chartreuse

That's just it, though: it is different and strange, as is having work experience or education from a foreign country. Bottom line is, you're at a disadvantage before you start.

celticgrid

I learned from experience and continually adapted the core basics of the resume through the 5 months of job hunting. I even wherever possible got feedback on the resume, not just from where I was applying, but any and all contacts. As has been mentioned by a couple of others (as well as myself!) the foreign background already makes the resume "different", as you put it. For some applications rather than try and hide that, as seems to be your approach, I actually emphasized it, along with the benefits it brought. Sometimes, when trying to stand out amongst a mountain of resumes, "different" can help.

benpackard

Thanks so much everybody - some great advice and links. I'll check them all out and get back with any more questions.

Thanks again!

PS anyone in the DC area looking for a couple of beers one evening feel free to get in touch - and I'm not just taking that networking advice...

Jaxbar

There are one-stop career centers that offer jobsearch advice resumes and have information on jobs in the area - bit like a job center. They also have inof on stimulus jobs training workshops etc

http://does.dc.gov/does/cwp/view,a,1...7C32064%7C.asp

Job-Seeking Services
The District of Columbia Department of Employment Services (DOES) was created to develop "Jobs for People and People for Jobs."

DOES provides job seekers with a number of employment opportunities through its One-Stop Career Centers. Each center provides career counseling, career planning, resume assistance, direct job placement, classroom and on-the-job training, access to America's Job Bank (both online and via telephone), information about local and national labor markets, unemployment compensation and much more.

Virtual One-Stop Career Center**
America's Job Bank**
DC Government Job Listings (DC Office of Personnel)
Transitional Employment Program
Weekly List of Hot Jobs

Bob

But you've got to give them reason to not bin you once they see you don't have US experience or education. And stating Greencard holder can very easily be misunderstood, so you are making it blatantly obvious that you are allowed to work here.

GeoffM

Are you authorised to work for any employer?
a) Yes.
b) I have a green card.

If you are the moronic human remains person doing an initial filtering and aren't too sure what a green card actually means, which of the two answers above is blatantly obvious that you ARE allowed to work? Certainly not (b), is it?

I don't dispute the lack of US experience being a factor but if the employer never sees your resume because HR dumped it as it didn't pass the initial filtering then you don't have a hope.

Dan725

As the others have said, the same thing and difficulties finding work has happened to so many of us. The US is probably one of the most demoralizing places to look for work when you are "fresh off the boat", as it were. In addition, if you are limiting yourself to a particular geographic area, it gets even tougher - and this is all at the best of times, let alone in this crappy recession right now.

It took me around 6 months or so to find my first job here - it was outside of my normal industry, but the skill set somewhat related, and I convinced them to give me a go. I got the job through a temp agency, even though it was a permanent position - they were just using the temp agency to advertise. I did take a bit of a paycut, but after 6 months or so they gave me a 30% salary raise, so they obviously realized I was an asset to them. I didn't particularly like the job, but it did give me at least some US work experience to put on my resume and got me into the US employment system with a work history, etc. It was always going to be temporary for me, but despite my best efforts looking elsewhere, I was there for 18 months or so before I finally got another job back in my field (and that was somewhat extreme, because it was a 6 month contract in Abu Dhabi!). On return from Abu Dhabi, I finally managed to get a permanent position in my field back here in the US. Both the Abu Dhabi contract and the subsequent job in the US were gotten through networking.

I think the key thing is to try to remain flexible with what you do, at least for a start. One other thing is to try is to circumvent the HR screeners. Every time I apply for a job nowadays, I always do a bit of detective work and see if I can find out the name and email address of the actual hiring manager, or someone else related. If you join a professional body for your industry, you can often get these details from their member directory, for instance. So as well as applying with the masses online, you can shoot an email direct to someone and get their attention as someone at least worth a look at.

Good luck!

