Chandler

I was lucky enough to be a company transfer so I've never personally experienced the dubious pleasure of job hunting in the U S of A. However, my wife is in the early stages of the aforementioned and I was wondering what those you have experienced the employment hunt found different to the UK?

- Are companies more expectant that interviewees will chase them rather than the employers pursuing the interviewees?
- Do US companies welcome uninvited resumes?
- Must a person sell themselves in what would be considered in the UK, an OTT way?

A guess to some extent the answers will changed based upon industry and geography. Therefore I’m going to through in the words “Public Relations” and “New York”.

All thoughts welcome.

Sahuaro

Be aware of the constitutional amendment which makes it illegal to return phone calls or respond to voicemail.

Pimpbot

It is my experience that this is true. I was told to make plenty of follow up calls, to the point where I felt like a pest. Actually lost one job I think, because I couldn't be bothered playing phone tag countless times.

The company I work for throws resumes in the trash that do not come through the right channels.

Bob

Do a search for resumes on the site, there's been a few good ones...but basically you've got to whore yourself out and really sell yourself, all about buzzwords and hounding people down till you get something....obviously not working enough for me though *lol*

Celtic_Angel

*lol* you spend too much time on here Bob......

Chandler

The whole pest thing is tricky. It's hard to know where to draw the line.

I guess the answer is ' two steps beyond where a Brit would'?

looselips

I agree - you do have to pimp yourself out since the current job market is in the employers favour.

It's all about networking - sending in resumes univited tends to end up in a black hole unless you have tailor made the resume to a job advertised on the company website and you fit the bill perfectly. Referals really count.

Follow up is key from nailing an interview date to sending thank you notes afterwards. In New York PR you can take that a step further and have to be creative about it to stand out to the top agencies.

I guess it depends what area of PR she has worked on but eg if she has any experience in tech PR have her try a company like Text 100 - with a UK origin they now have offices worldwide and really play on being a global PR company who welcome a diverse workforce.

Sahuaro

In the "Home of Freedom", they judge you by their standards so they expect you to be like them, act like them, have their morals / standards etc. If you can't do this, there will be neither sympathy nor interest. This is not a place for the meek, or the mild, or those looking for a second chance.

Chandler

How does one break into the elusive circle to get access to those whom need to have their net worked?

I'm hoping the answer is to hang around in bars....

Bob

luck, and friends....

could try: https://www.linkedin.com/ and see if you know anyone on it...

AmerLisa

Then what the hell are you doing here?

looselips

I second Linkedin - useful and easy.

If you want pubs search meetup.com - there are PR groups in NYC so you can definately mix business with pleasure!

Check national PR organisations....many are based out of NYC and have events/guest speakers where you can mingle and meet people afterwards. Start with PRSA.org

Pretty painless!

rincewind

So far I've come against the problem that I don't have my Green Card yet. Even though I have an EAD, some still require a Green Card.

Also, one job fell through because they wanted to do a credit check and I have no credit history in the USA right now. I sort of need a job to be able to build one. This is rare though.

Good luck.

Bob

I don't know about useful...but easy yes...as it's had bugger all use for me yet, but then it's only a small network *l*

fatbrit

I really don't think Bob should be posting in this thread!