Hi Guys

I know we are in a global recession, and thousands as joining the unemployed queues, however I would like to find work in the long term say a few years from now.

For the guys that are from the UK and working out there, what type of experiences did you have looking for work.

Did you go over to the states and then looked for work?
Applied from the UK?
what sites would you recommend?
etc...
etc....

Any input would be appreciated
Thanks

What type of employment are you in/looking for?

Have you been to Disney World recently?

I have 8 years IT experience and a degree.

Just wanted to hear some of your experiences.

Sorry to be the bubble burster but times are very hard here right now, people are begging for work, you have 40 year old professionals applying for jobs that were once only done by 17 year old school kids. Why would an employer want to go to the hassle of being a sponser?

If you have the relevent experience/education then your best bet would probably be to get a job within the UK and do a company transfer to the US.

We're actually heading to Canada but that was our choice, we could have gone to various locations in the US as hubby was offered several jobs there.

But he was headhunted for all of them, he never actually applied for any himself.

Hope that helps.

You have a few employment based options to come to the US:

1) Intra-company transfer. You go to work for a UK ocmpany that has offices in the US. After at least a year, you could approach your boss about transferring you to a US office. This is an L visa.

2) You try to find a US company willing to sponsor you. So, you can look for US jobs on US job sites, but you need to look for companies that will be willing to sponsor you (an H1-B visa). Be aware that many job postings will say "must have work authorization" or "not willing to sponsor". However, the H1B is fraught with several challenges. #1 is finding a company that wants to offer you a job and file the visa for you. #2 is that applications for H1-B's are only accepted for a short period of time every year starting on April 1st. There is a cap of 65k H1-B's every year - so you are basically in a lottery to get a visa. #3. If you are lucky enough to find a job, and you win the H1-B lottery, you can only start you new job the following Oct. Which means, if company applies April 1, 2010, you can only start working for them Oct. 2010.


It's worth noting, that for both options, a company must apply for you - you cannot apply for these visas personally. So a company will have to be willing to pay the costs to get you to the US.
Or, you could save up money, and try to buy or start a business in the US with an investor visa. I can provide no info about those, so maybe someone else can help.

get behind Dean in the queue.

Or marry a USC

Yes, it is tough out here right now. I have been here 2 weeks (Arizona) and my husband 6 weeks and he has only had one interview so far. The company he interviewed at still has not made a decision on whether he is a yes or a no and the interview was 4 weeks ago The HR lady told him 5 days ago that the management team is still deciding. It is definitely an employers' market right now. It is right that people are begging for jobs. My OH is a design engineer with 18+ years experience, past 12 years in the same job in the UK. He is a US citizen too. Good luck trying to find something, pickings are slim

And to think Newcastle are going down too........


just not your week is it love?

Wait... Monday night is not over yet AND Shearer is in charge We can't throw in the towel yet... I don't want to say any more

Thanks for your replies, I'll probably use my time to do my exams and upgrade my skills.

It's a mountain to climb !

4 weeks is nothing, I've been on the hook for months for a few places only for positions to get pulled due to corporate hiring freezes, also had 4 interviews at a place only for the job position to change and also have a inter company transfer.

It's rough stuff. As for design work, what kind of design experience? There's quite a few places around Boston that are looking, packaging is pretty big here as are shoes, Nike/Puma/Converse and Timberland over in NH and Canondale in CT. coroflot.com is a handy site if he hasn't already checked it out.

x2 on this. Best bet if you can somehow find yourself a specialist niche too.....something that a regular IT professional can't do - reason being there's plenty of them already here that's unemployed at the mo.