Landing a job in US while still living in Ireland

muddled1

I would like to hear from anyone who has gotten a job in the US while still living in Ireland. I live here and want to return to the US but can't afford to do so without a job lined up. I don't know how common this is. I work as a secretary.

Dave1442397

I tried it and couldn't do it. All the companies I talked to wanted a face-to-face interview, so in the end I just came over here and started looking. I started my first job (computer programmer) six weeks after getting here.

iusedtoknow

muddled1 wrote: »

I would like to hear from anyone who has gotten a job in the US while still living in Ireland. I live here and want to return to the US but can't afford to do so without a job lined up. I don't know how common this is. I work as a secretary.

do you have a visa? Do you have skills that would justify a company paying 5000-10000 for a visa on your behalf?

Most companies go down the H1b route, however some will hire internally from overseas (i know a lot from google and and facebook that worked in Dublin and transferred over on L1.

TheBoss11

Would you not be better off looking for a job in Ireland or somewhere in Europe that doesn't require a visa?

muddled1

TheBoss11 wrote: »

Would you not be better off looking for a job in Ireland or somewhere in Europe that doesn't require a visa?

Sorry, I' should have mentioned that I hold US/Irish citizenship; I am hoping to repatriate to the US, i.e. return to the US.

iusedtoknow

Ahhh- that changes everything.

TBH, i think it'd be best if you came over and did the search from whatever city you want to base yourself in. Most companies prefer face to face. Depending on the role, most companies would take a person "on site" that is able to start ASAP, than someone who would get the job, but still need time to tidy things up in the old country.

muddled1

Yes, I've done that already and indeed that is some of the feedback I have received already. Guess I'm hoping for a miracle as I can't afford to quite my job and move.

ProudDUB

I have read posts in this forum from people who landed a job from here. They found the job on the internet, did the initial interviews by phone & subsequent ones by Skype or something like that. But the jobs tended to be in professional fields that are in high demand, short supply in the US, such as IT, computers, engineering etc etc.

The companies were willing to take a risk on hiring someone that they did not meet face to face, as they had special qualities or skills that they couldn't find in the US labour force. I am not sure if companies hiring secretaries would be willing to do the same, as I imagine there is no shortage of secretaries in the US.

What about contacting some employment agencies or secretarial services over there? If you explain your situation to them and make a good first impression, maybe they would be willing to let you do some of the initial interviewing over the phone/Skype. Have your CV/resume and job references ready to email to them at the very beginning. That may speed up their placing you with a company when you get there.

IamtheWalrus

Dave1442397 wrote: »

I tried it and couldn't do it. All the companies I talked to wanted a face-to-face interview, so in the end I just came over here and started looking. I started my first job (computer programmer) six weeks after getting here.

I'm considering a move to the USA to do computer programming. Can you tell me what your experience has been like so far? Long hours, contract v perm, pressure, pay etc?

silja

A lot of secretarial/ admin work is temp work via agencies as mentioned above, so finding something quickly should not be too difficult if you are not picky on your first job. Another option is the "vacation for interview" option. Do initial interviews over email/ phone (you will get MUCH more responses if you put a US address on your resume, preferably one in the town you are applying for), then take a week off your irish job to go over and do the last interview and discuss offers.

Keep in mind that in the USA, most people only have to give 2 weeks notice, and like Ireland, the job market is not great. Sop even if you get a job via my suggestion, or Skype interviews etc, they will likely expect you to start within 2, 4 weeks at the most.

iusedtoknow

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

I'm considering a move to the USA to do computer programming. Can you tell me what your experience has been like so far? Long hours, contract v perm, pressure, pay etc?

Where in the US? What visa? Most coders work pretty long hours, one in my company regularly puts in 12/14 hour days. Pay depends where you're based. Here in the Bay Area you'd range 75000 to around 110000 depending on experience. There are a lot of startups and more established companies.
Perm is preferred as you get proper benefits like healthcare etc

cena

According to the u.s news part time work is on the up compared to full time work

Dave1442397

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

I'm considering a move to the USA to do computer programming. Can you tell me what your experience has been like so far? Long hours, contract v perm, pressure, pay etc?

I started at UPS in 1990, working on the Package Tracking system. That was pretty intense, but a great learning experience. Since then I've been at BMG/Sony, Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Prudential again, a small company, and then Bank of New York Mellon for the past few years.

