Patrick

I don't think people are being negative, I think they are just being truthful. The economic situation over here is diabolical. The hospital in Wilmington just laid 40 people off (including nurses - and there is suppose to be a shortage).

Your hard work may pay off, but you have to accept it won't be any time soon

Patrick

Patrick

**** me, if she thought I was being negative she is going to have a field day with you. Why do people think the truth is negative? If you rather we lie and tell you life is bed of roses we will!

Blondie

Thanks again for everyone's input, I do understand what all of you are saying, and maybe my husband may have better luck in his field. Who knows what is just around the corner. I used to work in the airline industry before I decided to change career. We were thinking of trying to come across 2 years or so ago, then 9/11 happened.!! That really didn't help us one bit, and I am aware that the US ecomomy has really taken a fall. All I can say is look at what the ecomomy was like immediately after 9/11, people said that the US was in serious trouble. It may still be bad, but not like it was 2 years ago. Airlines are starting to recover and people are having faith in flying again. It may only be a small step, but it does show improvement. My cousin and her husband have lived in the US for over 8 years now, and they wouldn't come back to the UK for anything. My cousins's husband has been working sucessfully in IT since he came across. Perhaps he is just one of the lucky ones. All I can say is that most of you are already over there, which is where we want to be, I would be interested to find out what you would be saying if circumstances were the other way around, and it was us that were already over in the US and you trying to get across. Would you give up? Anyway, like I said before, all we can do is keep trying, and maybe one day we will achieve our dream.

Taffyles

No its not like it was 2 years ago Blondie...its worse. The US has not recovered at all since 9/11- I think you've been misinformed.

At the moment- 200,000 people are being laid off every week, nationwide.

Even hospitals are cutting back- Sarasota Memorial Hospital has just put a hiring freeze on, cut the pay rise, and other cuts including no canteen facilities for night staff, no agency nurses hired (and presumably no foreign nurses who need green cards either). The hospital made a profit last year but not as much as usual, and the way the economy is...this is the first round of cuts-and there is a desperate shortage of nurses here......

Well if you're cashing in equity and ploughing it in to the US, I'm sure they'd love to have it. And there are people who make a living out of getting visas for and re-locating brits here in FL. Maybe there's the same in NC.
If you are planning on getting a job- you might be lucky, anything is possible- however not everything is probable. You probably won't find work at the moment no matter what State you head for.

We're not saying this to be mean- we are saying it to fellow brits out of concern for your welfare not ours.

Good luck anyway- no harm in checking things out, but if you'll take a bit of advice don't burn all your bridges in UK even if you do find a way into the US.

dunroving

Are you kidding me? Where did you get this info from? I'd never heard it was that bad.

You know, I always wonder why, when they report on the economy, they never present it in a "per capita" context (e.g., how much is the Iraq war costing ME per week?) Now I think I know why....

mark19964

Hello people,
This is an interesting thread, particuly as so many people have different inputs on the economy - mine is from a local prospective.

I have some new figures from the likes of Forbes and CNN Money, which give a different prospective again to this thread and where info is gathered from.

For instance at the moment Raleigh NC has an unemployment rate of 1.7% and Charlotte NC stands at 5.7%, there projected growth for both cities is 31% and 15.7% for the year 2003/4.
All this info is direct from Forbes Magazine, but the crux is who do you believe !!

I will say, Patrick and the others regarding I.T. are correct, even in the UK the fall out continues; Ive dealt recently with Nortel networks and Sisco systems, and they both tell a similiar tale of whoa, lots of jobs being cut and farmed out.

Good luck to one and all, and I hope we all achieve our goals - whatever the info.

Mark

Duncs

George.W.Bush has an MBA from Harvard Business school so i assume he can read a balance sheet if he gets it the right way up. I dont think i am to impressed about his economic skills so far. 'its the economy stupid' sound familiar.

