To put my own situation in perspective, I lived in Corpus Christi (Texas) and Cleveland before NY, and didnt have a problem in any of those places. The reason being I came back and forth for years and saw what it took to get a job here, he who works hardest for the job gets it. It's not always easy but this isnt like Britain where you just turn up at an interview at the Job Centre. And thank goodness. Getting a job in Britain is an extension of the dependency culture there IMO. Here in the US you dont deserve a job, but you do deserve every chance to get one. And in my view equality of opportunity outweighs equality of outcomes in every situation.

Someone is above their station, no-one is going to come looking for you Pulaski, not with a net and stun gun anyway!

Patrick

And I don't work for Amtrack! .... I leave trains entirely for my leisure time.

I've been here in NYC for about a year and a half, and have been working for just over two months. I only started looking for work actively a few months before that, and replies and interview offers were non-exisitent, and I sent hundreds of resumes out, for general office work (which I'd done in the UK whilst I was at Uni).

The only replies I every got back were from temp agencies, and I only got 1 interview from those because my lack of US work experience, in their words, was holding me back.

That was until the last agency I attended, which was so impressed with my interview and test scores there, that they interviewed me for an internal permanent position, which I got easy Of the recent new employees they took on, I'm the only one who has been reliable and stuck around. I'm grateful that the management saw my abilities and took a chance on me, so to speak.

Now I'm in charge of handling & processing job orders from our contracts (which includes the Dept of Health, Board of Education, MTA, etc, big employers) which is a huge responsibility, and also co-ordinating outreach programs with 3rd party recruitment and charitible organizations.

If anyone in the NYC metropolitan area is looking for work, send me a PM, and I'll try and 'hook-a brotha up'.

I have been for working for a British company for over 10 years in Atlanta. Been somewhat fortunate that we have opportunities to transfer worldwide and business has been pretty good. We have had three transfers from other countries here in the last 6 months.

Times have been a bit tougher the last few years, but there are still many good paying jobs in this area. Cost of living is not too bad and the salaries here are competitive.

This is what people are saying, companies are not hiring all the jobs are going internally!

I don't think those who have jobs understand the reality of the those that don't.

Patrick

Just thought I would share some more info with you all as I started the thread (thought you might want me to contribute )

Out here in Colorado we had a large number of layoffs both before and after September 11th with people like Qwest, Level 3, Avaya etc turning loose a lot of good quality people.

I have been working contract positions with the exception of 1 job where I was an operations manager until the company relocated. I've worked for people like Covad Communications as a technical manager which has also been through its fair share or layoffs and now joins the amazing amount of companies moving it call centre and Tier 1/2 tech support to an India operation in an effort to increase profit. Thats another unfortunate aspect of this economy the India move, I know a lot of people both over here and back home (Lloyds Bank for one) that are joining this ever growing list of companies.

Another problem (summed up by a US friend of mine who is a recruiter for the Big 6) is that in these large metropolitan areas they attract a lot of people that come for everything from study to internships to relocation for their company but as he states the problem is that a lot of them do not leave due to their new found love of the state they have moved to. He states that in a lot of cases people would rather be employed flipping burgers than leave the state which again doesn't help rest of us who intend to reside here for the long term to find a job.

I also did an interesting and rather saddening task the other night, I logged into one of the major job websites as an employer (have an account) and decided to see exactly what I was up against in terms of competing people in my market. I decided to narrow the search to IT people with 7-8 years hands on experience, minimum of BS in IT and an MCSE and Cisco CCNA. I then went one step further and narrowed it down to my zip code and these were the results I received:


953 within my zip
4500 within the local area
Another 5800 willing to relocate from around the US for this type of role

Although we are all aware how bad it can be out there this really put it into perspective for me.

On a brighter note I spoke with a number of people I know at some of the larger recruitment companies that said this year was definately better than last and the contracts they already have signed and ready to roll early 2004 show that next year should be the start of the major turnaround. Keep my fingers crossed for all of us.

