MENA men and the great job hunt

[*Maureen* 0]

Im sure more than a few of you have been through 'The Great Job Hunt' since your main-squeeze got here, and I need advice. I cannot get my husband to understand that you dont have to 'know someone' to get a job around here. He is convinced that he has to have a friend help him get a job. He's also limited his search to Arab-owned/run convenience stores. This is becoming a very fruitless search and Im afraid he'll never get a job! Help! What did your men do when they went job hunting? Any advice? Tips?

I wish your husband the best of luck in finding a good job. I wouldnt let him limit himself to just "arab owned" stores for reasons stated previously in these posts. I would also get a resume for him and start looking online, newspapers and just driving around.

[sara535 15]

Its hard, its been our biggest challenge by far...

Its been a matter of taking what you can get and then slowly trying to leverage up. We live in a small town with very few Arabs so that wasnt even an option but I have heard from several other MENA immigrants some of the same things being said here, there seems to be a lot of 'taking advantage' rather than helpin a brother out.

Best of luck and hang in there!

[sereia 0]

same problem here! abdou has filled out applications at every business within walking distance or bike distance from my house. only one call back a few days ago (finally!!!) but we're waiting to hear when he can have an interview. definitely doesn't mean he gets the job! but its for a big well-known national company known for treating their employees well so i really hope he gets the job. it would be perfect until his english reading and writing skills are better and he can become an engineer!

i find the whole job thing really frustrating. i just hope he can get something before his temp EAD runs out! but at least for now he takes a lot of english classes to keep himself busy when i'm at work!

i wish all your husbands luck too... its definitely been rough these past few weeks trying to get him into something! ANYTHING!

[doodlebug 3]

same problem here! abdou has filled out applications at every business within walking distance or bike distance from my house. only one call back a few days ago (finally!!!) but we're waiting to hear when he can have an interview. definitely doesn't mean he gets the job! but its for a big well-known national company known for treating their employees well so i really hope he gets the job. it would be perfect until his english reading and writing skills are better and he can become an engineer!

i find the whole job thing really frustrating. i just hope he can get something before his temp EAD runs out! but at least for now he takes a lot of english classes to keep himself busy when i'm at work!

i wish all your husbands luck too... its definitely been rough these past few weeks trying to get him into something! ANYTHING!

Is he taking courses at a University or through another program? Does he like them?

[maggieNomar 0]

My husband was successful using Craigslist. I think the most importantly thing is push them to apply to a certain number of jobs each day. Let them know hardly anyone will call with a follow-up (so they are not disappointed). My husband found his job a month after actively searching on CL.

Good luck!

My husband found his current job on Craig's list too. He wrote his own email reply and said up front that his english wasnt' the best. They hired him at the interview. I know Ahmed's english is better than Omar's so he should be able to find a job easily especially in a production/factory environment. They are used to having ESL employees.

[yassmine2878 1]

My husband was successful using Craigslist. I think the most importantly thing is push them to apply to a certain number of jobs each day. Let them know hardly anyone will call with a follow-up (so they are not disappointed). My husband found his job a month after actively searching on CL.

Good luck!

My husband found his current job on Craig's list too. He wrote his own email reply and said up front that his english wasnt' the best. They hired him at the interview. I know Ahmed's english is better than Omar's so he should be able to find a job easily especially in a production/factory environment. They are used to having ESL employees.

Ill have to look into Craigslist, I had never dealt with it before. But it looks like everyone else is getting some success with it, so we'll give it a go.

And thanks to everyone for providing such great feedback, this has been EXTREMELY helpful. That does mean stop posting about it, though! Id still love to hear what you all have to say

[chris4336 3]

Hi, I just want to share our experience. We went through the same thing when my husband came - I dragged him to every store that had a help wanted sign up plus temp agencies and we heard NOTHING. He was taking English classes at the time (free and offered as part of our towns "Adult Education Programs") and made a friend there who worked at a company that was a hiring. We called, had an interview the next day, and my husband got the job! So I would really recommend signing up for some English classes (or any kind of classes). Not only does it help get your husband out and about, but it is a great source of connections. And because the others in the class were immigrants they knew of employers that were not very picky about hiring immigrants.

Best of luck to your husband. Remember the first job is the hardest :-)

[Ban Hammer 12,880]

My husband was successful using Craigslist. I think the most importantly thing is push them to apply to a certain number of jobs each day. Let them know hardly anyone will call with a follow-up (so they are not disappointed). My husband found his job a month after actively searching on CL.

Good luck!

My husband found his current job on Craig's list too. He wrote his own email reply and said up front that his english wasnt' the best. They hired him at the interview. I know Ahmed's english is better than Omar's so he should be able to find a job easily especially in a production/factory environment. They are used to having ESL employees.

Ill have to look into Craigslist, I had never dealt with it before. But it looks like everyone else is getting some success with it, so we'll give it a go.

And thanks to everyone for providing such great feedback, this has been EXTREMELY helpful. That does mean stop posting about it, though! Id still love to hear what you all have to say

one point on craigslist - get a free yahoo account just for that purpose, don't use your regular email account as you may get spammed.

[Aymerlu 3]

I don't know where you live but if there's an Arab community without a large number of Moroccans tell him to stay away from Arab owned places. We have a huge Arab community here but hardly any Egyptians. Other Arabs do not want to "help a brother out". I know this sounds bad but Moh has said how much he dislikes the Arabs here. Not only do they not want to hire Arabs not from their home countries but they're down right rude about it.