You guys are whingers though, yes the economy is bad, yes unemployment is up, yes life is tough but why is the UK so much better? Maybe our hopeful friends have bugger all prospects in the Uk as well and the USA is better than that. Not everyone wants to spend years scrimping and saving in the home land to save up enough for the big comfy cushion when they get to the USA. Maybe some of us are willing to arrive on the boat(plane) with nothing but dreams what is so wrong with that? Life isnt a safe constant journey, its an adventure and maybe the harder route is the more interesting and rewarding. You just seem to expect safety and security all the time and woe betide anyone cheeky enough to be a risk taker.

Patrick i am sorry you have no job but you are clearly in the wrong place, with the wrong skills. You have pissed away a year on bitching about not having a job instead of making use of your money cushion and your time. Youre so all fire good at what you do why not set up your own business and work as consultant instead? or why not think of another thing you want to do and retrain/reskill? Why not work for free for someone and get in the door pushing the mail cart? Reason all means risk and thats not for you. Fine but would you all stop beating up on those who dont see it like you.

I have piss all money and i am bankrupt but i am coming anyhow, i have no job and my professional qualifications are no use without 3 years at college getting another graduate degree but i am coming anyhow. Yep i will live with the parents in law for a while and find something, maybe i wont get a paid job but i plan to volunteer to work on one of the Democratic candidates political teams and work for food, a bed and the chance to get George.W.Bush out of the white house. Maybe it wont happen but hey worth a try and when i am in the retirement home i will have a story to tell thats better than how i scared some hopefuls from coming to the USA with frightening tails of the crash of 2002!

just grow a pair or shut up,

regards,

Duncan

(ps.Patrick you know its meant with love!)

Duncs

Good luck to you and i hope it happens for you some day.

see my post above for my comments re the others if you wnat it enough you will make it happen some how.

regards,

Duncan

Patrick

Are you actually a ****ing moron or do you just do a good job of impersonating one! I have not pissed a year away bitching whatsoever, I apply for 30 jobs a week, when I am not applying for jobs I spend my time writing sketches and filmscripts.

You know I never thought of setting up my own business, gosh I wish I had spent the last 5 months investigating that and trying to get a backer as I have no capital of my own - **** your good and I am an imbosile.

**** me, enroll at the college I wish I had done that too - did you not read the thread where I posted my scores for getting into college!

Bugger! Apply for crappy jobs - I wish I had thought of that - I wish I had been turned down by enterprise rentacar, sprint shops, Lowes shop, Walmart, Target ......I have driven round every single company in the Wilmington area and dropped off my Resume. Do you need me to go on or shall I just stand here with my thumb up my arse and a dumb grin on my face.

Oh I volunteer my time too. I have been here 5 months and have never worked so hard, at the last count I have 45 different versions of resume. I don't know where you get off deciding I am sat here waiting for a queue to form at my door.

Until you get here you will not understand how bad it is, of all the people that got laid off from Nokia I am only one currently unemployed so don't tell me that the UK is worse than the US. I pity you moving over here with the attitude that because you have worked hard all your life you will suceed, well I have news for you pal, I have worked hard all my life and continue to get up at seven thirty every day and work hard. I put myself through university at 28, I was married and didn't have the luxury of living at home with my parents. Life isn't easy and I know that but whether your comments where meant with love or not they where still ****ing patronising. I am not trying to scare people but what is the point in encouraging people to leave everything and come here and then struggle, you obviously beleive it is better to have tried and failed rather than not try. Thats fine as long as you know the odds of success - at the moment it isn't worth placing a bet.

I don't need to grow a pair, mine are the size of Manhatten - I spent 4 hours with my bank manager trying to get him to lend me $330,000 4 weeks ago. Your a solicitor - have you never heard of ****ing research, now you have some actual facts at your disposal you can now make an argument - the trouble is there is nothing more I can do that I am not doing already. The fact I am warning people to wait until the recession is over is not a bad thing. Advice is a good thing - maybe if someone had adviced you to make sure your clients payed on time you wouldn't be in this situation now.

