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Finding a job in the USA

hi everyone, here goes my personal observation.

I have been in the USA for a month with a few days short of being two. I must say the experience so far has been great but the difficult part is landing a job.
You would need your SSN and a resume to land a job. Most jobs are applied online with a few exceptions that can be done both on line and in store.
You would have to follow up with calls as the job market is competitive.
landing a job is not easy and if you have a degree it becomes disregarded more often than not. The best part is bracing your self to do something you might not do back home.
Its fast paced and always room for upgrades on the go.
 
Princessin said:
hi everyone, here goes my personal observation.

I have been in the USA for a month with a few days short of being two. I must say the experience so far has been great but the difficult part is landing a job.
You would need your SSN and a resume to land a job. Most jobs are applied online with a few exceptions that can be done both on line and in store.
You would have to follow up with calls as the job market is competitive.
landing a job is not easy and if you have a degree it becomes disregarded more often than not. The best part is bracing your self to do something you might not do back home.
Its fast paced and always room for upgrades on the go.
Click to expand...
Hi.
Too to hear your experience. Where are you in USA?
 
The frustrating part, is that most of time you have to go through work agencies to find a job, because most of the companies are not hiring directly....
 
Well some jobs you can get thru agencies but online is the best way to go coz agencies act as brokers n they pay u less..:confused::confused:all the best
 
Getting a job in the US, a with many other countries, is very dependent on your qualifications and industry. Someone working as a high skilled immigrant (doctors, engineers etc.) would have a different experience than lower skilled people, as you would expect. You also need to pick the city and area you plan to immigrate to with care and go somewhere that your skills are needed. If you are an Oil engineer, then New York or Miami will offer less opportunity than Houston or Dallas. If you want to be a chef, then you probably have more chance in a big metropolitan city than a small backwater one horse town. I know I'm stating the obvious, but sometimes it is worth stating. There are people who go to the town or area where they have relatives or friends, which is perfectly understandable, but ignore the suitability of that town to their job skills or if that area is a high unemployment black spot or not. There are a lot of obvious things you can do to increase your chances and employability. Remember as a LPR you are entitled to the same benefits and helps as any other legal worker in the US. A good source of help is the job centre

http://jobcenter.usa.gov/find-a-job

Here are some tips to bear in mind:
The language skills. Ahead of time, polish your English, so you can communicate better and compete with other applicants that manage the language or have better communication skills. Another important issue is to have all your documents ready, depending on what country you are coming from, make sure your qualifications are verified and translated into English. You may not have needed that for the embassy interview, but you are going to need it for the job interview.

Have clear in your mind what type of job or career you want to pursue. If you want to be a restaurant manager, but do not have much experience in the US market, then you may have to start in a lower position, and work your way up. So map out a plan that you can follow once you get to the US. Today, if you have access to the internet, this is easier than ever, as there is a lot of information available.

Polish your interview skills. You may be interviewed by phone or in person, even over long distance, so you want to make the best impression possible since the interviewer may only have your voice, communication skills, and background work as a reference and cannot see you. This is of course true about any job anywhere!

Research salary offerings for the position you are applying for so you know how much it pays, when it is time to negotiate your salary and compensation. Depending on the area you will live and work, salaries vary, paying much less in rural areas than in the city.

Secure a place to live, and calculate what your living expenses will be. Be realistic about this number, as it may surprise you. Many Americans are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, so don't let that factor discourage you or opaque your dreams and goals. Focus on your future and plug in into the working system. If you assimilate into the culture, it will become much easier for you.

In addition, consider sponsorship, and be open with your future employer from the beginning. As anywhere else, if she/he sees a lot of drive, determination, and honesty in you, this will work to your advantage and you may be getting the job after all, despite other applicants. The most important thing is that you can show how much you can offer the company and the skills that you have. In addition to that, learn as much as you can about the company you want to work for and its history. This always works in your favour, as many times, applicants forget about this important step.

US has large areas of very high unemployment. Avoid settling in those areas. As a new immigrant, you have the pick of the country and more often than not, no particular link to an area that decides your residential location. Use that freedom.

As I said, stating the obvious, but sometimes it is best to state it.
 