Bob

But that's the thing, you've got to play the game to get past the initial filtering and when they're getting hundreds of resumes per job, the slightest thing is a dinger.

Saying yes your authorised to work isn't enough, you might be here on a EAD which expires, or a J1 or OPT which again all expires.

It's good to cover all your bases.

GeoffM

Exactly, so why confuse the issue by giving them that hint of questionability? "Yes" is no confusion; "GC holder" means HR have to think for a moment and risk thinking wrongly and dumping you.

The OP stated GC and it's in the thread title - not EAD, J1, OPT, or anything else, which are a completely different story.

Englishtart

You know, I wouldn't call myself 'overly smart' but even I get what Bob means! There are a lot of employers in the US that know a 'foreign' worker could be using a variety of Visa's to legally work in the US, telling them that you have a green card is a little bit more information that could give the employer a little bit more security in at least getting you to the interview stage......What is the big issue with giving them more info rather than less, if it helps you get through the door

Dan725

I can see both sides to it....end of the day, it just depends on who is reading the resume/application. 99.999% of the time, it probably makes no odds either way...for the rest, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

GeoffM

Thank you - my sanity is restored! Now at least somebody understands my point, I will respectfully leave that point alone - it's been thrashed enough already!

Bob

But we're talking in general terms here and at the end of the day, if you aren't clear, you could be considered as anything, where just "yes" isn't enough.

They've got hundreds of people who have your experiences, who are US citizens, anything that is different needs to be explained away quickly or you'll just get binned if they need to think about it.

It's a game, you've got to play it.

But as mentioned above, best way is to just get in contact with the hiring person, or department head and that's where LinkedIn is most handy as you can usually find an email, either because HR recruiter has it posted, so you can figure out how they have it configured and switch the HR person with who you want to get in touch, or just search profiles of department heads and sometimes they'll even have their blog/twitter/website listed in their profile and you can find their email that way.

Bob

But your not dammed if you do though are you, your giving them info that helps you out.

Not giving it, in theory shouldn't make any difference, but more than not, it does make the difference.

RalphJolly

Hello Ben,
I have been looking for a job without success for more than a few months.
I have a few observations for you.
The job market is not improving -unemployment is still rising despite the official figures. There was a weekly job stat yesterday that suggested things are improving. I read the whole report and here is the most salient paragraph
"States reported 5,059,843 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending May 8, a decrease of 41,403 from the prior week. There were 2,185,863 claimants in the comparable week in 2009. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity. "
How grim is that -people on emergency benefits has more than doubled in a year.
The govt continually fudges stats. Allegedy over 200k jobs were added to the economy last month. Take away the temporary census workers and the statistical adjustment that was made and the grand total was 34k if I remember rightly. From this you should subtract the people no longer eligible for benefits but still unemployed. Probably leaves a negative figure.
I keep asking people -do you know anyone who has got a job this year? who was unemployed and found a job? I have only been told about one friend of a friend.

Most of the jobs listed are not real. They are posted by HR departments trying to justify their own existence. While positions become vacant, the financial departments are not giving the go ahead to hire.
Most of my applications from last year are still be 'processed'. Many times when I find a new job to apply for, only to check through my emails to find I already applied for it several months ago.
There was a very recent report about the 'talent shortage' by ManPower. It basically highlights the inability of HR departments to fill new jobs. Specifically it mentions that HR departments cannot identify transferable skills and therefore have difficulty in identifying good candidates.

I laughed off the suggestion that being a foreigner was a problem when looking for work, but I am increasingly finding references to it.
What can you do when it appears that HR departments have such a dogmatic approach to hiring that appears to be based on a booming economy?
Get lucky I guess. & hope.


Yes I know it's all grim news, but the point of this is that you shouldn't beat yourself up if you can't find a job. There has been some good advice in this thread so far and you just have to keep going through the motions.
Best of luck to you.


BTW I think that indeed.com and efinancialcareers.com are good websites.