Canveydave

No problem at all, I wish I could help myself. My 11 years of placing Software Developers and Project Managers is currently being used to place people who climb wind turbines.....

mandela

Aye, I've updated my LinkedIn and joined a few groups specific to the Tampa area.

I've been getting my CV out there, uploading it to various sites and it is being seen. However, your assessment seems bang on as the few approaches I've had via email have been for positions with no relevance to my CV.

I did have one very useful conversation with a woman canveydave put me in touch with but other than that I think you're right, from my limited experience.

EDIT: Resume not CV.

Actually, having submitted my CV and covering letters for a few positions I realised that I was using UK spelling. Will this reflect poorly? I should have changed most of the S's to Z's, for example...so above would be realized instead of realised.


I know it's a little thing but when I've reviewed resumes I've binned most with spelling mistakes. Would this be considered a spelling mistake or are both acceptable?

anotherlimey

Change the spelling. In the current job market is best to give a recruiter the least number of reasons to put your resume in the trash possible!

Also check the area for large companies. Some will have their own career sites. Amazon is in Tampa; Chicos is nearby.

mandela

So we landed on Tuesday night and got straight to on Wednesday. However, nothing is going to plan.

On Wednesday we couldn't find the SS office so scrapped that. We then went to the bank where my wife opened an account but I couldn't as they wanted proof of address and we only have a holiday let for 2 weeks. I asked about using my Scottish address, as I'd read that on here but no joy. We then went to view an appt.
Yesterday, we found the SS office but there was a mismatch on the system, they said this may be due to immigration not processing my papers yet, so still no SSN issued. We then viewed more appts.

Today were viewing the final appt and will make a decision. Given that we've no credit history or jobs they all seem to want evidence that we have 3xrent x lease term to pass/bypass the check or whatever. Given rent is around 1600 that's almost 60000 (3x1600 x 12 months). The issue with this is they want it in a US account which means I'd have to transfer that in at a terrible exchange rate. I was hoping to exchange it slowly in the hope the exchange rate improves.

Today I was planning on visiting the DMV to understand what we need to do to get licenses but I'm sure we'll face some issue with this too.

It's all rather disheartening and the natural "have we made the right decision in moving" feelings are being amplified by the constant frustrations.

yellowroom

I don't know if this helps, but it is an entirely natural feeling, and it took about 3 months for me until things started to fall into place. You are going through a quite intensive period of activity where you are learning the frustrating differences between UK and US ways of doing things. Hang on in there, it will get better once you get past this stage.

Re the DMV, hopefully you have done all your research at https://www.flhsmv.gov/ before going to the office? As far as I can make out, EVERYONE (including US citizens) gets frustrated at their DMV and has a horror story to tell!

mandela

Thanks, Yellowlemon.

That's quite reassuring, actually.

In terms of the DMV I can already see issues with the 2 proofs of address as we have none...although we should have some shortly (a lease agreement and utility letter).
I know we have to sit a theory type test, not sure how/where, and a driving test but not sure we can do this in our hire car so that's the kind of things I wanted to ask the DMV.

slices

You should be able to take the test in the hire car as long as it is your name and the paperwork shows everything. I booked the hire car in my name for two weeks, extended it for additional four weeks over the phone. There was a delay getting our car through international autosource so my wife took the hire car back to extend it as I was working.

This caused a problem when I went for my road test at the DMV, earliest appointment I could get was about 5 weeks after we arrived so at that point the hire car was in my wife's name despite being the same car I'd originaly hired. They didn't like this so I had to make another appointment. The fact that I'd extended the rental over the phone and therefore had no paperwork for it would have been a problem anyway.

mandela

Ahh...that's interesting.

How did you find the test itself and did you do the theory/data test?

In Florida it's a 50 question test with an 80% pass mark.

slices

I'm in Florida but Manatee county si slightly south if you. The theory test was ok, got 1 wrong I think. Worth reading the DMV manual before gabd, so you are familiar with the move over law, school buses etc.

The actual test was a lot quicker than the UK one, it was in two parts really. First was driving out of the center round the block and back, very straight forward. The second part was maneuvers done in the DMV parking lot. I found this more difficult.

Pulaski

It also depends on what the car rental contract says, some say "no road tests". ..... It also depends on whether the examiner notices.

slices

True, mine was through avis.

yellowroom

when I had a quick look earlier, the Florida DMV website seemed to be quite helpful in terms of what information was needed. I noted they asked for SSN card - I had issues getting my SSN when I arrived due to mis-matching information, and it took two and a half months to come through. Virginia DMV would not even let me take the test until I could produce it.

I suppose what I'm saying is that don't expect to go to the DMV to have a nice, cosy, helpful chat, like you would if you went to your local council drop-in centre in the UK. You'll be lucky if you speak to someone who understands the requirements for new residents with a non-US license, let alone someone with the patience or time of day to speak to someone who could have looked it all up themselves on their website . Do the research on the website and take their document requirements as gospel. DMV employees are not allowed to be helpful or pragmatic, they go by the rule, no matter how illogical or unhelpful that rule may seem to be to you. So if you don't have two proofs of address, you can't get a license, simple as that.

(sorry if that sounds abrupt, but it's still politer than the Virginia DMV...)

slices

I struggled with the proof of address as I was staying with family. I was told I couldn't even book an appointment without a SS number, fortunately that served as proof of address as well. I had a letter from my bank for the other one.

yellowroom

But how does your SSN prove your address*? I had to have it as a form of ID (my passport was the other one), I think I produced my rental agreement for proof of address.

*All completely bonkers, and proves my point about the illogicality of DMVs.

slices

I needed two proofs of address and a proof of legal status plus my SSN. Stamp in passport proved legal status (they weren't interested in the rest of the passport), accepted forms of address included letters from financial institutions, government mail, car registration/insurance. My SS card was still attached to the piece of paper with my address on so counted as government mail.