How soon did you find your first job?

[Rusty72 68]

4 hours ago, Chris Duffy said:

I suggest slowing down.  Take about 6 months or a year to adjust.  Learn the way of the USA, our culture, our tax system, the people to avoid.

 

When I brought my fiancé to the USA I had no desire for her to go work,  You have you entire life to work,  enjoy the ride and experience life.  Life is not about working, it's about living.

 

I feel sorry for the people who I see come to the USA and go directly to work, what kind of life is that?  I also see people posting stuff like when can my fiancé or husband work?  I think to myself did you marry for love or marry for an extra income, jeez.

 

 

That's a personal choice ,jeez

 

Seriously I moved here in 2009 was not hard to find work and that was supposed to be at the time of the whole "great recession" stuff. I'm the husband I didn't move here for a vacation I moved here to start my life with my wife and new family and that in turn means providing.

 

The poster even asked anout retail jobs which I translate they want to work.

It's hard for anyone to answer but there are jobs for people who want to work and if that means you do something other than you desire until you find your desired career.

The smaller the city or town of course means less opportunity and few jobs but the job market overall is much better today than when I immigrated

[Springrain22 427]

8 minutes ago, doggieandsam said:

oh wow. my husband has a masters of computer science from an ivy league university and doesn't make 300k. his classmates from the same ivy league are VPs at fortune 500 companies and the highest paid is not yet at 300k. you must be really lucky or nyc pays web devs so much more.

It's not NYC itself, but what I do.

[killadocg23 88]

12 hours ago, POA said:

It is hard to find a job here! I was offered a job little over a month after I started applying. The initial offer was $10.30 BUT I was denied with the background check because of the incorrect format of my name in my SSN. After 3 weeks, I was offered another job starting pay was over $40k a year.

 

What I can advised, apply as many as you can and not focus on one application. Eventually, you'll get an offer.

 

Also, for you to not be limited, driving will be very essential unless you live in a city where public transpo is very accessible.

Care to explain what was wrong with your social security name ?

[POA 178]

2 minutes ago, killadocg23 said:

Care to explain what was wrong with your social security name ?

 

I have two first names and Social Security put my second name as my middle name instead of having it in my first name so when I submitted my information for the background check, they couldn't match the name in my SSN and the name I submitted.  This is blessing in disguise though lol.

[TexasHeartsIndia 371]

2 hours ago, Springrain22 said:

No, I have not even finished my university  It's not really needed in IT, to be honest. I am a completely self-taught guy.

 

Good luck! You will get there!

I would love for you to connect with my husband. He came from India with multiple university degrees but I doubt they'll amount to much here. He's really interested in getting into IT but isn't sure where to start. He's been applying for jobs in the field he worked in India (eLearning developer) , but hasn't had much luck so far.

Edited April 17, 2018 by TBoneTX
language in quote

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

@moosy What a terrible attitude for other ex-pats to take with you.  I'm sure some of it is jealousy and some of it is not getting the whole story.  For example, my husband did do a manual labor job when he arrived, but he also didn't even have the equivalent of a high school diploma and his trade doesn't exist in our country.  So, he needed time to get a GED and learn a new trade.  Not everyone is in that boat, especially if they have a good degree from another country.

[AnGeLxX 154]

23 minutes ago, TexasHeartsIndia said:

I would love for you to connect with my husband. He came from India with multiple university degrees but I doubt they'll amount to much here. He's really interested in getting into IT but isn't sure where to start. He's been applying for jobs in the field he worked in India (eLearning developer) , but hasn't had much luck so far.

Go look into certifications for IT, there are certifications out there for programming/network. Think about android, Java, Cisco, Comptia.  

[yuna628 9,671]

Husband arrived in 2015, received EAD in 2016 and looked for months and months. No one wanted him. He was overqualified for retail, and honestly it seemed like they preferred a green card over an EAD. When the green card came, he had offers like crazy. By fall 2016, he applied for a part time job at a college and a full time job with FedEx. Both were very interested, but it seemed FedEx wanted to hire someone they could pay less. The college had a long hiring process when they finally let him know he was the guy they wanted, so he didn't start until 2017. It was very stressful for him, but I knew this job would be the best fit and would lead him to better things. Within six months he was promoted to full time and has a ton of opportunities in the pipeline.

