What was your beneficiaries first job in the U.S.?

[Kev&Viv 38]

I guess this question is more for the people who have already been through the k1 process and residing in the USA, but anybody please feel free to respond. I’m curious what was the beneficiaries first job in the U.S.?  Also, did they start work when they were legally able or maybe it (understandably)took awhile for them to adjust to things?  Maybe they didn’t work at all but did the domestic thing...

 

My fiancée and I discuss many different things she can do once here after we are married...  from staying at home to more school, part-time things, nails, pho restaurants...  she knows four languages so I think that helps too. 

 

Anyways looking forward to the reply’s!

[MissSarah 22]

I'm in the ROC stage post K-1. I had a difficult time finding a job with my EAD, but once I had my GC in hand I received a lot more interest. My first job here in the US was with a software company, my position was office assistant. Within one year of being with the company I transitioned into the development side of the business and I'm still with the same company. Knowing four languages is great - I know two languages, and it certainly helped me move up where I work. 

[JR loves JR 196]

While you wait for the K-1 or EAD, utilize the time to create an American style resume, have her go to English classes to learn lingo, find volunteer opportunities for her (there's a great post by Darnell I believe talking about volunteering at your local Chamber of Commerce), connect her to the local workforce center for mock interviews. It's three months so you can accomplish a lot in that time. And if she chooses not to get a job right away after getting authorized at least she'll be totally ready when she chooses. We, unfortunately, didn't do any of those things so when my husband got his EAD we started from scratch and it took a while to land anything. So he started out as a landscaper. 

[yuna628 9,527]

My husband did not find a job during his EAD phase. It wasn't until after his green card came did people actually start wanting him for interviews. He accepted his first position at the only place that showed strong interest - a local state college. It was part time to start, in the Technical Department. It wasn't very long until he was promoted to his full time position in the A/V Department for multiple campuses... which has him handling events with students, staff, guest speakers, concerts, police and fire depts., even the governor and press from time to time. He also functions as a Technical support agent and programing when any A/V equipment breaks, services and runs electrical wiring too. It's a busy job and he highly enjoys it. They have asked him to consider a teaching job as well in the future and he may be moving up higher soon.

 

I would say it was difficult for him waiting for so long, being rejected or simply not hearing back from anyone. He was miserable for a while and it was hard to keep his spirits up. Once he started working he really started to feel like he was doing something worthwhile. Prior experience with an American company and his degree did help get him to where he is now. He also had a good many coworkers looking out for him that took him under their wing.

[TBoneTX 43,019]

3 hours ago, JR loves JR said:

find volunteer opportunities for her (there's a great post by Darnell I believe talking about volunteering at your local Chamber of Commerce)

Here's that post:

-------
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.

[Chris Duffy 1,256]

I had my beneficiary work for me for about one year,  I did my best to help to adjust to the US work style.

 

Now of days when I get busy she can help when needed, She has moved onto a full time job.

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

My husband got a job a few days after he arrived in the US (CR-1).  He worked mainly cleaning windows, but also doing power washing, etc.  He had been a window cleaner in his younger years, but it really was not something he enjoyed.  He did his GED at this time and a remedial college composition class. Then he worked at a hardware store while he went to school for a trade.  Now, he's passed his journeyman exam for the trade.  He's certainly happier with it than his first job.  

 

His trade that he was doing in Denmark doesn't really exist as a trade in America, so he did have to start all over.

[MaleAlpha 314]

I started applying for jobs about 40 days into my EAD application (It was taking on average 60 days from application date to issue). 

Attended a few interviews and started a job in IT 2 weeks after my EAD card was issued (where I am still working at - almost 4 years!).

 

Depending on where you are and the area of work, it can range from easy to hard. IT and Healthcare jobs are in abundance in the Pacific Northwest so it wasn't a surprise I got a job so quick.

 

Good luck to your spouse.

[MaleAlpha 314]

21 hours ago, MissSarah said:

I'm in the ROC stage post K-1. I had a difficult time finding a job with my EAD, but once I had my GC in hand I received a lot more interest. My first job here in the US was with a software company, my position was office assistant. Within one year of being with the company I transitioned into the development side of the business and I'm still with the same company. Knowing four languages is great - I know two languages, and it certainly helped me move up where I work. 

Just curious -

 

when you said languages, did you mean programming languages? I'm assuming you were a programmer in Canada. IT and healthcare jobs are usually easier to find due to the high demand.

[Kev&Viv 38]

18 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Here's that post:

-------
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.

That is a very great idea and something I think we will definitely do!

[abum 324]

Me: still looking for the best opportunity to make a move into the USA with the whole family (a bit picky on this as well as choosing the right location suitable for the wifey as well). I got selected for DV, so not really relevant as the main post is asking about beneficiaries  

[abum 324]

but yeah, finding job, if you are picky can be very hard. I got a lot of emails and calls from recruiters, mainly people with some sort of indian accent (i am in the IT world so this is expected), and majority of them were recruiting for contracting jobs - 3-6 months type of thing, which is not suitable if i have to move around every 6 months. Monster.com is full of these recruiters. LinkedIn is the best source of good opportunities for me i believe.

[MissSarah 22]

11 hours ago, MaleAlpha said:

Just curious -

 

when you said languages, did you mean programming languages? I'm assuming you were a programmer in Canada. IT and healthcare jobs are usually easier to find due to the high demand.

Oh nope, I didn't mean programming languages. I'm fluent in English, intermediate in French, it helped to full a small void where I work.

[NikLR 13,220]

I worked in retail which was what I did in Canada.  

Then I moved into working front desk as a gym.

Now I work at a vet clinic which Ive always wanted to do. 

Edited November 30, 2017 by NikLR
Tiny phone keyboards are the devil

[usmsbow 795]

My wife started applying for jobs as soon as she received her EAD. It took her about a month to find a job. She applied to dozens (a mix of retail and entry level office jobs), and contacted several temp agencies. Her worst day job searching was getting rejected by Target for a cashier position. Eventually got a temp job through one of the temp agencies. It was actually working on a US Navy base documenting old blueprints of naval ships (IOW data entry). How she was able to do that work as a non-citizen is beyond me.

 

Anyway, her first assignment offered her a permanent position after a few weeks, but yours truly had to make her life difficult, and took a job across the country, so she had to job search again. Took her a month again to find another temp job. She had a few temp jobs before finding a full time job through good ol' Craigslist. All were doing some type of office work (data entry, then basic accounting).

 

In just over 2 years, she's had 8 jobs, kinda crazy. 5 of them were temporary assignments though. 6 were through employment agencies, 2 were applying directly. Last month she finally found a job she's happy with. 
 

Tl;dr version: applying to hundreds of jobs and using employment agencies worked for my wife. 

Edited November 30, 2017 by usmsbow