Job Hunt

[Ash1541 0]

My husband has been here since December 2016, we were given an EAD in May 2017 and he was approved for a green card in June and has since gotten his card. He was very anxious to start working. However, he hasn’t had any luck at all. Per his Indeed profile, he has applied to over 300 jobs since May, has only had 4 interviews and has been turned down for everything. This is not counting anything applied for directly through a company website. His English is very good, he speaks clearly and his grammar is better than mine sometimes. He had a very good position in his country of origin and had a stable work history. I understand this may not mean much to employers here (who seem to treat him like he has leprosy). He has applied for the equvalent of his previous job here as well as call centers and data entry and clerical in warehouses. My uncle who worked at a bigger company in the area for 30+ years even gave him a reference and he was denied for two positions there despite it. The last interview was at a finance company (big name investing) and as soon as the woman heard he had an accent, he said she looked less than thrilled and kind of turned her nose up. We have moved closer to Columbus which costs more, we have enrolled him into the local college to see if maybe he will be more marketable with some sort of US education, we have gone through temp agencies who are no help at all. I have taken on a second job to support us and he is now talking about moving us to Russia where he feels he has better chances. I have no idea what’s going on or why it seems no one wants to hire him. We are losing hope at this point. Has anyone had a similar experience? Is there something we are doing wrong? Something we are missing? Any help is appreciated.

 

Thank you,

Lauren

[Oliversmom 250]

Hi.  Yes it seems work experience in another country does not seem to mean much unfortunately.  That was the case for my husband.  So he decided to take any job he could get to get started.  He tried a hotel and was hired on the spot.  All of his co-workers are immigrants.  It is definitely not his dream job but it is a job and he is pursuing his education while working.  You might check hotels in the area.  And good luck to you!

[Ash1541 0]

Thank you! We have a lot of hotels around us right now so that is a good idea. We are also trying to figure out how the work/study program works at the school. It’s only part time but it’s something. The school is also being less than forthcoming with enrollment information and we can’t do the work study until his enrollment is complete. We had such good luck getting him here and things otherwise have been wonderful...the work situation, not so much.

[JR loves JR 196]

It's the holiday season so there should be a number of temporary jobs opening. Not ideal but they normally are looking to hire fast to get people working. Have you had him go to a country workforce center and asked for them to review his resume? They also offer mock interviews and might give him some pointers. In Minnesota they often have or know of job fairs that provide good leads to jobs that don't require previous experience. Good luck

[trudi 1,317]

It is definitely harder to find work similar to what you had before as foreign experience & references don't seem to have any value here.

 I understand that as ways of working and culture are very different abroad but it's still frustrating.

 

Retail don't seem to be bothered though and the big box stores employ a lot of immigrants.

It probably won't be his dream job but it'll be some money coming in and a US work history

Edited October 28, 2017 by trudi

[mmsk 9]

Hopefully that he will get a job soon. 

 

I suggest the followings: 

 

• he should get any kind of job to get paid 

• have a hope and keep looking for a job related to his proficiency.
• consider moving to another states if it is needed. 

• analyze the previous interviwes to know why he was not hired. 

• Try careerbuilder website 

 

 

Im sure that one day he will find the job that he wants.

 

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

This might seem trivial but has he researched how to present everything in the way that US employers like?  The US resume /application system seems to work differently to many other countries. (For example where I come from a resume /CV for an experienced professional is typically much, much longer than here.)  And is he tailoring his resume/cover letter properly to each job? A lot of resumes here go through software first that kicks out the resumes that don’t have enough matches to the job being offered. It may not be the foreign background as much as not understanding how to get through the first stage of the sorting process in the US.

 

And importantly to check that his resume prominently displays the fact that he has a green card? In the absence of this many companies seem to assume someone with a foreign background wants to be sponsored for a work visa. Could be why he has had so few invitations to interview.

 

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

7 hours ago, trudi said:

 foreign experience & references don't seem to have any value here.

What a broad, sweeping statement. I can show you many immigrants who can demonstrate that it’s not true. 

 

IMO however it’s definitely true that immigrants are more likely to find jobs in larger, more immigrant-friendly cities/regions. 

[TBoneTX 43,525]

Thread is moved from the Working & Traveling forum to the Finding Work forum.

[TBoneTX 43,525]

Try this idea, previously posted by the member Darnell:
---
Each city has a chamber of commerce.  Find it.

