Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Actually that is not true. Of course, it depends on your field. My niece lives in Rochester and she and her husband and his family all have good jobs and earn very nice livings allow them to purchase brand new homes, have horses, etc.

But Hoffage appears to be working in the film industry and that might be problematic.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

It was pretty bizarre ... the boss had been attempting to pick me up on things for a while and the morning of tried to insinuate that I hadn't checked a record properly. When I demonstrated that I had, and then very politely suggested that she needed to trust me, she lost her ****, started yelling at me and then told me to go and sit down. Very patronizing ... but I got a bad feeling, so the email that I had been composing for a while I pulled up. An hour later, the security guards came to escort me out but not before I sent the grievance email. 5 minutes later all my access to my emails were cut. I did get a response from HR three days later saying I had been terminated due to 'performance' issues, which is ironic considering I secured the department a $500K contract. It was/is a toxic environment.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

When I first got here I had difficulties finding work in my field, so I took the job that I was fired from (which was an admin job, but I got it enhanced to a project administrator job pretty quickly) ... I built up their department, then when they decided I was no longer needed they started to bully me, and find ridiculous reasons to dress me down and then took the program off me that I had built, relegating me to 'only being good for counting the toilet rolls' (direct quote from former psycho manager).

For media type work, I have been steadily building my networks here in Rochester, and even published a few pieces of work, but it is tough and very cliquey. I am hoping the documentary experience will allow me to springboard into a related position, either here in Rochester, or elsewhere. I had a phone interview with Al-Jazeera in Washington D.C. the other day for a Producer position, and I am willing to relocate.

Hoffage.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Sounds about right for an at will state. I've seen the same happen over the course of my career. I've a hearing loss and once asked my attorney boss to please forward me the contact list of people for a particular case so that I would have their correct name spelling and their phones numbers. This list would help me when I had to answer the phones. I could hear on the phone, as I had special apparatus which I provided myself, but liked to double check the numbers before passing on the messages.

He went to HR, complained that I was incapable of doing my job because of my problem, and wanted me terminated. HR then contacted the other attorneys I worked for to ask about my performance with them. I got glowing reports and nothing was said to me.

I found out because one of the attorneys passed on the HR initial emails from the complaining attorney and from HR sent to her. I then made an appointment with HR and brought the offending attorney's email with me and demanded that it be taken out of my file and that he be reprimanded for his action and that I be assigned to someone else. If they did not comply, I would gladly go to the NYS Labor Board as his action was against the law. Not a very good attorney but he was eventually made partner and I was quite happy for the next 15 years working with someone else.

Guess that is why I don't hold with the going to HR and voicing complaints and expecting results. One should document all actions take by a higher up and if terminated bring it to the labor board.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Sorry to hear about your latest issues, Hoff.

Under your circumstances the Al-Jazeera gig might look tempting, but the last I heard was that the budgets had been cut to a shoestring after some monumentally bad strategic management decisions, which had caused the audience numbers to collapse. If you get offered anything I would recommend weekly commuting until you can determine if it is worth permanently relocating for.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Hey guys!

I wanted to wait until I had been working for a while - so I have a job in my field now (Journalism). Specifically, I am working as a TV News Producer for a local CBS affiliate for the past 2 months since being laid off/unfairly fired in April. Yay - the hours are crazy (3.45am - 1pm Monday to Friday), but it is a very good in to the world of TV News, and great timing what with the state of the news field atm (Trump etc.)

The wage is low ($33K) but not as low as it could be, so I am supplementing with an extra job - no stranger to paying my dues as you know :thumbsup:

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Glad you found something in your field. Hope now you have a foot in the door it leads to a more secure future.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Congratulations Hoff. I hope it all works out and that you can build on this position.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Congratulations. Hopefully it will lead to greater things. :fingerscrossed:

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Well done Hoff!

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Excellent to hear you've found a job in your proper field! Sounds like a very good addition to your resume/CV.... :thumbup: