Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
Dec 9th 2019, 4:55 pm
#16
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
Hi,
Not to be too much of a bummer, but you can easily blow through a salary of $120,000 in NY city, especially with a family. I'm a little concerned about her ability to work as some of the visas restrict spousal employment.
NY, by the way, is one of the few states that lets foreign-trained lawyers take a 1-year course (LLM) and then sit for the bar exam.
Not to be too much of a bummer, but you can easily blow through a salary of $120,000 in NY city, especially with a family. I'm a little concerned about her ability to work as some of the visas restrict spousal employment.
NY, by the way, is one of the few states that lets foreign-trained lawyers take a 1-year course (LLM) and then sit for the bar exam.
Dec 9th 2019, 4:58 pm
#17
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
And credit me with the wit to not give visa advice....
Dec 9th 2019, 4:58 pm
#18
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
What is so horrible about starting from the ground floor up? New country, new workplace, etc. Unless you are being transferred by a UK company to the US, everyone starts either from the bottom or perhaps the middle of their field. Your fiancee doesn't appear to have a position at the moment that gives her much, if any, experience in the US job market in finance or payroll.
You are British/Irish/Italian but you don't say what nationality your fiancee is. She, according to you, did not read, write or understand English (or American) and had to be taught the language. Your written dialogue is at times hard to understand but I'm chalking it up to texting from your phone.
There are other things to be considered. For example, have either you or she been to a country on the no-fly list? If so, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to overcome that.
You are British/Irish/Italian but you don't say what nationality your fiancee is. She, according to you, did not read, write or understand English (or American) and had to be taught the language. Your written dialogue is at times hard to understand but I'm chalking it up to texting from your phone.
There are other things to be considered. For example, have either you or she been to a country on the no-fly list? If so, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to overcome that.
Dec 9th 2019, 5:02 pm
#19
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
BTW, thanks for letting me know what PM stands for. Always thought it stood for "Potential Mistake'.
Dec 10th 2019, 10:15 am
#20
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Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
What is so horrible about starting from the ground floor up? New country, new workplace, etc. Unless you are being transferred by a UK company to the US, everyone starts either from the bottom or perhaps the middle of their field. Your fiancee doesn't appear to have a position at the moment that gives her much, if any, experience in the US job market in finance or payroll.
You are British/Irish/Italian but you don't say what nationality your fiancee is. She, according to you, did not read, write or understand English (or American) and had to be taught the language. Your written dialogue is at times hard to understand but I'm chalking it up to texting from your phone.
There are other things to be considered. For example, have either you or she been to a country on the no-fly list? If so, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to overcome that.
You are British/Irish/Italian but you don't say what nationality your fiancee is. She, according to you, did not read, write or understand English (or American) and had to be taught the language. Your written dialogue is at times hard to understand but I'm chalking it up to texting from your phone.
There are other things to be considered. For example, have either you or she been to a country on the no-fly list? If so, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to overcome that.
To answer some of your - very valid - points:
- The main problem from starting floor up - for her - is that I think she has lived the first few years here quite badly. She did not like working in retail and has found it very hard to go trough. While not working as a lawyer, or in the law sector, had been taken into account she was a bit taken aback by not being able to find a position at least in an office. While I do think this might have been due to the rather poor command of English. She is now rather happy to work at least in an office and I think her English has improved a lot. I guess she could be happy be starting in an office job rather than having to go to waitress/retail. How can you infer that the position she is working in here in UK would not yield any valuable experience in finance/payroll in the US? She does actually work in the fiance field working on claims, bookkeeping etc. In your view is there no connection or possibility to leverage this experience to get at least an entry position in this field?
- She is only Italian, I gather that she may become UK citizen in approximately 2 years if she decides to do so(and make us approx £2k lighter). Differently from me she is not a native speaker. (Thanks mum!
) - We have not been, to the best of my knowledge, to any no-fly countries.
Dec 10th 2019, 10:27 am
#21
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
Hi,
Not to be too much of a bummer, but you can easily blow through a salary of $120,000 in NY city, especially with a family. I'm a little concerned about her ability to work as some of the visas restrict spousal employment.
NY, by the way, is one of the few states that lets foreign-trained lawyers take a 1-year course (LLM) and then sit for the bar exam.
Not to be too much of a bummer, but you can easily blow through a salary of $120,000 in NY city, especially with a family. I'm a little concerned about her ability to work as some of the visas restrict spousal employment.
NY, by the way, is one of the few states that lets foreign-trained lawyers take a 1-year course (LLM) and then sit for the bar exam.
I don't think you a being a bummer: you are helping me put things into perspective. :-)
Well, I said $120k as I am not sure I can manage much more for my first job - I tried to guesstimate the number and put my self in a not too optimistic figure(can I argue $200k? seems unlikely?).
