Where to find jobs?

[Anna C. 4]

I live in San Mateo (Bay Area!)! I don't need to relocate

[girlafraid7 0]

I live in San Mateo (Bay Area!)! I don't need to relocate

There are a lot of hispanics, but I wasn't referring to them, because I don't encounter very many in the high tech field, where I work. I meant the huge asian population. True, Europe isn't very well represented here. Here are the bay area demographics:

As of the 2006 census, there were 6,927,555 people residing in the Bay Area. The racial makeup of the 9 County Bay Area was 47.29% White, 19.83% Asian, 0.67% Pacific Islander, 7.32% African American, 0.87% Native American, 9.46% from other races, and 5.28% from two or more races. 19.89% of the population were Hispanic of any race.

I know you aren't into lawsuits, but people here are terrified of being sued. If someone tells you again that they only hire locals, I'd mention that you didn't know that practice was legal. Hello... isn't that the fundamental of our country??? Opportunity for all??

One other thing, do you have much of an accent? If so, in a PR job, that might be a challenge.

Good luck with your search.

[calvinch 3]

I live in San Mateo (Bay Area!)! I don't need to relocate

What? Then that's illegal. Just report them to the proper authorities and move on. No need to sue for the right to work at a hostile workplace.

[^KK^ 3]

good luck on your search

[Anna C. 4]

Thanks guys, I'm optimistic!

@ Calcheng: Somebody emailed me that they hire locals only, so the person couldn't even hear an accent. Of course I have an accent, but people never know where I'm from. They call it international. I'm understandable without problems. It's just sad that some companies are like that, but I just accept it and move on...

Tomorrow I have a second round interview Let's see how it works out!!!

[~krakatoa~ 27]

I'm crossing my fingers for you Anna C.! Thanks for posting your experience though I am not officially "there" yet.

It's actually the opposite for me (got a premature job offer but I'm not sure if I can live up to the expectations, moreso that I have yet to get approval for my AOS--I don't think the HR can wait anymore). Generally, I think it depends on the field/area you're considering to apply in, I'm starting to believe sciences are easier from what I have read here, hopefully easy across all different fields.

[Nancy2015 2]

Hi there,

I'm really surprised that the companies are telling you that they prefer to hire local people....first of all, I'm pretty sure that's illegal because of discrimination.

"Local" is supposed to mean that you reside in the Bay Area and they won't need to pay relocation expenses. It shouldn't mean that you're supposed to have been raised here. Maybe the person who emailed Anna C. didn't have much of a brain - I suppose, Anna, you have your German experience on your resume, so maybe this HR person was so dumb that they thought you still live there?

Bay Area employers seem to be open-minded, and they generally don't care where you come from. However, they are leery of recent immigrants, because they find it hard to believe that a person who's been here less than 10 years can speak good English. Silly, I know.

Anna C., you can report this person who emailed you to these guys:

http://www.dir.ca.gov/EEEC/EEEC.html

They will kick their butts real hard for giving you the "local" #######. I would definitely do that.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

[tm56 0]

along this line of 'how to find jobs...'

especially for those who are really new to the US employment system, or for whom english is not a native language..

How did you (or fiance/spouse) go about the process of trying to find work for him or her here in the USA? Did you start before they were actually here?

Any suggestions on ways of specifically targeting employers who are looking for bilingual (or trilingual) employees?

any information greatly welcomed, esp if relevant to Brasilians (or portuguese/spanish speakers) or those in the tourism/hospitality industry...

Thanks a bunch

tm

[Sleepybears 0]

Hi,

I'm curious too. I'm also from the Bay area (San Jose). But I've started to find jobs really hard since April this year (I got my green card in Dec last year). You know I have tried all but I didn't even get much response.

I've posted my resume on Yahoo hot jobs, careerbuilder, monster and bajobs. but only a few employers approached me after they read my resume on careerbuilder.com. I never got any response from any other websites. I've to say though, all these jobs are sales related or insurance agents, or some weird jobs that I don't think I'm suitable even I go to their interviews.

I'm really lost now and feel unhappy. My husband told me many companies' entry level posts are filled by internal referral. So far I only got one interview cuz my husband's co-worker referred me to that company. But then they wanted me to work in the sales department and do cold-calling, which is imossible for me. You should be able to tell that English is not even my native language!

Worse still, I don't think I can work in the same field as I did in my own country. I was an English teacher in Hong Kong and have a Bachelor and MA degrees. I also had one year of office admin experience in HK. But even so and I'm now only finding some office assistants, sales or teaching assistants jobs (for private schools only cuz I don't have the ECE units), no employers even considered me. I only got 3 responses so far. But one cancelled the interview before she even sees me! then the other one, the manager at last told me 'we have too many applicants'... so i only went to ONE interview so far. sigh... it's like they don't even want to schedule an interview for me.

and yes, craigslist is more down-to-earth, but what one of the members said was right, there're far too many people finding jobs there. The one which the manager told me they have too many applicants and can't schedule me an interview, i found that post in craigslist and they just posted for one day. Besides, I think that since there're not too many Non-IT/ Engineering posts here, so once there's one 'normal' job, millions of people will apply- I really wonder when I can find a job. Or what I should do now...