Once you find it - talk with the secretary - tell her you want a schedule of events and let her know you'd like to attend.

Then - go in person to the Chamber of Commerce Office - talk with the President of the Chamber, tell him/her you want to volunteer at several of their events.

Attendees at chamber events are business owners and sales geeks, all looking for new business.  It usually is an informal-enough gathering where you can approach people and talk with them.

Now, the cool thing about being a volunteer there - is that you will be talking to everyone at least once - you might be at the reception table, you might be at the greeters table, you might help to run the audio/video system - whatever - but - the point is that you can meet everyone there, face to face.

 

Attend 2 or 3 of these, and folk remember you. When folk remember you, they will remember you are seeking employment and will consider you, because you're just not some name on a piece of paper - they met you at a chamber event and know that you were volunteering, helping out the chamber.

Go Get Em, and Good Luck!

PS - live in a really small town? go to the biggest town that's within 15 miles of your house.

[Gorkhali 213]

what I did ?

 

I took any job.. I found the job in 5 days .. within 10 days of receiving my GC I had my background check done, medical test done and was in work. I worked for a reputed company (fortune 100) initially in the manual labor job. I took that job as a past time and money for me to buy my wife some flowers and take her out for dinner. 

 

After that, I kept on trying jobs. I got offers from multiple places which were very far... I even got a offer from MA .. Now I am not going to MA for job. Eventually few week back I landed a job which pays good and it's in my field. 

 

My advise

take any job .. no matter what that helps you build your circle and people will know someone who knows someone who might be in the same field. This chain of recommendation work very well. 

 

Take temp jobs as holiday is coming 

 

Take regular cleaning or gardening or whatever jobs in neighborhood. Then when you do such job speak to neighbor.. you never "someone may know someone who may need people from your field". This also helps you build relationship in neighbor. 

 

Good luck hunting jobs. 

 

[millefleur 5,039]

I think it depends on what the final goal is, but "take any job" might be a slippery slope. If you end up putting a low-paying/non-prestigious job on your resume, it can certainly undervalue the look of your career/resume in the future. I know even Americans who've had difficulty breaking into higher-up positions down the road because they were just associated with their previous jobs on their resumes and couldn't be seen as anything but that. Of course if he desperately needs to start making money, then yes, any job will do. But it's iffy to take a job beneath his skill set just for the sake of "experience" if his goal is eventually to get a job similar to what he had in Russia.

 

I recommend looking for some translation jobs if his English is so good. Translators are respected and it will show how good his English is too. Having that on a resume tends to be a plus, also, the pay usually isn't too bad and you can often work from home. There are lots of online translation jobs, you can start by looking for remote work and see what he can find.

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

I think it depends on what the final goal is, but "take any job" might be a slippery slope. If you end up putting a low-paying/non-prestigious job on your resume, it can certainly undervalue the look of your career/resume in the future. I know even Americans who've had difficulty breaking into higher-up positions down the road because they were just associated with their previous jobs on their resumes and couldn't be seen as anything but that. Of course if he desperately needs to start making money, then yes, any job will do. But it's iffy to take a job beneath his skill set just for the sake of "experience" if his goal is eventually to get a job similar to what he had in Russia.

 

I recommend looking for some translation jobs if his English is so good. Translators are respected and it will show how good his English is too. Having that on a resume tends to be a plus, also, the pay usually isn't too bad and you can often work from home. There are lots of online translation jobs, you can start by looking for remote work and see what he can find.

This is excellent advice; and there is also the chance that doing translation, especially if it’s for businesses, will give him contacts that could be useful.... into companies that are doing business with Russia and hence his Russian background is an asset, companies  that already have other Russians working for them which helps circumvent the “can’t hire a foreigner” attitude, or simply help to build his network which can also help find work. 

 

 

[Ash1541 0]

Thank you everyone for your replies! It is greatly appreciated. Lots of good advice! Some we hadn’t ever considered yet. I’m hoping he finds something soon as it’s driving him crazy and I completely understand why. Not to mention, working two jobs is seriously taking it out of me, and I don’t get to see him much outside of the weekends. 

 

Thanks again!

[CEE53147 559]

Even native born Americans have trouble finding jobs. In my area there are many layoffs and people with long work histories must take jobs paying half of what they made before.