Employment HELP - Where to start/who to speak to

[Beefheart 31]

So, the job I was hoping to start through my fiancee's friend has fallen through due to said friend moving away unexpectedly. The job was to be working for a vitamin company at a managerial position -- not something I would have chosen, but employment is a must as soon as I am able to work.

Despite this, I was going to continue to look for employment in a field better suited to me. That said, i am still pretty clueless as to what I should be doing as a career. I hold an English Degree (BA) from a London university and have done many jobs over the years, including landscape gardening, office work for a company dealing with the MoD as well as hospitality and retail work.

What are my best options for utilising my degree and obtaining a good job with a decent salary? I am completely lost as to where to start, whether to sign up with recruiters etc. etc. And at the moment I am extremely worried as I NEED to find work that pays well and preferably has good career prospects.

I will be living in the LA area when I move and marry next month.

Absolutely any advice and help will be gratefully received. HELP!

Mark

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

What career path were you planning to seek in the UK?

[Boiler 43,381]

As a general rule networking.

[TBoneTX 43,001]

Mark: This excellent information needs to be enshrined in the pantheon of All-Time VJ Posts:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/478364-desperate-to-find-work/?p=6809980

Because you're on K-1, it would behoove you to marry and file for AOS/AP/EAD as soon as possible. Your EAD will be the ticket to employment opportunities.

The holdup in filing for AOS is often getting the marriage certificate. Ask the officiant at your wedding if you can hand-carry the newly signed marriage paper to the courthouse yourself.

The procedure in L.A. or California might differ, but here's what we did in Texas: The above step, went straight to the courthouse, stood there while the courthouse staff prepared 7 original-copy marriage certificates, took them home, and filed for AOS et al. rapidly. The clerk had never had so many requested before, but she complied without complaint. Here, they were $7 each.

The 7 certificates were used as follows: One in the AOS package; one to the bank, to facilitate adding Mrs. T-B. to the account; one each as souvenirs to the respective mothers; one for Mrs. T-B. to keep with her at all times until the green card came (CBP asked to see this certificate twice); one to hold, in case it was to be requested at the AOS interview (none), ROC interview (none), or Naturalization interview (not); and one for us. You might make do with fewer originals.

The above is all "thinking ahead" stuff, which is far preferable to "OK, this step is done; what do I do next?" Let me know if it's helpful for you.

[Beefheart 31]

What career path were you planning to seek in the UK?

That's the problem. I simply don't know. Ideally, I'd like to use the analytical and writing side of my degree in some capacity. However, I had been applying for social media marketing positions but being turned down due to lack of experience. Which opens up the age old catch-22 issue of how you're supposed to gain experience for a job without someone first giving you the chance to work in that job to gain experience.

Teaching is a vocation which has been in the family for some generations now and has always been a fall-back option which I have been considering in my mind. I do strongly believe in the social benefits of education and its overarching edifying nature, and with age not on my side (I turned 32 this year) I perhaps should look at this as a career move. Being employed in such a capacity would give J and I the opportunity to move around the country should we decide, but I suppose most vocations could claim the same.

[Beefheart 31]

Also, thank you TBone, the idea of getting numerous marriage certificates for use in a variety of necessary steps makes perfect sense, so i think I shall be doing just that.

I'll have a read over the link you provided too when I'm back from work a little later. I really appreciate your advice and kind words.

[vjprof 0]

Hi. This site gives ideas for the best small businesses to start and where to start them, covering 300 U.S. cities. Maybe you will find it helpful. www.launchscore.com

[Beefheart 31]

Thank you for this. The more options available to me, the more chance I will of finding decent work.
Although I'm not looking to set up my own business it's still much appreciated.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Beefheart

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

That's the problem. I simply don't know. Ideally, I'd like to use the analytical and writing side of my degree in some capacity. However, I had been applying for social media marketing positions but being turned down due to lack of experience. Which opens up the age old catch-22 issue of how you're supposed to gain experience for a job without someone first giving you the chance to work in that job to gain experience.

Teaching is a vocation which has been in the family for some generations now and has always been a fall-back option which I have been considering in my mind. I do strongly believe in the social benefits of education and its overarching edifying nature, and with age not on my side (I turned 32 this year) I perhaps should look at this as a career move. Being employed in such a capacity would give J and I the opportunity to move around the country should we decide, but I suppose most vocations could claim the same.

Okay, so there are a number of things to think about.