The visa is an issue I definetly shoud investigate in order to undestand which allows spousal employment. From what I gather many people even before getting a visa which would allow spousal emplymnet often transition trough visa which may not. e.g. O1 -> EB1 etc etc. I do forsee problems here as it is by no means granted that I may win the lottery for instance. :-)
Thanks for the information on the LLM I may investigate on the matter. That could be a possibility for instance if cannot work. However, I heard that the bar is a rather tough exam, or is it my impression? Moreover, do you happen to know how is the job market for lawyers in nyc?
G.
Last edited by Jpk; Dec 10th 2019 at 11:07 am. Reason: never ending typos
Dec 10th 2019, 10:39 am
#22
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Joined: Apr 2010
Location: The Boonies, GA
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
Moreover, do you happen to know how is the job market for lawyers in nyc?
Suffice to say it's pretty good
Dec 10th 2019, 10:39 am
#23
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
All I could do is really extol my own experience, although this was of course in GA rather than NY.
I worked in the UK in the civil service, at a supervisory, although not senior, level. I knew that I would have no chance of getting a similar job right off the boat for the work experience reason, and indeed this was true. Many resumes went unreturned from employers simply because (and I am surmising here) it would be hard to check UK work experience and there were many 'easier' candidates to vet for the same jobs.
So I literally went to the bottom. I started in a hospital as what was essentially a janitor. Within a year I had been spotted as having the capacity to 'do more' and was groomed to run the environmental department after about 6 months.
From leading the department I transferred to finance as this was more where my skill set was. First as a billing assistant, then a biller, then a supervisor, and finally after 4 years I became the CFO of the facility. This was probably a lot faster than you can get promoted in NY, simply because of the area, but the fact remains that 'getting a foot in the door' can reap immense benefits even if you start lower than your experience says you should.
The only difference between her situation and mine is that I was a Green Card holder from day 1 in the US and therefore work authorized,
I worked in the UK in the civil service, at a supervisory, although not senior, level. I knew that I would have no chance of getting a similar job right off the boat for the work experience reason, and indeed this was true. Many resumes went unreturned from employers simply because (and I am surmising here) it would be hard to check UK work experience and there were many 'easier' candidates to vet for the same jobs.
So I literally went to the bottom. I started in a hospital as what was essentially a janitor. Within a year I had been spotted as having the capacity to 'do more' and was groomed to run the environmental department after about 6 months.
From leading the department I transferred to finance as this was more where my skill set was. First as a billing assistant, then a biller, then a supervisor, and finally after 4 years I became the CFO of the facility. This was probably a lot faster than you can get promoted in NY, simply because of the area, but the fact remains that 'getting a foot in the door' can reap immense benefits even if you start lower than your experience says you should.
The only difference between her situation and mine is that I was a Green Card holder from day 1 in the US and therefore work authorized,
This is incredible, congratulations!
The fact you are outlining are my fear in the move: unreturned resumes + struggle.
My main question would be how did you get "spotted" from your first position as a janitor?
In my view this is the key point to the whole discussion because it was what enabled you to "step up" to the next rung and enter back in your knowledge/comfort zone. What would you have done if someone did not spot you?
Moreover between you case and my gf there is somewhat of a difference: you were at a supervisory level while she is not. This skill set must have enabled you to have the impressive compounded career growth you have had!
Dec 10th 2019, 10:43 am
#24
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Joined: Apr 2010
Location: The Boonies, GA
Posts: 9,561
Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
My main question would be how did you get "spotted" from your first position as a janitor?
If I had to make an educated guess, I would say that it mostly occurred because I already had something that made me 'stand out' - I was an immigrant, with a different accent. People here in the South pay attention when I talk because of the accent, and this allowed me to tell my story and relate my work experience. When the people with the power to make decisions came to know that, I think I was pretty quickly marked for higher things.
I can't honestly say that if I had been your regular joe American with no foreign accent I would have risen so far so fast.
Dec 10th 2019, 12:25 pm
#25
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
Hey penguinsix thank you.
I don't think you a being a bummer: you are helping me put things into perspective. :-)
Well, I said $120k as I am not sure I can manage much more for my first job - I tried to guesstimate the number and put my self in a not too optimistic figure(can I argue $200k? seems unlikely?).
The visa is an issue I definetly shoud investigate in order to undestand which allows spousal employment. From what I gather many people even before getting a visa which would allow spousal emplymnet often transition trough visa which may not. e.g. O1 -> EB1 etc etc. I do forsee problems here as it is by no means granted that I may win the lottery for instance. :-)
Thanks for the information on the LLM I may investigate on the matter. That could be a possibility for instance if cannot work. However, I heard that the bar is a rather tough exam, or is it my impression? Moreover, do you happen to know how is the job market for lawyers in nyc?
