeps from about 8am to 12pm on days I go to work at 1pm. He'll get up when I'm leaving, get my daughter from school, take her to therapy on her regular days, then come home. Sometimes he'll get less than four hours after work, then take a couple of hour nap once my daughter is asleep before he goes to work and I'm coming home. On days I'm off, I pretty much let him sleep all day.

And I agree about the school thing, I've seen positions for pre-k and teachers assistants that require no degree, not even teaching, just experience with kids. Bigger cities are shorthanded on teachers though, so they'll take anything and everything.


As for the wedding photographer thing. We were going to hire a photographer until we found out that two people attending had high quality cameras. That saved some money right there.



With all that said, I tried to work last year and applied for all kinds of places. I hadn't worked in years though, so out of a good 40-50 applications to even fast food places, only one place contacted me and hired me at the interview. The job ended up being awful with a high turn over rate. When my husband got here and it was just me working, I did the same thing, lots of apps but only one bite for an interview. I did a city issued typing test for some county jobs showing I type at about 75+ WPM with 98% accuracy but even that was't getting me a data entry or records entry job. While the grocery store can have a higher turn over rate, I was hired the day of my interview at the grocer for 10.25 an hour just as a bagger to train later as a cashier, at my 6 month evaluation I got a 75 cent raise to make my pay 11$ an hour. So far I'm cross trained in 5 departments which makes me very valuable to my store. I actually quite enjoy the company and the store I'm at and have found a position that I enjoy above all others out of the 5 I'm trained in and am thinking about going further in the company itself in that position. So a smaller job such as a cashier can lead to all the right places.

One big thing to note is that companies now seem to be more likely to hire someone from within than someone new. When my company opens up a position, it gets posted online for all to see, people that work there, people that don't, but generally they HEAVILY prefer people who already work for the company. For them, it's easier to shift someone from one area to another and train them before hiring them than to hire someone fresh and new. While it sucks, I know it happens a lot. So it may look like there's a lot of jobs available but it's quite possible they're getting picked up by people already working in other sectors of the company. There's also jobs that open up SOLELY for employee's to grab. They have to put it up to get around keeping jobs from people, but at the end of the day, I've seen jobs go up for specific people at the store. Anyone who applied to those jobs had no chance of actually getting them. They'll never know that though since no one will tell them.



My favorite thing about applying to jobs is that some seriously never even get looked at. One of the jobs I applied too LAST year emailed me back 13 months after I had applied letting me know I wasn't selected for an interview. LOL

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

I noticed the post about leaving the baby alone. How old are your other children? Right now "child safety" is a hot issue in America. You don't want anyone thinking you're abandoning your children to watch a baby. A mother here recently got arrested for leaving her 8 and 10 year old home alone while she ran to get milk from the store and the neighbors noticed. They considered her negligent.

While back when I was a kid, my parents left me alone around 9 or 10 years old and it was no problem, it seems to be an issue now adays for what ever reason. While I don't agree with it, I do make sure to warn against it since it's taken seriously now.

This depends a lot on the state and area and best to be looked into. Our local social services agency published a guide in the paper and they considered 8 year olds fine to be home alone for an hour with increasing times as children got older. They couldn't watch younger siblings until 12 or 13, though.

[Boiler 45,715]

OP said youngest is 2, and there are twins but no mention on age.

[Ash.1101 1,756]

Just a quick google search took me to Detroit news. http://www.wxyz.com/news/what-are-michigans-laws-on-parents-supervising-their-children

""There is no legal age that a child can be left home alone. It is determined on a case-by-case basis. But, as a rule of thumb, a child 10-years-old and younger is not responsible enough to be left home alone. A child over the age of 10 and under the age of 12 will be evaluated, but the case may not always be assigned for a CPS investigation," said a document on Michigan.gov."

""Definitely be very cautious about the circumstances because the laws are so vague and are so subjective it depends on the circumstances and where you live," said Attorney Stephanie Farkas of the Shannon Smith Law Firm.

Farkas says they have seen cases where Michigan parents are accused of improper supervision for letting their kids walk alone to a bus stop. "

This one is from a Michigan Divorce Firm: http://www.midmichigandivorce.com/can-leave-kids-home-alone.html

If you are considering whether or not to leave a child unattended at home, here are a few guidelines to take into consideration when making your decision:

7 & under – Children in this age bracket should not be left alone for any period of time. This includes leaving children unattended at home, in cars, at public playgrounds, and in backyards.

8 to 10 years – Children in this age bracket can be left unattended for short periods, but not for more than 1½ hours, and only during daylight and early evening hours.

11 to 12 years – Children at this age can be left alone for up to 3 hours, but not late at night or in circumstances requiring inappropriate responsibility, like circumstances where they are responsible for several other younger children.

13 to 15 years – Children at this age may be left unsupervised, but not overnight.

16 to 17 years – Children at this age can be left unsupervised. In some instances this can extend for up to two consecutive overnight periods, however this depends upon the maturity level of the child in question.

I'm going to assume if they don't want 11 or 12 year olds watching babys, they don't want 10 year olds watching babys.


Based on this post of hers, the twins are 10. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/607943-do-young-children-also-get-green-cards/#entry8285059

Edited September 9, 2016 by Ash.1101

[Marrienne 113]

Hey guys I got a job!!

It is just a silly little low paying job at a super market BUT it is a START. I will keep looking for something better of course and even do a little something on the side.

[chrisete 55]

Hey guys I got a job!!

It is just a silly little low paying job at a super market BUT it is a START. I will keep looking for something better of course and even do a little something on the side.

Congrats. ...go get Em. ...

[TBoneTX 45,570]

Any job is a good job. Thrilled to hear it!

[NikLR 13,228]

Hey guys I got a job!!

It is just a silly little low paying job at a super market BUT it is a START. I will keep looking for something better of course and even do a little something on the side.

Congrats!!