1. Long-term career choice. A lot of people want to know what they can do for a job, but I think most people just figure it out on their own, based on their circumstance, opportunities, experience, interests, etc. I am not sure this is a one-size-fits-all question.

2. Short-term job options. Usually I think it is best if new immigrants use the experience they had at home to find a similar job in the US. It's just the most straightforward and most likely to succeed. But, if you have had odd jobs and no long-term job, then it is harder. I can't tell from this what your main line of work has been so far.

3. US-style resume. You can start now on making your CV into a US-style resume. A US-style resume is an edited list of previous work and experience, not an exhaustive list. So if you are looking for office jobs, then you would highlight your office jobs, and exclude the job you had mowing lawns, for an example. If you are looking for sales jobs, then you would highlight your sales experience and delete the office jobs. If you are looking in many fields then you would have many versions of the resume. A US-resume is usually one page, and does not include things like age, grades from school, etc. (I would also erase all A-level grades etc that I have seen on UK CVs, an just include your Bachelor's degree for the education part.) If you have a foreign-looking "resume," in format and information (like don't put your age), then many employers will just toss it out.

For teaching, (I assume you mean high school or lower since that is what you are qualified for) you will need to become licensed and probably join a licensing program in your state, so that would be a separate thing to look in to. Private schools may allow non-licensed teachers to teach.

I would spend time on monster.com looking at jobs in your area, and see what sort of requirements they want, to get a feel for things.

Also, after you marry, then you need to file for Adjustment of Status, and then wait 90 days for your Employment Document to be approved, before you can work. Plenty of time to work on your resume and research various things.

Good luck.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Harpa Timsah

[agnesb 47]

I found this website in the past when looking at my options in US, hope it can help you a little bit.

http://www.mynextmove.org

[Beefheart 31]

Thank you again, Harpa; such a helpful and considered reply. Also, thank you for the link, Agnes. I'll take a look at that too.

[vjprof 0]

I don't know if you are interested in being and entrepreneur, but if you are, you might consider using this website to guide your choice of city (i.e., where to start your business in the U.S.). You just search for the type of business you are interested in, then they tell you the best place to go. A lot of immigrants move to where friends, family and jobs are, but entrepreneurial types need to go where their businesses can thrive.

https://www.launchscore.com

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I don't know if you are interested in being and entrepreneur, but if you are, you might consider using this website to guide your choice of city (i.e., where to start your business in the U.S.). You just search for the type of business you are interested in, then they tell you the best place to go. A lot of immigrants move to where friends, family and jobs are, but entrepreneurial types need to go where their businesses can thrive.

https://www.launchscore.com

You already made a similar post with this website in this same thread.

[landr 126]

That's the problem. I simply don't know. Ideally, I'd like to use the analytical and writing side of my degree in some capacity. However, I had been applying for social media marketing positions but being turned down due to lack of experience. Which opens up the age old catch-22 issue of how you're supposed to gain experience for a job without someone first giving you the chance to work in that job to gain experience.

If you have neither the knowledge, experience or connections, you do it for free or less money to get your foot in the door.

Do you actively maintain social media profiles and a professional blog? If not, then this would be a place to start. Pick an industry, e.g., education, and start writing articles about it, particularly how to market/run social media/product content for that industry.

If you've not done so already, start reading digital marketing blogs and articles to keep your knowledge up to date. Sign up to the email newsletter from the American Marketing Assocation (AMA). They also do training videos on various aspects of digital marketing. If you are eligible and can afford the professional membership fees, it might be worth joining AMA.

There are also demo versions of social media management platforms, e.g., Sprout Social, that you can download to beef up your technical skills. I'd also recommend learning about social media metrics as well, particularly brand awareness and conversion metrics. Someone who can do the words and numbers will be in a much better position than someone who can only do one or the other.

Make sure your LinkedIn profile includes all the relevant keywords to attract potential recruiters. In your status updates, add a link to your articles. Make sure that there are links to your social media profiles. Add professional writing examples to your LinkedIn profile. Join groups for social media marketers, content producers, technical writers and start interacting with people in the industry. Join freelance/creative websites where you can also network with peers, post samples of your work and find work, e.g, Behance.

If you have patchy work experience (a variety of odd jobs in various industries), you need to find an underlying theme to pull it altogether so that a hiring manager can read your resume without much effort. If it's all over the place, not only will they be unsure how to place you, it will also make you look fickle and unreliable - you'll be rejected as a matter of course.

By all means, keep applying for relevant jobs, but I think that you'll be much more successful if you make them come to you rather than the other way around.

Edited September 3, 2014 by landr