G.
I don't think you a being a bummer: you are helping me put things into perspective. :-)
Well, I said $120k as I am not sure I can manage much more for my first job - I tried to guesstimate the number and put my self in a not too optimistic figure(can I argue $200k? seems unlikely?).
The visa is an issue I definetly shoud investigate in order to undestand which allows spousal employment. From what I gather many people even before getting a visa which would allow spousal emplymnet often transition trough visa which may not. e.g. O1 -> EB1 etc etc. I do forsee problems here as it is by no means granted that I may win the lottery for instance. :-)
Thanks for the information on the LLM I may investigate on the matter. That could be a possibility for instance if cannot work. However, I heard that the bar is a rather tough exam, or is it my impression? Moreover, do you happen to know how is the job market for lawyers in nyc?
G.
The test is tough, but she can take a prep course over the Summer to get up to speed on the stuff she missed. She can always take it more than once until she passes.
Dec 10th 2019, 1:03 pm
#26
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
While the job market is always pretty good in NYC, a foreign-trained, LLM-bar entrance lawyer will have a much tougher time given subtle biases against foreign-trained lawyers that exist in the hiring offices of most law firms. Now, if the firm is specifically set up as a US-Italy law firm, well then she's golden. But in most firms, the foreign-trained lawyers are basically put in a room with a sign on the door "knock only if there is a deal involving XX country". It can be very tough to crack into the general and regular group of lawyers doing solid day-to-day USA casework as a LLM-entered lawyer.
The test is tough, but she can take a prep course over the Summer to get up to speed on the stuff she missed. She can always take it more than once until she passes.
The test is tough, but she can take a prep course over the Summer to get up to speed on the stuff she missed. She can always take it more than once until she passes.
Dec 10th 2019, 3:05 pm
#27
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
Starting from zero is a bit inaccurate. Since, she has some finance/accounting experience, the best option is to look for some temporary assignments through Temp Accounting and Recruitment agencies. The point is to gain as much experience as it is possible. Some of the assignments may lead to permanent employment. It seems many recruiters like to use Lindkin to search for the right candidates. I live and work in NYC for nearly 30 years. Started as a landscaper, went to college and worked in accounting field most of the time. I used temp agencies in the past and till now they reach out to me with some job offers. I worked for non profit organization and moved to corporate world. Non profits are really good for getting some job experience. They are less strict when comes to requiring college degree.
Dec 10th 2019, 3:11 pm
#28
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
Starting from zero is a bit inaccurate. Since, she has some finance/accounting experience, the best option is to look for some temporary assignments through Temp Accounting and Recruitment agencies. The point is to gain as much experience as it is possible. Some of the assignments may lead to permanent employment. It seems many recruiters like to use Lindkin to search for the right candidates. I live and work in NYC for nearly 30 years. Started as a landscaper, went to college and worked in accounting field most of the time. I used temp agencies in the past and till now they reach out to me with some job offers. I worked for non profit organization and moved to corporate world. Non profits are really good for getting some job experience. They are less strict when comes to requiring college degree.
Dec 11th 2019, 12:54 am
#29
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Re: Help and experiences: would my beloved start from zero?
Dear all,
I'm a british/Irish/Italian engineer and I'm rather new to this forum. I'm here to post a rather lengthy post since I am unable to come to a conclusion from reading several pages on this excellent forum.
I'm writing to gather some insight from people who have moved to nyc from the UK as me and to be wife
are pondering if moving to US is a viable plan in the upcoming years. We are particulary attracted by the city as we have been raised in a big and chaotic Italian city (Naples) and from the trips we have had to Nyc it seemed to us an amenable place as it has a great vibe and to the best of my understanding - under certain conditions - very good salaries/potential for business. In a way nyc for our taste and,
somewhat need, is substantially the only place we would like to move to as the perspectives are - to the best of understanding - really good professionally. We also have some family living in Hoboken - which a I love -(one of my Italian cousins who is a doctor).
As you all know there are several things making the move somewhat challenging and while I will give you an outline of out situation we are mainly seeking information on a specific aspect regading my girlfriend.
At the time being I'm doing a PhD in Control Theory/engineering at the University of Cambridge and my to be wife works at the same university as a Finance assistant at the Cavendish laboratories. As all readers know, before jumping the pond there is a visa problem but I would like to overlook on this aspect since I'm mostly interested in understanding thing related to my girlfriend's job prospects.
