evanio1978

Hi

I am immigrating to the US tomorrow and starting the long hunt to look for work. I my panic to pack I have realised that I have misplaced my degree cert.

In the UK it's pretty unheard of for most companies to ask for your cert for marketing positions. Is this the same in the US ?

If most companies require evidence i'll pay the extra amount to speed up the process of getting the cert. If not i'll wait the two months they are giving me to have it sent.

Any feedback would be welcome.

BigDavyG

Why the h*ll are you emigrating right before Christmas ???

evanio1978

marrying an American girl.....

BigDavyG

Could she wait a few months. Not a great time to be job hunting.

Yes, you will need the cert and maybe more proof of its authenticity/value as many american employers do not recognise qualifications from non-us institutions. The fact that a british degree is worth 500 US degrees unfortunately seems to be lost on them.

Good luck with your move, but prepare yourself for a hard slog.

evanio1978

thanks mate.

Saved enough to be OK for a year even if I dont get a job so prepared to slog it out if need be.... Happy to do anything to pay the rent.

Moving to Boston to giving myself the best chance of work by leaving in a big city.

Bob

Good luck...it's still a really crap time to look for a job, thanks giving now, then x-mas...best bet to just hold off till the new year...give yourself time to settle in and all that...plus dealing with winter snow is enough of a mare to begin with

And degree cert, well I guess it depends on what your field is, probably do need it, but I've never been asked about mine, it's all about the portfolio for me....that and spiffing up the resume

evanio1978

I'll second what Bob said. I am working for an investment bank as a account manager and never been asked for mine.

BigDavyG

I was never asked in the UK either, but here they seem to be stricter with background checks. With my job I didn't need it as I worked for one of their subsidiary companies in the Uk for 3 years and whilst I didn't transfer directly I was able to use employees on this side of the pond for a reference.

kevntrace

I had to supply mine for the H1B process, but since I've been a permie its not been asked for by employers.

I got my current job about 2 years ago. In my industry this time of year isn't too bad actually. Lots of end-of-quarter deals get struck and they need to ramp up staff to implement.

On the other hand, there's always the greeter job at Wally World

USBound

is it just me or do they always employ THE scariest people in the greeters role... too many times our kids have seen her/him and just burst out crying.. or pointed uttering "eeewww"

USBound

regarding the degree cert - mine was required for H1B purposes only.. its been gathering dust ever since.

biccy

Before I moved to the UK, the biggest day for job ads in the paper in the US was the Sunday after the holidays. This was in the pre-internet era however.

Never in my experience have I been asked or asked for a degree certificate, but some companies do background checks (like my current one) to verify your credentials

evanio1978

it's an interesting point with Background checks. I am under the impression that in the US Colleges/Universities give basic details of the degree holder to verify they attended and graduated (course/dates etc)...

Speaking to my University (Southampton) yesterday it's a different ball game. Apprently I the graduate need to approve the employer to do a background check. Apprently after 10 years of graduating records are archived and harder to locate.

There you go.... A piece of useless information for everyone.....

BigDavyG

I'm not sure what they do for USC's but for me when they ran a background check when I started this job (transunion did it) I assume they just check that my SSN is legit and that i have no criminal record in the US. They say that they check references but all mine were from the UK and they completed my check in 2 days so not likely.

evanio1978

what do you do for a leaving Big Davy G ?