Patrick

Pulaski

QED!

Patrick

OK I'm an imbecile! Your as bad as duncan for only seeing what you want to see and ignoring everything else including the context of the statement.

I live in perpetual happy mood except when I come on here and someone accuses me of things I am not guilty of.

People on this ng are not whingers, they are at the least realists, the economy is in the toilet and the only thing Duncan sees is that fact we warning people not to come over and risk it as whinging.

I wish you all the success Duncan but boy are you in for a ****ing surprise!

Patrick

nathan barley

Patrick is absolutely right, the economy is in a very difficult stage right now, and it makes it even more difficult for newcomers to this country like ourselves to get a foothold.

I've been looking for work for a month or two now, and no-one seems to be willing to go 'out on a limb' and employ someone who doesn't have US work experience or qualifications, even for something as simple as just general office work, even though you may be smarter or better suited than the other candidates. Never mind looking for work in my college and university study disciplines, mechanical engineering and design respectively. Pfft.

Patience is a virtue, and I know something will pop along eventually, but it's impossible not to get frustrated in the meantime.

Pulaski

You have posted your view, not everyone's is the same. Some sectors of the economy are not doing so well right now, but others are ticking over quite nicely.

I came to NC earlier this year because I was offered a job here, and I think that that is the crux of the problem for many who post here and can't find work - they are tied to one location and can't up-sticks and move half way across the country.

I conversely had the luxury of being able to move to where I could find a job - and I looked across a good number of states. I would happily have moved anywhere from Maryland to Texas, with the probable exception of Florida, and north into the mid-west as far as Chicago.

As it was I found work in NC, and my employer has continued to hire more staff into my department, at least forty since I joined, I think. Maybe this isn't typical, but it is happening in some businesses. I was offered other interviews along the way some in New York. which I didn't want, and others in Virginia, Maryland, and DC.

The others have a valid view point, things aren't good right now, but not quite as bleak as many would have you believe.

Patrick

I just thing you must be lucky, even the local hospitals are laying off round here and we are led to beleive that there is a shortage in health workers.

My wife works in the pharma business and it is supposed to be an expanding sector - most departments where she works has a hiring freeze. The advertised a job last week and got 200 applicants - mostly from pharma workers laid off in Raleigh-Durham. This is for a low paid data entry job (I applied just in case Duncan thought I was waiting for her company to send to a limo for me - I followed up my application and was told by the hr that there where many more qualified applicants and I wouldn't get an interview)

Even in a depressed economy something has to grow, the problem is that even companies that want to grow are tentative to employ new staff when everyone else is still laying off. You where lucky, obviously Charlotte isn't facing the problems Raleigh Durham, Wilmington, Greenville and most every other NC city is having.

Patrick

Webbie

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you Pulaski and agree with Patrick.
Things are dire here at the moment.

I'm also in NC and have been here since the end of January now.
I was not as fortunate as you and did not have a job lined up before I arrived here. (INS and their damned rules.)
So far I've had only one job interview, but was too over qualified (Office Co-ordinator - simple office admin duties) - I went for this because of desperation to do anything and to get earning and to establish myself.

Temp (staffing) agencies are more that useless.
Sucks rocks through straws as an American friend of mine says.
And I think this quote has been posted elsewhere on here:
A waste of time submitting your Resumé to them - might as well throw it into a black hole.
When I was doing temp assignments in England I could pick and choose where and when I worked.
Here I can't even get a simple admin assignment.

If you haven't moved here already then please WAIT.

As high as the cost of living and petrol,etc is in the UK - it is better to hold on there at the moment.
It is actually better to be living and working in the UK at the moment.
Wait until this trained gibbon is out of the Whitehouse and things should (hopefully/cross fingers/rubs rabbit foot) be ok then.