One last note to address issues other people have raised. I agree that the whole education thing does seem a little ass about face, knowing that you more than likely will have to re-educate yourself in areas that you have mastered over the past 5+ years of your life is maddening but may be required. The downside is that those that can barely afford to keep the roof over their heads cannot afford to go back to school or retrain its those people that will find it hard and unfortunately theres a large number out there.

The other thing I've found from working numerous roles here and in Canada is that generally I have found (waiting to get flamed for this comment) but we (Brits) generally seem to not only put more into the roles we hold but also offer levels of maturity and professionalism that most companies are blown away with. This doesn't say too much for the education aspect of the country that we're all being forced into retaking to be hired does it

Anyways, I'll leave you with those thoughts. I agree with you all though, this is the place to be, we all love it otherwise we wouldn't be here. I'm grateful to be here with my wife, my dog, my big truck and garage door opener (see turning into a typical American ). Also glad to announce that my wife and I are expecting our first in January so needless to say I got my Xmas present coming a little after Christmas

Hang in their guys and girls we've all made it through some tough times to get here and I think the future could look a little better for us judging by the encouraging information I'm getting.

In the meantime its great to have this board to be able to truly express our feeling and concers to each other and have people we can truly relate with.

Thanks all

WC

Can I ask that everyone send me positive vibes at 10am PST Wednesday as I have an interview at a major mortgage company in their IT dept.

I can almost see myself walking into Target now and buying that PS2 Fingers crossed!


Cheers,
David.

Will be keeping fingers crossed out here in Denver for ya man. Good luck

Let us know how it goes

WC

This is not an attack Patrick, but I think it works both ways. I had trouble getting work, so I went to a few classes on resume writing, interviewing, etc, and then it becomes clear why so many people have trouble - they arent going about it the correct way. Alot of people just send out resume's either on Monster or more local job sites, and leave it at that. That's not going to get anyone a job. The firts thing I learned was that if it isnt working, dont do more of it. Most people just send more resumes.

Here in the US you have to work to get that job. You have to send the resumes, make the phone calls, follow up calls, go right down to the place you want to work, show the people you deserve an interview. You have to attend countless job fairs, and schmooze your ass off. I'm astonished at the amount of people that go to interviews with absolutely no homework done.

So I have every idea what the reality of those who cant get work feel like. That's exactly why I have no trouble getting a job.

Again it comes down to location..... I've seen one job fair advertised in the six months I've been in NC. I've also followed up where I've seen phone numbers and usually got the 'what are you doing calling me' attitude....

I'm lucky and have found a job, but it's not something I want to do long term. The problem round here is actually finding the 'real' vacancies in the first place!

You had to go to a class for that? I have been doing that all along, every resume sent is followed by a call (if you can get hold of these people), I have knocked on doors, jumped through hoops and given out blow jobs and still nothing. I have visited HR departments of companies and asked them to critique my resume.

One of the interviews I had (and was going to offered the job) was at a job fair and the person on the stand said (very rudely) that my resume was not to her liking so I went home rewrote in the style she said and took and it back.

I am impressive in an interview because I prepare (homework, studying) it is just getting an interview that is the problem.

Part of it could be location, because I am in East Buck**** NC, but I have applied to jobs in all 48 contiguous states and not had a replies from anything outside NC (except one guy in JAX who asked me two questions about my resume then put the phone down on me!)

But thanks for thinking that just because we haven't got jobs we are all just a bunch of sorry ****wits who sit on are arses all day playing fire and forget with our resumes.

Patrick

Maybe you're not doing it right

Ok go back and read the "this is not an attack" line again, and then recoil yourself back into a normal position. At no point did I say any of that. And if I did I would have checked my spelling first. All I said was "if it isnt working, try something else."

1. I ran my reply through spell check and it came back no errors!

2. Just for you to pontificate on how people should job hunt is not just an attack on me but everyone here that is job-hunting

3. That was mild, lucky for you I am in a good mood

4. Thanks for the condescending advice ("if it isn’t working, try something else.") because we are all stagnant.

Patrick