I will call this afternoon..fingercross..

i have been living here over 2 years already and I haven't worked a day outside our home yet I always have an excuse

My husband (non USC) works as a ID checker/bouncer at a local night club on the weekend, and as a direct tv installer on the weekdays.

I'll be starting work officially on Monday, yay! I was lucky to get the job in the Research & Dev't., biotech sector. The agreed salary is good, will earn higher than my USC husband.

Oops, I can't edit my post. Now, my secret is out . I meant to say the pay will be well above the min. wage (CA), and okay.. also better than husband's!

Edited: testing the edit button

my wife got her 1st job after 8 months through a temp agency/Consultant as a software engineer, the pay was pretty good but didn't stay there for long at that job, so far 3 Jobs in less than 2 years.

congratulations

I am a qualifies Counselor in the UK. My first job here was a counselor (though not the same as in the UK) at a Housing Association working doing HUD applications....hated it...never saw a client just did paperwork!! My second job is my current job...I am a mental health casemanager for a rural behavioral health center.......isnt quite what I want to do but I do love it...and I am using my counselling skills for sure !!!!

BTW my Counselling qualifications are not recognised here and I work with aperson who has a Batchelors in Psychology who just doesnt have a clue...but she gets paid more than me.........annoys the heck out of me but I just dont think I can start it all over again to earn a little more than I do now!!!! I am just glad of the opportunity I have in my current job!

Don't kid yourself Marilyn being at home is a job too...I did it for quite some time. Homemaking IS a career.

I agree.

The other reason that I haven't got a job is simply because I spend a lot of my spare time renovating this house. That's why when I do work it will be a part time thing.

i don't really do an awful lot at home here just do the dishes and cook food , the rest of the day I am on the computer or watching TV ...

Congrats to all who recently got themselves a job! To those still applying and looking for jobs, good luck.

Working for a University has spoiled me I can't stand my job, but I love the benefits, so I'm only applying for jobs at other universities or with the local government - they have the same level of benefits.

I just got an offer from the University I want to work for on Friday, but they had the guts to offer me a temp job with no benefits. I'm gonna turn it down and continue applying

Hi ALL-

I guess, we all had to make our sacrifices....
I couldnt find a job for 10 months even though I do have a university degree from germany..so I went to a temp agency and started as marketing analyst for a six month assignment . In Germany I was working in brand marketing at Kimberly-Clark and here I couldnt find an equally good job
Luckily, after heavy networking I found another contract opportunity with an agency for the Coca COla Company and they pay contractors pretty well. so I have been back in my brand marketing career but as a contractor.

even though, I do not want to do that, I will go back or lets say, I plan to go back to school to get an MBA. that way, employers will feel good about their american credentials. thats they only way, I will be able to succeed in my career.

thank you all for sharing your expierences....its great to read them

Nothing wrong with working as a contractor, just make sure your pay is enough to cover the the self employment tax and whatever other expenses that your client doesn't pay for.

Hi there!

I'm new here, and sort of on the wrong forum too as I'm not getting married to an American (yet, anyway), but I do have some questions... My plan is to live in the US from August 2008 on, no matter how I'd get there. At the moment I'm applying to every single exchange program my Uni has to offer, as that would obviously be a straight-forward and cheap way to get there (Finnish citizens don't have tuition fees at Uni level, so the exchange would be almost free as well).

But I would rather work. Mainly because the city I want to live in doesn't have exchange programs with my Uni, and also because student life is so poor. But I have understood that in order to get a work permit I have to have a job, and in order to get a job I have to have a work permit?? My head is spinning here !

So here are my questions: if I am accepted to an exchange program, could I apply for jobs while still a student, and start working when my school year is over?

If I don't get into a US school, can I enter the country with Visa Waiver and look for a job while I'm there (it must be hard to get a job via internet, with no possibility of interviews etc)?

The job could be ANYTHING. I have a B.A. from a Finnish Uni, but seriously, Wall Mart would be fine! As long as I could be near my special someone...

Any other ideas on how to enter the country (legally, thank you very much )?

I have to say I'm very surprised to read about so many people with degrees struggling to find a good job in the U.S...
I lived overthere for more than 8 months under an internship and I was offered a couple of good positions that didn't get through (because of the missing work permit, of course). I don't have any other experiences but that internship (in the Italian Consulate though, does that sound "cool" to possible employers?") and my ideal job would be teacher or translator, since my Italian M.A. is in Foreign languages and literature.
Job situation totally sucks here (I'm unemployed...) and one of the reasons we don't want to stay here and we are going to apply for a K-1 is because of the higher number of opportunities in the U.S. . Does it depend on the State/city where you live? I was in Boston and it seemed I had many chances there, but my fiancé is more eager to stay in North Carolina or Colorado.
Am I delusional if I think it is not gonna be that hard for me to find a job?
Maybe having already worked in the U.S. as an intern could help?

From my experience hunting for my first job here. I got ignored a lot to start with, I mean 95% of the applications I sent in I never got as much as a thanks but no thanks. I was an IT Technician back home and no employers here recognize anything I had from home and my experience was/is worth as much as the paper it's written on. I intend to sit my MCSA/MCSE over here.. that should be more than enough to get back on the horse again.

It took me a total of maybe 2 months to get a job, in the end I was willing to work almost anywhere as long as it was money. I got lucky and got offered a position as an office person for the government. Benefits are decent as would be expected, paid sick/annual time, retirement, dental/vision/health.. etc. Since then I have to say I've been prompted moved up a pay scale, have a decent amount of autonomy work wise and am due to receive an award shortly . That isn't quite so bad for a first job over here even if it isn't in IT.

Good luck to all of those who are searching, it's hard I know but you just might get lucky!.. my advice is if you have anything lucky, wear it to your interview.. I wore my lucky shorts and they didn't fail me!

The boy was only looking for part-time work as he was finishing up his PhD dissertation (which he submitted yesterday AT LAST! ), and only ever got one bite after the 20-odd applications/emails/phone calls. It finally took some good old fashioned nepotism to get him a job -- there was an ad on craigslist for an office assistant at a law firm here in town. It's a small enough place here that if you have ever worked in a legal-related role (which my mom and I both have), you will probably know over half the lawyers in town. I did a bit of sleuthing and discovered it was the office of a close family friend. My mom called the lawyer directly, said her son-in-law was looking for a job and voila! Bruce beat out six other graduate students for the job (surprise, surprise) and started two days later. He even just got his first pay raise two days ago!

They love him there, as he speaks really posh when he picks up the phone -- clients think they're going for a 'classy' lawyer! Bruce can't believe how easy it is, and he's usually done with his actual work in an hour. I tell him to keep his mouth shut and keep collecting the paychecks!