CherylToy

REALLY NEED TO FIND EMPLOYMENT, CAN ANYONE WHO HAS ALREADY UNDERGONE THIS PROCESS TELL ME HOW TO SECURE EMPLOYMENT/OFFER OF EMPLOYMENT/KNOW OF ANY COMPANIES WITHIN THE HOSPITALITY/TOURISM SECTOR WHO WILL SPONSIR UK GRADUATE:lecture: . PLEASE YOUR HELP WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATED.

Manc

why do you REALLY need to find employment?

you make it sound kinda life or death...............
is there some agenda underneath that makes you want to work in the USA that you are not telling?

excpomea

If you have a degree why not think about getting a Masters degree from a US university?
I know my own http://admissions.fsu.edu/intl/ offers places to foreign students.
It's a good way to get your foot in the door.
A friend of mine did this very thing and ended up getting a job offer from a US company.
Good luck though.

Franklin

Might cost the big ones. So be prepared to fork out big dosh. Generally, graduate degrees don't come cheap in the USofA.

dunroving

That really depends on whether you are at a state school and whether you have an assistantship. It's surprising how easy it is to get through a masters degree with not too much money at some schools. See www.uga.edu for such a school.

Of course, being a grad student means you won't actually save money, so you could look at it as 2 yrs of "lost wages", but you're more likely to recoup that over the years with a higher salary from having a masters degree (depends on your field).

A US degree program is certainly one convenient way to get into the country and eventually get a job, visa, GC, etc. After you finish a US degree, for example, you have pretty much automatic permission to work for 1 yr in the US, making it easier to convince an employer to hire you.

Franklin

It's no longer an issue of "lost wages" but a HUGE debt burden and the opportunity costs that arise when it comes time to pay off the student loans.

There are exceptions to the rule and exceptions to the exceptions, but generally state schools are a good deal for in-state students. Out of state students are charged at a higher rate. Then there is the issue of student loans. Green card holders and US citizens can get Federal Loans. FLs are not generally available to non-US citizens unless they have a GC. I've been through the ringer on this one. Within a few months after arriving in the USA I sat the LSAT and got admission to a law school, despite winning a 50% first year scholarship based on my LSAT score the degree cost me a packet and then some.

As a general rule, US graduate degree programs are far more expensive for British students than doing a graduate degree in the UK. My British (actually Scottish) PhD cost me nothing, likewise for my British bachelors degree, likewise for my British masters degree in biotechnology. But my American JD cost me about $50,000 in tuition and books. Then there was the two thousand to do the BarBri bar review course, then the other odd thousand for the Patent Bar review course, then the examination fees, the list goes on. I added maybe another 10k of debt to my already big 50k of debt. My brother thought about doing a JD to complement his English law degree, he took one look at the cost of doing classes and forgot about it. It would have cost him about 130k to get a JD (tuition, books, living costs). I laugh when I hear about the debt burden in the UK. It is FAR GREATER here than in the UK. But there is the compensation of access to low interest Federal Loans (but these are geared to US citizens and GC holders; commercial loans are more expensive).

Everything seems to cost an arm and a leg when it comes to education in the USA. If you can get a stipend teaching undergrads good luck, but you will be spending a lot of time teaching instead of working on your graduate degree. I did three afternoons a week teaching undergrads/supervising labs and marking lab write-ups at Glasgow (actually called "demonstrating") during my PhD, but this was my doing, I wanted the extra money. My grant covered living expenses and tuition, the "demonstrating" was an extra. My post-doc paid quite well too (18k UK pounds, about six or so years ago, my PD was funded by Brussels so worked out quite well). PDs in the USA can be worked to death doing the work of their supervising boss, teaching students, marking lab books, and finally trying to do a bit of research.

If it was an easy ride, it ain't now. The US higher education system is turning into a very expensive slave machine ... there are plenty of examples of graduate students who have been reduced to slave labor. There was a major article on this exact issue in one of the US newspapers (but I can't remember which one, sorry).

A friend of mine who was doing a PhD in Organic Chemistry in the same department swapped his British PhD for a US PhD program. After six months he quit, he said he was worked to death by his supervising Prof and had done hardly any work on his PhD project. At least in the UK system you can actually concentrate on your PhD and your supervisor can't make you house sit for him/her without raising more than a few eyebrows.

Here in the USA, students are often literally ****ed over by their supervisors. It is a scandal. Taking advantage of graduate students has become an epidemic. There is a growing crying out need for legislation to protect the dignity and human rights of graduate students who are too often at the beck and call of their supervisor who they must satisfy to get that all important PhD etc. It's a scandal.

Congress must put the lid of this and state legislature should seek to control this growing menace. Sorry to sound off, but I have seen how American grad students can be raked over. The same can happen in the UK university system, but here it has become routine. Graduate research students are in a very vulnerable situation and are easily exploited least they get rubbished by their supervisor and get kicked off their PhD. I lost count of the number of fellow students on my JD program who had affairs with law profs. Never mind the obvious conflicts of interest. The stress and importance placed on class position to stand any chance of landing a good position is extra-ordinary. Some Profs develop nick names like "Hot Rod", if you get my meaning. I have never seen this in my experience in the UK. Maybe I was wearing blinkers, but I never witnessed it. Unless this is gotten under control, I wonder if the US college system can survive. Even the Romans had problems with decadence, and the US college system is becoming very decadent and outrageous, imho. Please excuse typos, I'm in a rush.

dunroving

I'm in a rush too so I'll just explain that the very reason why I posted the link to UGA is that you CAN most definitely do a masters there with very little money. If you get a graduate assistantship, there is no in-state OR out-of-state tuition to pay, only fees, so you essentially get a FREE education for a start. The cost of living is low, and the assistantship will cover your expenses unless you want to live the high life.