Sorry for my long post... just wanna share with you my job hunting experience. Hope someone can give me or someone with the same situation some light of what we should do now.

Edited July 18, 2007 by Sleepybears

[babyandherboy 0]

Federal law prohibits discrimination based only on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disabilities. If a California company doesn't want to hire a New York resident (or an Oakland company doesn’t want to hire a San Jose resident) they have every legal right not to. You can’t get them on that . . .

In the first post you mentioned that you “had been looking since Monday” and could not find anything. I have been in management for 25 years and have an MBA. Last year I was looking to change jobs and spent almost a year until I found the right position. I kept a file on the number of resumes I sent out and it was almost an inch thick! I have a friend who has been a technology consultant and Director for 30 years, was laid off and it took him 3 years to get back into a position close to where he was before. Monster has thousands of applicants for each position . . . so it’s tough there.

My suggestion . . . just take a lower paid but fun position doing something you think might be interesting while you go to school – money is coming in, and opportunity happens that way . . . plus don't discount the importance of showing your spouse that you really want to help the family financial situation (if you need it of course).

Good luck and keep the faith!

[babyandherboy 0]

Worse still, I don't think I can work in the same field as I did in my own country. I was an English teacher in Hong Kong and have a Bachelor and MA degrees. I also had one year of office admin experience in HK. But even so and I'm now only finding some office assistants, sales or teaching assistants jobs (for private schools only cuz I don't have the ECE units), no employers even considered me. I only got 3 responses so far. But one cancelled the interview before she even sees me! then the other one, the manager at last told me 'we have too many applicants'... so i only went to ONE interview so far. sigh... it's like they don't even want to schedule an interview for me.

I just wanted to mention to the new residents here in America, that while the job situation is probably better than in some countries, don’t think it will come easy. Plan on starting over – just count on it, but also know that your past experience will help you move up quickly.

Just take the first opportunity you get, it will help get you acclimated to work in the US before you are on center stage in one of those higher level positions, help you emotionally and help your relationship.

No one thinks bad about a substitute Office Assistant or Bilingual Aide in a school district, those are normally filled from outside. That is how you get your foot in the door! Find a part time position, so you might be able to go to school and get credits you need for a teaching credential.

Hey - The next “insider” office manager or teaching candidate could be you! Keep the faith!

[Sleepybears 0]

babyandherboy,

no wonder its so hard for us to find a job cuz even local people take so long to find one.

you know now i dont mind to work as office assistant/ sales. i just want to find something which i'm at least more interested in and as long as it's a job, even it's a part-time it's fine. i just don't like to work in the supermarket or restaurants. but it's still so difficult. I think the reason is there're way too many applicants. maybe the employers can't even see my resume.

now i'm just worried that the longer i take to find a job, the less the chance i will have (the employer may wonder why it took me so long to find a job). i thought about studying something, but i don't even know what i should study. and i dont want to take too long to study too.

[babyandherboy 0]

babyandherboy,

no wonder its so hard for us to find a job cuz even local people take so long to find one.

you know now i dont mind to work as office assistant/ sales. i just want to find something which i'm at least more interested in and as long as it's a job, even it's a part-time it's fine. i just don't like to work in the supermarket or restaurants. but it's still so difficult. I think the reason is there're way too many applicants. maybe the employers can't even see my resume.

now i'm just worried that the longer i take to find a job, the less the chance i will have (the employer may wonder why it took me so long to find a job). i thought about studying something, but i don't even know what i should study. and i dont want to take too long to study too.

Hmmm - what to do . . . my thoughts after my year of searching - dont put much faith in the Monsters and Yahoo's of the world - wayyyyy to much competition. If you see a position so do millions of other people. I ended up getting the position I have at a School District that did not advertise their positions much - I found it just going to thier website over and over again. Many cities do a minimum of advertising as well (cuts the competition).

Another success story - I have a friend from South America who ended up in a good position as an Accountant. She applied at a couple of temporary agencies and worked as a temporary Office Assistant at a few different companies for about a year until one of the companies hired her full time.

[Sleepybears 0]

yeah i think those career websites dont work well for new immigrants too. there're too many experienced people looking for jobs there.

about your sucess story, i guess she worked as an accountant in S America before? I think my main problem is i was a teacher in HK, so to speak, i dont even have related working experience for many of the jobs i applied, except teaching assistants....

anyways, i guess i'll just have to keep looking.

[britbird 4]

Seriously people, you really should get in contact with all of the Universities and colleges. Just as an example: there are SO MANY JOBS at UC Berkeley - I just had a look at their own job search database and there are loads and loads - everything from events to athletics to HR to Finance to Admin to IT to security. LOADS.

If you are a little bit flexible, I am sure you will find something. It's well paid (even the lower level assistant type jobs), the benefits are great, AND universities have so many options for meeting new people, training, community events.

That, and the transportation to them is usually excellent - they will generally have a BART station close by or at the very least regular buses.

Another thing, in your resume try to use action words - if you were a teacher for instance there are plenty of ways to apply those skills to other non teaching jobs, you just need to be flexible, adapt your resume to the position, and make follow up phone calls.

Until that happens, I strongly suggest getting a volunteer position somewhere - it will give you US character references and something US based to add. It's also a great way to meet people who may be able to put you in contact with work opportunities.