I work on mainframe systems, so COBOL/DB2/CICS and currently FORTRAN on a VMS platform, now moving to Linux.

I've never had to work long hours since back at my UPS days, and even then it was voluntary, so no complaints there. Right now I work 6am - 2pm (because of the crappy commute) but I work from home two days a week (and also when it snows).

I've been a contractor and permanent, and since my wife has medical benefits it never mattered much to me. The advantages of contracting are that you don't have to deal with the company appraisals, etc, but on the other hand it's easy for them to get rid of you. I signed on as a contractor at Prudential, Merrill Lynch, and my current job, and they all offered me full time positions within a year.

I can't say the pressure has ever been too bad. If I think something can't be done when they'd like it done, I'll say so. At my current job, they want to make sure you have plenty of time to complete a project, because they can't chance taking a hit from letting bugs out to customers. It works, because we've had two years in a row with no code-related problems.

I think the people who have to do production support have the most stress. I've never had to do a lot of that, and haven't done it at all in the past 13 years or so.

As far as pay goes, well, it's not what it used to be I was making $55/hr as a contractor in the mid-'90s, but salaries dipped in the early 2000s, then slowly rose again, and are pretty much back to where they were 15 years ago. For mainframe work, you can expect to see anywhere from $40-$50/hr as a common salary in this area (around Philadelphia), probably a bit more if you're around NYC.

Some companies (such as BNY Mellon) will come very close to matching what you made as a contractor, so you won't necessarily take a hit when you switch to full time employee status.

As with any industry, you can specialize in the latest hot product and make more money, but of course that depends on your priorities - I'd rather do my 40 hours a week and make more money with my own business on the side. My brother-in-law works on SAP and was making $600,000/yr in the '90s. Then everybody learned it, and now he's back to low six figures. He was smart and saved while he was making the big bucks

If you want to go the management route you can make a lot more, of course, but that's when the pressure and stress really pile on. My manager was put in charge of our area while still being in charge of his old department. His old group is in Wexford, so there are many days his phone is ringing at 4am (9am in Wexford) and he's on the phone for hours before he even comes to work. I know his wife was hoping he'd get laid off when they were cutting positions last year. At that level, you're tied to your cellphone and rarely get a break from the workplace.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask

iusedtoknow

cena wrote: »

According to the u.s news part time work is on the up compared to full time work

True, but that is due in part of the fear around Obamacare. If you are contracted to work part time, they aren't forced to give you healthcare or other benefits, so you have to shop around for the best deal on the marketplace.

The thing is, even though you are contracted for x amount of hours, you'll often have to OT - so you are basically FT without the benefits. There was a case here in SF where one supermarket put all their employees down to part time hours (30) but didn't hire any others, so they had to work the same amount of hours but lose their benefits.

Killer Wench

What about latching onto an American company in Ireland than transferring over in a year. My understanding was that Amazon's data center in Dublin was hiring like crazy.

iusedtoknow

Killer Wench wrote: »

What about latching onto an American company in Ireland than transferring over in a year. My understanding was that Amazon's data center in Dublin was hiring like crazy.

The L1. It's the visa I'm on (not amazon) however the company needs to prove that there are no americans that are able to take the position. It is not impossible, but from the company's perspective they need to make sure you're worth it.

There are two strands

L1a - executive/managerial
L1b - specialized knowledge

Both are pretty flexible, it just depends how good the company lawyers are. Everything has to come from the American side, nothing can be done from either the european subsidiary or you. They need to submit the various forms.

My L1a took around 6 weeks from submitting the paperwork to the interview at the embassy. They had to show they interviewed American candidates etc. I know that a lot of firms (FB, Google etc) do this process pretty quickly - there is a "blanket" process that takes a lot of hassle out of things, but again from the perspective of the US government, you have to be worth it.

The visa is "Dual mandate" which means you can apply for other visa categories when you're in the US. Most L1's apply for Perm status.

cena

Killer Wench wrote: »

What about latching onto an American company in Ireland than transferring over in a year. My understanding was that Amazon's data center in Dublin was hiring like crazy.

What is the data centre

iusedtoknow

Its where all the computer server technicians work. They do maintainence, patches and basically keep amazons cloud services ( and internal networks) going from an IT perspective

Dave1442397

BNY Mellon has offices in Dublin and Wexford. Dublin is showing a couple of open admin positions, but one seems high level, and the other requires industry knowledge. Might be worth looking into.