Yes, some professors work their GAs like dogs, blah blah blah, but it is most definitely do-able. How do I know? Because I did it. I left UGA after 4 years of a PhD program with ZERO student debt.

There are possibilities out there, you just need to look and/or get help to find them, There are publications every year on the best values in schools, etc.

Franklin

Yeah, there is the exception to the general rule and your institute seems to fall into that category. But generally, British grad students who have to pay for their grad degree would be a lot better off doing a grad degree in the UK than here. Medical students here can come out owing over 100k in loans.

Easy street for grads is in the past. I have met too many grad students who are very poor. There are a lot of grad students looking for work. I get no end of calls from well qualified people desperate for work. A degree offered a good life, but that is in the past. Its dog eat dog. Computer graduates are having a fantastically difficult time. Many can't pay off their student loans.

There are not many degrees that offer easy street. Those with medical related degrees seem to be doing OK. The population is aging and there is a growing need for nurses, hospital staff etc. But MBAs, PhDs in non-engineering disciplines are two a penny.

I know PhDs who work for their dads; one PhD is working in house construction. The rules and common base lines have shifted. I can no longer say to a young person that it is a good idea to go to college and then grad school. Unless you are lucky, it might be better to think about vocational courses, taking advantage of contacts, particularly family contacts and needling your way into a law job or other profession. Absent such back-up networks, doing a professional degree might not be plain sailing. During easy street times it was the answer, but the economic wind has changed direction and the current HE system is looking increasingly out of wack with reality-street.

Outsourcing is a growing problem and will hit the middle classes more and more. Because of outsourcing, computer people are out of work. Information technology and computer software jobs are in decline. Biotech is supposed to be hot, but much of this sector is under severe pressure. To succeed now you need to be more than just well qualified. You need to be savy and calculating to get a good return on an advanced degree. Easy street has gone, welcome reality-street.

NC Penguin

May I offer one big tip about finding employment? Please turn off your "Caps Lock" because writing in capitals is netiquette for shouting and is very impolite.

To get a feel for finding a job/getting an employment visa for the US, I would suggest you head over to the US Visas or US Immigration forums. This is more appropriate for you.

Also, based on your original post, it's my opinion that it would be virtually impossible to get employment in the US in your industry if you're from overseas unless you're exceptionally talented or successful in your field. i.e. established a chain of hotels, have many years of experience in senior management in hospitality or tourism.

The reason I say that is that there are many (thousands, possibly millions of) US graduates like you with, quite possibly, identical skills and experience. Consequently, there's no reason for a US employer to hire someone from overseas unless you're exceptional for reasons that I suggest in the previous paragraph.




NC Penguin

Expat_Wannabe

You might want to look into getting a J-1 visa, which will allow you to stay in the US On an 18 month internship. The employer doesn't have to pay anything (you pay the organiser a small fee), but you do have to arrange an internship before you get there. Look at www.ciee.org and www.usaplacement.com.
Must warn you its not a quick process! I've been looking for the last 8 months and have received very limited replies and only 2 interviews! The competition is also quite stiff, as practically all US students do internships. Can be demoralising to get turned down for unpaid internships, but guess it depends on how desperate you really are!
Good luck!

Franklin

Yeah, good point. Brits with science backgrounds looking to do a post-doc tend to get J1s at the drop of a hat. The turn around time (once you had a post-doc arranged) was about 3 weeks. Maybe it is a lot slower now. But J1s (at least for scientists) had a couple of quirks. You could work for a set period tax free, but work one day more and you have to pay back taxes dated back to your first pay check. :scared:

NC Penguin

Your post is quite interesting but wholly irrelevant for the OP (original poster). Cheryl is not looking to work in a science related industry!

Might be helpful to gain an overview of employment visas in the US and determine which ones she is eligible for-
http://www.shusterman.com/homepage.html





NC Penguin

Manc

don't take that tone with me nav!

oooooooooooooooooo get her!

Franklin

Yeah, point taken. But if Cheryl does go for a J1 (I don't think they are limited to one sector of the population) it is worth knowing the tax rule: tax free earnings but if you stay one day longer than the J1 limit you are on the hook for all the back taxes back to your first pay check (and the IRS will not forget you if you go one day or more over and don't pay the taxes, this can seriously mess up a later Green Card application, owing taxes is a VERY serious issue). Don't you think that is worth knowing given that a J1 is a work visa used by people from a variety of backgrounds?

excpomea

Some good points ref the Graduate students. I see it all the time here at the lab.
The Experiments will be listed with some Priciple Investigator as the head.
But you never see them. Just a couple of Grad student who spend 3 weeks working 20 hrs a day. Then the big man (Or woman) turns up at the end and takes all the credit.
The Grad students are usualy lucky to get a mention at the end of the paper once it's published.

But, who ever said life was easy