Martin9 said:
Getting a job in the US, a with many other countries, is very dependent on your qualifications and industry. Someone working as a high skilled immigrant (doctors, engineers etc.) would have a different experience than lower skilled people, as you would expect. You also need to pick the city and area you plan to immigrate to with care and go somewhere that your skills are needed. If you are an Oil engineer, then New York or Miami will offer less opportunity than Houston or Dallas. If you want to be a chef, then you probably have more chance in a big metropolitan city than a small backwater one horse town. I know I'm stating the obvious, but sometimes it is worth stating. There are people who go to the town or area where they have relatives or friends, which is perfectly understandable, but ignore the suitability of that town to their job skills or if that area is a high unemployment black spot or not. There are a lot of obvious things you can do to increase your chances and employability. Remember as a LPR you are entitled to the same benefits and helps as any other legal worker in the US. A good source of help is the job centre

http://jobcenter.usa.gov/find-a-job

Here are some tips to bear in mind:
The language skills. Ahead of time, polish your English, so you can communicate better and compete with other applicants that manage the language or have better communication skills. Another important issue is to have all your documents ready, depending on what country you are coming from, make sure your qualifications are verified and translated into English. You may not have needed that for the embassy interview, but you are going to need it for the job interview.

Have clear in your mind what type of job or career you want to pursue. If you want to be a restaurant manager, but do not have much experience in the US market, then you may have to start in a lower position, and work your way up. So map out a plan that you can follow once you get to the US. Today, if you have access to the internet, this is easier than ever, as there is a lot of information available.

Polish your interview skills. You may be interviewed by phone or in person, even over long distance, so you want to make the best impression possible since the interviewer may only have your voice, communication skills, and background work as a reference and cannot see you. This is of course true about any job anywhere!

Research salary offerings for the position you are applying for so you know how much it pays, when it is time to negotiate your salary and compensation. Depending on the area you will live and work, salaries vary, paying much less in rural areas than in the city.

Secure a place to live, and calculate what your living expenses will be. Be realistic about this number, as it may surprise you. Many Americans are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, so don't let that factor discourage you or opaque your dreams and goals. Focus on your future and plug in into the working system. If you assimilate into the culture, it will become much easier for you.

In addition, consider sponsorship, and be open with your future employer from the beginning. As anywhere else, if she/he sees a lot of drive, determination, and honesty in you, this will work to your advantage and you may be getting the job after all, despite other applicants. The most important thing is that you can show how much you can offer the company and the skills that you have. In addition to that, learn as much as you can about the company you want to work for and its history. This always works in your favour, as many times, applicants forget about this important step.

US has large areas of very high unemployment. Avoid settling in those areas. As a new immigrant, you have the pick of the country and more often than not, no particular link to an area that decides your residential location. Use that freedom.

As I said, stating the obvious, but sometimes it is best to state it.
Click to expand...
well stated martin..
 
Well it's almost all online... build a good resume (sometimes companies have their own forms), send as many applications daily and follow up by responding quickly to interview invitations! Try indeed.com (the best) and craigslist.org (also for housing, cars etc). For me it's starting to work, just a week in US and I have my first job interview scheduled on Monday. Good luck to everyone!
 
These posts and articles are so helpful. Back to the drawing board to get that job for my skill set. Would be sharing my experience on the outcome.
 
The most important part in job seekong is a resume. I can recommend you to use some services
 
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I've been doing research on how the US resume differs from those of us who use Curriculum Vitae's etc. There are some very good - FREE - sites out there go through format, content, layout etc.
 
EmilyW said:
I've been doing research on how the US resume differs from those of us who use Curriculum Vitae's etc. There are some very good - FREE - sites out there go through format, content, layout etc.
Click to expand...
Good for borrowing ideas and then adapting them every resume going to a potential employer must not be a standard, info in a template kind of thing.
It must be customised and in a very brief way, eye catching to the employer.
I think the first link I gave in this thread had this advice well explained.
 
The important thing is indeed customizing. They often get hundreds if not thousands of applications per job, and the first thing they do is put the resumes through a computer program - if you don't have the right keywords you are out - so it is very worth the time to look at the ad and make sure the version of your resume you send in has the important things the ad requires.
 
My I recommend that if you ever become an employer, always throw away half of the resumes unread. That way you never employ unlucky people. :p
 
Martin9 said:
My I recommend that if you ever become an employer, always throw away half of the resumes unread. That way you never employ unlucky people. :p
Click to expand...
Interesting pos there Martin.
How about narrowing when making the ad so that only suitable respondents come your way?
 
I can recommend you to use some services for job seeking. They made one for me very nice, and I am very happy with the result
 
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