Hence, in an ideal scenario (which may well be rather unlikely) I would be in nyc with our visa problem sorted earing a rather good salary(the number here vary alot but from my understanding in tech we would argue $120k be a good salary) and my wife with me.
My main concern regards my beloved as I am not sure if people who have say 3 years of experience in the UK are seen as a possible good fit in the US job market and how well here experience may be re-seallable.
This is a critical bit of information as we moved here in the UK 4 years ago and I have seen here really struggle between learning the language and finding a job (she eventually managed first working at Marks and Spencer and then working at UniCam - she hold a bachelor and Masters degree in law but did a lot of business classes, i.e. 5). She likes the job she is doing now and while I'm not 100% sure of her job prospects it seems something that makes here happy. She has also sorted her English and is very fluent now! We would not be happy however if she had to restart everything from scratch especially if this was to happen while having a child.
Has anybody had similar experiences? Is it likely should would have to restart from "0"
(meaning working as a waitress fro instance? Of course moving 2 people and have them working in good positions is hard but how much would her experience count?Are we just dreaming that things could work out for there? Perhaps a husband moving to US thanks to a good job offer (which in our case is still far from being likely) and a wife who has worked in UK looking for a job? How did you get on? Did you start from 0?
I hope I made myself clear and excuse me if I omitted several areas which can create issues in a move but I had to simplify the setting to gather information on this very specific aspect which in experince is of primary importance.
Thank you all in advance!
G
I'm a british/Irish/Italian engineer and I'm rather new to this forum. I'm here to post a rather lengthy post since I am unable to come to a conclusion from reading several pages on this excellent forum.
I'm writing to gather some insight from people who have moved to nyc from the UK as me and to be wife
are pondering if moving to US is a viable plan in the upcoming years. We are particulary attracted by the city as we have been raised in a big and chaotic Italian city (Naples) and from the trips we have had to Nyc it seemed to us an amenable place as it has a great vibe and to the best of my understanding - under certain conditions - very good salaries/potential for business. In a way nyc for our taste and,somewhat need, is substantially the only place we would like to move to as the perspectives are - to the best of understanding - really good professionally. We also have some family living in Hoboken - which a I love -(one of my Italian cousins who is a doctor).
As you all know there are several things making the move somewhat challenging and while I will give you an outline of out situation we are mainly seeking information on a specific aspect regading my girlfriend.
At the time being I'm doing a PhD in Control Theory/engineering at the University of Cambridge and my to be wife works at the same university as a Finance assistant at the Cavendish laboratories. As all readers know, before jumping the pond there is a visa problem but I would like to overlook on this aspect since I'm mostly interested in understanding thing related to my girlfriend's job prospects.
Hence, in an ideal scenario (which may well be rather unlikely) I would be in nyc with our visa problem sorted earing a rather good salary(the number here vary alot but from my understanding in tech we would argue $120k be a good salary) and my wife with me.
My main concern regards my beloved as I am not sure if people who have say 3 years of experience in the UK are seen as a possible good fit in the US job market and how well here experience may be re-seallable.
This is a critical bit of information as we moved here in the UK 4 years ago and I have seen here really struggle between learning the language and finding a job (she eventually managed first working at Marks and Spencer and then working at UniCam - she hold a bachelor and Masters degree in law but did a lot of business classes, i.e. 5). She likes the job she is doing now and while I'm not 100% sure of her job prospects it seems something that makes here happy. She has also sorted her English and is very fluent now! We would not be happy however if she had to restart everything from scratch especially if this was to happen while having a child.
Has anybody had similar experiences?
Is it likely should would have to restart from "0"(meaning working as a waitress fro instance? Of course moving 2 people and have them working in good positions is hard but how much would her experience count?Are we just dreaming that things could work out for there? Perhaps a husband moving to US thanks to a good job offer (which in our case is still far from being likely) and a wife who has worked in UK looking for a job? How did you get on? Did you start from 0?I hope I made myself clear and excuse me if I omitted several areas which can create issues in a move but I had to simplify the setting to gather information on this very specific aspect which in experince is of primary importance.
Thank you all in advance!
G
before that came up, we found out we were expecting so she has been a full time mum now. Probably no use to yourself but I guess my point is not every wife has to work. I appreciate she may want to. I expect she could find something but would have to start out with what she can get. I think there are people working in bars, pubs and as waiters with degrees but it really depends, unique in demand skills and all that always helps a lot...
now one other thing I will mention, NYC is very expensive to live in. Sure you may find cheap parts but these are unlikely to be where you want to live. You can’t do too much research so you’re on the right track asking questions and thinking ahead. As mentioned not all visas allow options for spouse to work also, so be careful if that is really what she wants to do.
good luck!
