emailrob

Do you have specialized technical experience? If so, which country you come from generally does not matter.

You experience sounds quite varied, " I have worked as a Project Manager, Sales Contract Manager, and Managing Partner"

If you are applying for say a project manager role, then tailor your resume to this. You may have 2 or 3 different versions of your resume depending on the type of role you are applying for. Your personal statement, experience, accomplishments, should all be tied to the area you are applying for.

if you've been a contracts manager and apply for a project manager role with the same resume, that could be what they are getting at. "not enough US experience" is BS - its probably just an excuse for not enough relevant or tailored experience.

Good luck, PM me if you need help looking at your resume. I have a lot of experience.

Dan725

Agree with this; as well as linkedin, I have used my professional industry organization to good effect - if you join a relevant professional body, you normally get access to a huge member directory full of contact info.

Anything you can do to try and at least circumvent some of the the usual process will help.

Sophie_Libri

Hi Geordieinla,

Thank you for your post. I am very much in a similar situation. I have moved to the US with my husband (he is a US citizen) at the beginning of 2011. I have a PhD in economics and 5+ years of experience at a university in the EU.

After the move I decided to switch careers and started looking for an administrative assistant job. I had a significant administrative component in my university job, so I most certainly am proficient with MS Suite, can sort and maintain files and organize meetings etc. - which are standard requirements for admin jobs. So I thought that finding an administrative job should be easy, right? Not quite so.

I have sent out about 40 applications by now I have not heard a single reply so far, not a single invitation for an interview, not even for volunteering positions!

Part of the reason we moved was my wish to leave academia and work in a different field. I certainly could not have imagined that finding a job for which I am obviously qualified would prove to be so difficult. Add to that the fact that I already have a PhD and a humiliation and the overall feeling of absurdity of the situation is complete.

I hope, however, that eventually you and people like us will be successful. You have to have guts to survive if you are an immigrant. What does not kill you makes you stronger, as they say.

I wish you the best of luck with your search.

Sophie.

Bob

Welcome to BE and good luck!

But that's only 40 apps, that's nothing...a couple hundred later is when you start getting depressed

Noorah101

I don't know what your resume looks like, but if you're saying you have a PhD in Economics, you are most likely WAY overqualified for an Admin Assistant's job. Potential employers might not be contacting you because they think there's no way you'll be happy doing simple Admin work with such qualifications.

Rene

meauxna

+1
That was my first thought.

Sophie_Libri

I was planning to tone down my resume, so it is useful to hear/read other people's thoughts about it. Thanks for sharing, Rene.

Sophie_Libri

Thanks for sharing.

Sophie_Libri

You know, I think the whole situation is quite funny, really, in a surreal, Bulgakov- or Vianesque sort of way. Life is stranger than fiction, they say.

Orangepants

Vian - now that is a blast from the past - my wacky French 6th form teacher made me read him in French then after in English. Yes I agree - a just comparison having tried for nearly 4 years to get a work visa myself!

Dan725

I have to say that is very true...I have noticed that here completely ignoring people is the norm. Even worse....sometimes you will go through the entire process (multiple interviews, even)....all to find out the job you were interviewing for never materialized. Now that is depressing, real donkey and carrot stuff! Yet more people have reported getting interviewed (again, sometimes several times), and then hearing back....nothing.

In addition, the economy being the the way it is encourages more of this awful behavior by hiring companies because they can cherry pick the workforce....it's really not a good situation right now.

Sophie_Libri, have you tried applying for any economics positions and seeing how that goes? IMHO, now is a bit of rough time to be changing career - perhaps you can play to your strengths instead. You still will get a big bunch of no-replies, but at least you'll be able to fight on a more even playing field, so to speak. Good luck!

Sophie_Libri

Thank you, Bob, for pointing this out. You are right, keeping all options open might be a good idea, especially in the current economic climate. Thanks.