 

It's great when people are able to find a job right away, but the couple should be prepared that things don't always work out as fast as wanted.

[JL2017 39]

13 hours ago, POA said:

I worked in call centers in the PH and that's all I have for experience. When I started losing hope getting into the same industry, I started applying to simply anything that I can find online that does not have crazy requirements including cashier and I was never called. But others got  jobs from Walmart even without retail experience. I think they start $11.

 

Same here  - never tried any other job except call center in PH though i have BS in Information Technology. Now im beginning to worry what job would i have there and/or if i need to get a degree to get a job. Will be soon flying to Grand Forks ND. 

[POA 178]

2 minutes ago, L1990 said:

Same here  - never tried any other job except call center in PH though i have BS in Information Technology. Now im beginning to worry what job would i have there and/or if i need to get a degree to get a job. Will be soon flying to Grand Forks ND. 

 I would say, keep trying when you get here. I have an education degree back in the PH but was fortunate to land the job that I landed. One thing I realized immediately after moving here was, we no longer the same edge that we did in the PH(fluent in English) because if you are applying in a call center here, you are competing with a lot of native speakers.  Also, try not going for the regular BPO, they offer so much less than other companies. I just decided to apply to the BPO when I started losing hope getting a job in other companies. 

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

15 minutes ago, L1990 said:

Same here  - never tried any other job except call center in PH though i have BS in Information Technology. Now im beginning to worry what job would i have there and/or if i need to get a degree to get a job. Will be soon flying to Grand Forks ND. 

 

You'll find a job easily there.  They are hiring people out of homeless shelters to do some jobs because the unemployment rate is so low.  

Edited April 17, 2018 by N-o-l-a

[Dualie 185]

13 hours ago, joanamber said:

Hi!

 

How soon did you find your first job upon arriving in America? Was it hard to find a job? How much was your hourly salary?

 

I hope you can give me some ideas. Going to America this end of May and I want to have a job when I arrive there.

 

Thank you!

I really believe that it depends not only on your qualifications, but on the job market in your area in general. I was prepared to collect EI (employment insurance) from Canada until I found something. I was a licensed security officer and I figured I would have to go throu a difficult licensing process down here to find something. I went online and did some job searches, keyed in a few key words pertaining to my line of work, and I got lots of matches. I had several companies reach out to me via email. I had a full time job in less than a month from the time I emigrated permanently. 

 

As as others have said here, polish up your resume, look online, and use as many key words in your search as you can. Good luck on your search! 🙂

[TBoneTX 45,266]

A poster circumvented the site's language filter.  That post and MANY quotes of it have been edited.  The Moderators aren't editors, so please watch your language, and if you quote something, eliminate the bad language yourself.

 

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[evapaula 230]

I was very excited to get my work permit and start looking for jobs, but soon discovered that my desired employer (Intel) didn't want to risk hiring anyone without a green card. I guess they aren't sure that you'll definitely get one just because you're adjusting. I applied for various positions, adjusted my expectations and tried for entry level jobs, to no success. At that point I had no idea what was wrong and why they wouldn't give me a chance. But as soon as I got my GC I started getting calls for interviews, and soon got an offer. I've been very happy and growing my career since (a bit over 2 years now) and make very decent money. 

 

I'm sure depending on your field of interest, your experience could be different, but know that some employers might not want to hire nonresidents.

 

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

arrived 9/5/2015

green card 10/5/2015

job offer 11/15/2015 

started 12/5/2015 as i wanted the 2 weeks before he started working to travel to introduce him to some family

 

but our area is booming with new industry and opportunties for anyone

and he had several years of computer tech work in his country plus the 2 year accounting degree offered there by a French firm OPT

not hard if you are in the right area / not hard if you are willing to accept anything to just get started 

sometimes more important to get a driving license first as some jobs applications will ask if you have one

 

don't think that you have to always be stuck in a "job" instead of a career 

build your resume

and here many industries offer classes to you to give you better advancement 

hardest part actually even for a USC is keeping yourself from getting discouraged with the job hunting process / can be a real downer to some as there are times they say "you have no experience" and then the next interviewer says " you are way too overqualified"

 

if you know multiple languages,  make sure that is stressed on resume as the one thing lacking in the American education system is the need for knowing multiple languages

 

good luck