Oh and another problem is most positions he's qualified for require several years experience which he doesn't have. Plus we have the language issue. He speaks English very well IMO but others here tend to not understand him unless he repeats himself several times.

Other than that I have no advice since my husband is in the same boat as yours. Good luck to your husband.

I'm looking forward to others' responses.

My husband has found this true as well around here. We're in a pretty big college town and there are many arabs that he has met and made friends with. They can "be friends," but when it comes to helping to get a job, nothing would happen. These friends are also the first to criticize the jobs he did get though. Another thing that really baffles us is that a few of the muslim men around here has point blank told my husband NOT to get too involved with the men in the mosque.....not to ask them for help looking for a job, etc. Not too sure what that is all about.

[Meriem_DZ 37]

I was so worried that Hachemi would have a hard time finding a job. We live in a very small town. Not much opportunity to find something relating to Hachemi's computer science degree. He received his green card and we were about to leave for vacation in 2 weeks, so we decided to not look for work until we get back. The Thursday after we got back, I suggested we go to a factory that is less than a mile from our house. I helped him fill out an application and the lady said wait in the lobby. A man came from the back and took him on a tour of the plant. They make Nautic Star boats. About 20 minutes later he came out smiling and said "I have a job." I asked him when they wanted him to start and he said "tomorrow." I couldn't believe it. They pay pretty good and he had an evaluation after 30 days and already received a raise. In about 2 weeks he will have medical and dental insurance. He is very proud of himself that he is able to help pay the bills and have money to put in his "fold-bill" or "billfolder" as he calls it.

Meriem

[Ouadghiri 0]

well it actually helped Mohamed talking to othe egyptians.. to get hired Without papers... for now he works 2 days a week sell/ moving produce at the haymarket in the North end..

and Networking with people in the mosque....

he actually got hired under the table at a pizza place for 54 hours a week.. then later refused the job cause he found out they had pork there

he has his biometric appointment in a few weeks... once he actually has papers and a SSN.... I think he will get a job at a american run business... he actually didnt really want to work with a bunch of arabs anyways..

why ?

[a1angied 0]

I do really agree with the ESL classes and my husband is from Jordan and his only friend is a Morrocan that he met in his class. He laughs cus he says most of the time they have to speak english cus the arabic language is different.

My husband went and put in applications at the temp agancies and any other place that would take an application. He dropped his resume off everywhere. I had a friend that said he was doing some side work and I told him to call my husband if he needed help. He called and at noon my friend called and said that my husband had did more work in 5 hours then the other guy did in 3 days. He paid my husband $15 an hour and then bonused him cos he finished quick. A couple of days later my friends boos said he needed to hire an assistant so my friend told him about my husband and now he is working full time. He is working in the constuction field and learning so much. He is taking his esl classes at night now. He gets up for work at 4:30 am has to drive 30 min to work and back. He starts work at 6 and finishes and gets home at 4pm and then 6 - 9 pm he goes to school 3 nights a week. I am very proud of him. He brought home his first paycheck last week and was very proud.

We just bought him a 91 Cadillac Seville that has 60k miles, one owner, garaged kept and is very clean. He is so happy and doing so well. We got the car yesterday and today it is getting all checked out my my mechcanic and will be smogged and put in our names today. YEAH!!!

[doodlebug 3]

well it actually helped Mohamed talking to othe egyptians.. to get hired Without papers... for now he works 2 days a week sell/ moving produce at the haymarket in the North end..

and Networking with people in the mosque....

he actually got hired under the table at a pizza place for 54 hours a week.. then later refused the job cause he found out they had pork there

he has his biometric appointment in a few weeks... once he actually has papers and a SSN.... I think he will get a job at a american run business... he actually didnt really want to work with a bunch of arabs anyways..

why ?

Because it's not exactly haram to work with pork, just to eat it. I think this is a good issue to bring up since many men may have this issue. I asked my husband what he would have done and he said he would not work "with" pork either. Well if someone is going to work at a restaurant they'll be looking for an eternity for a place that doesn't have pork in it. And if it doesn't have pork it'll probably have alcohol.

BTW welcome to VJ. I'm so excited that so many new people not from MENA come in to our little section of the world. And in a first post too!

[yassmine2878 1]

I do really agree with the ESL classes and my husband is from Jordan and his only friend is a Morrocan that he met in his class. He laughs cus he says most of the time they have to speak english cus the arabic language is different.

That brings me to another question. Where on earth can I find a free (or nearly) ESL class for the hubster? Ive tried the yellow pages, google, the library, etc. Everything pointed to the school district (who wont return my calls or emails) or one of the universities (who charge an arm and a leg for tuition). Id prefer to find a classroom environment, because he's not much of a self-starter for learning via the net. Any pointers (especially if you're in my neck of the woods)?

[doodlebug 3]

I do really agree with the ESL classes and my husband is from Jordan and his only friend is a Morrocan that he met in his class. He laughs cus he says most of the time they have to speak english cus the arabic language is different.

That brings me to another question. Where on earth can I find a free (or nearly) ESL class for the hubster? Ive tried the yellow pages, google, the library, etc. Everything pointed to the school district (who wont return my calls or emails) or one of the universities (who charge an arm and a leg for tuition). Id prefer to find a classroom environment, because he's not much of a self-starter for learning via the net. Any pointers (especially if you're in my neck of the woods)?

http://superpages.literacydirectory.org/?o...amp;mode=adults

Just plop in your zip code and designate what you're looking for and it should show ones that are free in your area.