skrips

Hello expats,

To put it bluntly, I have fallen in love with the USA/Canada and cannot see myself living anywhere else. I don't graduate for another 2 years (I'm 19 years old and doing a modern languages degree) and I am at a loss as to how I would start. I would like to be able to move as soon as possible after graduation.

Does anybody know any websites which show job placements available to those who are not American citizens? I have seen a few (expensive) websites, and I am not sure which ones are worth my time. Obviously I am not going to apply for any jobs now (unless they are internships over the summer) but I would like to see which ones I would apply to once graduated.

Anybody who has done this before - is it complex? It seems very complex, especially after 9/11. Do you think it is too ambitious for a recent graduate with comparatively little experience to focus on this? I really do have my heart set on it.

Anyway, I hope you guys can help me!

Thanks

Speedwell

Hi, Skrips. Yes... it's very complex, and you won't do it soon. In the best case it would take several months. Other categories (those not involving sponsorship by a USC spouse or parent) will probably take a year or years.

Large multinational companies are your best bet, I think. It may take a few years to happen, but you could let your managers know that you want to travel and to eventually settle in the US if they have a need for such a person. I work in the oil industry and they frequently do this for people with essential skills or who work on oil rigs. A degree in modern languages makes you valuable to multinational companies. An advanced degree is better.

I don't think you will get far applying to American companies that don't have a presence in the UK (assuming you are in the UK now). You would have to show exceptional skills and be invaluable to them, and even with a bona fide job offer, they must still apply for and bear the entire cost of the visa. The largest companies, such as Accenture or USAA (I mention them only because I know something about them) have some sort of "blanket" permission to bring in overseas workers, but these workers are low-paid call center employees and I don't know what their arrangement is with the employer.

ian-mstm

Have you ever actually visited either the US or Canada?


Many have, yes.


Yes - especially when you have no skills to offer and a degree that won't do you any good.


Ditto!

Ian

skrips

Thank you for your help, it was very informative. Yes, I think you are right, it probably won't happen any time soon. I think working in the UK and developing skills will be what I will have to do.


Yes, I have been to both the US and Canada multiple times. I personally wouldn't be so sure I wanted to live somewhere without actually having been there!

I would have thought that there would be some openings for those who are trilingual - especially for German speakers given the lack of German speakers in the US alongside the strength of the German economy. I do have experience working in sales and administration in the UK, France and Germany but I'm sure you are right in the sense that the skills gained there have to be built upon.

I am aware that I probably am not going to find a job in the US straight after graduating and will have to wait until I have some more real world experience.

I'm just focused on my goal and would like to know more about the process and potential future opportunities because it is a process I hope I will be able to go through in the near future - asking those who have been through it would help me.

SultanOfSwing

A word of caution - the USA is resplendent with unemployed American graduates. Unless you have something outstanding to offer that one of them cannot; I'm afraid finding a job as a non-resident is going to be very difficult. Not impossible, but very difficult.

Language skills won't help. There isn't a demand for German speakers and any German company that is international will have English speaking representitives. Speaking Spanish can help you get certain public sector jobs but that's about it.

If you're dead set on moving to one of those two countries and not anywhere in the EU (Germany, for example ...) then I'd set your sights on Canada.

Speedwell

That's true. I just returned from a trip to Germany where I trained forty people. All forty had enough English skills to understand me, a monolingual American with a specialized vocabulary (the fact that I have a "CNN news announcer" accent helps a bit, I admit). Most of them have enough English skills to get by adequately in the US. The oil industry needs people who speak Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hindi, and whatever's spoken in their other foreign offices... as many of the above as possible.

As a Texas resident, I find myself needing Spanish a lot. I don't have a lot of Spanish and it's a disadvantage. Outside areas where there's a huge Hispanic population, Sultan's right about it being practical only in the public sector.

jeffreyhy

Maybe if the other languages are Arabic or Farsi or Pashto or Urdu?

There's a reason why there may be a lack of German speakers in the USA - there's no need for them.

Regards, JEff

BellaE

My oldest son (USC) has a degree in German, and has found absolutely no demand for it. Companies that do business in Germany have German employees who speak good to excellent English, and language interpretation (translation) (for example for legal documents) is a specialized skill which goes beyond being bi- or tri-lingual. He is now working in a call center and is being asked to learn Spanish!

Pulaski

A large part of the problem that languages graduates face, and which is apparently not explained to them before they enroll on a languages degree course, is that what real world companies, with non-English speaking operations, suppliers, and/ or customers, are most likely to require is engineers, technicians, accountants, lawyers, experienced managers, etc. who have fluency in foreign languages, and NOT someone who's primary (only?) skill is fluency in foreign languages.

skrips

Thanks for all your responses!

I totally agree, and I do not intend to rely on my languages. I intend to get more experience in business using my skills (within Europe first, judging by the posts so far!), hence my previous experience, so that it is an asset and not my only strongpoint. I intend to get further business experience in France/Germany/the UK and use that to develop skills that would (hopefully eventually) help me in the US, to put it in another way.

I assumed there would be niche openings for German speakers that would be ideal for me once graduated. If not, that's not a problem for me, because I'm sure I can get experience in something else within the EU that would be useful to me, it will just take longer.

It's been useful to hear what I suspected - it is probably not feasible to move to the US that quickly after graduation! I'll definitely look into Canada to see if that would be more feasible. I would live in the EU, but with the wish to eventually make my way over to the US.

Hotscot

It's going to be very very difficult.

There is little demand for language graduates. There is somewhat a demand for science, computer and engineering types. However since there are plenty Americans with these skills who are currently unemployed you are not going to catch up to this level and show that you are better than them.

From a business perspective your best and maybe only route is to join a multinational and become an expert in an area of their business that would also be in demand in the US. Then try to transfer over. This is a tall order and I guess you'd be competing with others who have already specialized in those areas of business. Even if you were very very lucky it would take years.

Do you feel that you could develop such a business or technical specialty?

You say you are in love with USA/Canada...which parts though? Large countries/very different areas in them.

(I must admit when I first came to the US on holiday it was very much grass seems greener etc....eventually came here, initially reluctantly, but I had specialist skills in high tech. Been here over a decade and tired/homesick so a few years and I'm coming back to live in UK and spend time touring Europe which has a much more vibrant cultural community/history. I find many parts of America very monolithic these days. Not much choice in shops, restaurants, entertainment...)

skrips

I see, thanks. Yes, I really think I can. I mean, even if I don't end up moving to the US, it's something I would focus on anyway. After reading all the posts including yours, it is probably fair to say that I should focus on getting experience in Europe before realistically thinking about moving to the US anyway. That was why I posted, to see what is realistically possible.

I love the big cities I have been to in the US and Canada. I love LA, NYC, Atlanta, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, Newark, Philly, Chicago, Austin and Vancouver, Montréal, Québec city, Toronto etc.

Oh yes, I can sympathise with you. I would just love to spend years working in the US and Canada and spending time immersing myself there and travelling. There is so much to see for me. Maybe I would miss Europe and maybe it is just the grass seems greener, but it's definitely something I could see myself doing for a while. Most likely not any time soon, though. :P

Pulaski

It would be easier if you fell in love with a US citizen!

skrips

Hahaha. So very true!

Mr Weeze

So you've done 1st year? Can you change course to something else you enjoy doing that perhaps offers more options? You'd probably have to do 1st year again, but I do know the odd person who had a drastic change in degree. Maybe you could change to something that includes the language element so you study for a year abroad too? I had the option of doing engineering and German and I would have been in a German university for a year.

Slightly extreme, I know, and I would not recommend changing degree to something you don't like just to move over here, but it may still be an option.