J1 work question

The_Bullman

I'm a student in second year of software development in DkIT. At the end of this year I'll be getting my cert.

I've been thinking that it's about time that I got myself some proper work experience in this area. Problem being that I don't think that there's many software houses in my area. This has led me to think about getting some during the summer. I don't want to stay at home, because if I do, I'll only end up working the job that I am at the moment, which is fine and I like it only it's not going to look well on my cv, once I seriously head out into the workplace. (I work with steel-welding and such)

Since I don't want to stay around here, I got the idea of going to America for the summer on the J1 visa. A few of my mates have gone and had a great time over there. Great craic, etc. Problem being that they just got regular student summer jobs. Working in a cinema, and an ice-cream stand. Of course I don't really want this type of work! I'd be as well off staying at home.

I suppose that's the long winded way of asking-

Has anyone any experience with doing summer work in America working at anything that would give me more experience, both for myself(so I know now what I'm getting into) and for the cv.

And in regards to the J1. Is it true that if you secure a job before you apply for it, that it's half the price?

Any help, or advice, would be greatly appreciated.

Any questions for me will be answered as well as I can.

Our man in Havana

Bullman,

It is quite difficult to get work long term or in IT and the like with the J1. Employers will want you for at least a year. The J1 only gives 4 months so they wont bite. As said most of the jobs going are summer jobs like cinemas etc.

It is best to have work secured prior to applying. The US embassy prefers this. Also you have to register your job within 20 days of arrival with the Department of Homeland Security or face deportation. So best not to travel without job sorted.

Getting it half price if you have a job? Rubbish! You pay the same as everyone else.

Hope this helps,
James

Gerry

I was over there this summer. Now the thing is that theres an awful lot of unemployed techies over there, but they are pretty fussy about the jobs they will take, ie they want to get paid as well as they did back in the boom.
So if you do enough legwork, and start talking to companies as early as possible, you may be able to get some sort of IT job.
I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for, but you should be able to land a temporary contract for desktop support, or maybe sysadmin work if you are lucky.

I was in san francisco, which is pretty much the tech capital. I only went looking for jobs when I got over there. Applied for every tech job going, didn't get anywhere.
Eventually I went to a recruitment agency, and got a job on the spot, in an office. Basically I was doing office monkey work, plus some access database stuff, and mailing list administration. $17.40 an hour.
In the next temp agency, I was doing just clerical stuff, but money was relatively good here also, $14 an hour.
There was a guy who started a while after I did, working for the same temp agency, and he got pure IT work, upgrading their machines to windows XP. I think thats about as far in to IT as you can get.
Having said that, if I was there a bit longer, I think I may have gotten a better IT job, it really helps to know some americans
Non office jobs pay ****, less than $10. If you work in a bar or restaurant you will do good on tips though.

Bottom line is, get your cv ( resume ) in order right now. Its not the exact same as a CV. They don't want personal information ( at least in California anyway, anti discrimination laws ). So just your name, work experience and contact details. I'll put mine up when I get a chance. Then get it to as many recruitment agencies ( they call them staffing agencies ) as possible.

In whatever city you are going to, find out now about which social security office to go to, if you go to a **** one, you might be waiting a month or more for your number, and you would be very lucky to get a legal job with no social security number.

Look for jobs on www.craigslist.org , they cover most big cities.
If you are going to SF or anywhere in California let me know, and I will dig up some more info.

Even if you don't have an IT going over, make sure you have something, otherwise its a lot of hassle as bond says. I spent over 2 tense weeks looking for job, started getting very nervous after 14 days. You can give the name of a recruitment agency to big brother even if you aren't actually doing any work for them, but that doesn't halt the decline in your bank balance

X4

Gerry was right!

2 years ago i was in NYC.

the working situation was bad ...

but SSN is very important !

Souperfreak

I worked for a well known j-1 facilitator in the united states.

LISTEN HERE!

The type of people the want in those jobs are permanet people. The reasonp people work at ice cream stands, amusement parks, etc. Is because those are seasonal jobs.

BUT IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE! If you start now and line things up for the summer you are better off.

If you listen to nothing else about the j-1 program. Listen to this... DO NOT STAY IN A GATEWAY CITY! San fran, boston, chicago, new york or miami. All of those cities are FLOODED with students. There are 7 major j-1 companies and then are hundreds secondary facilitators. The further outside of the cities you are the better chance you have of working in something you are educated in. the market is less saturated.

Please please take my advice. I was an orientation leader 2 years in a row...I saw students go home wasting all their money because they couldnt' get jobs. But done right you will do whatever you want.

Try Minneapolis, MN nice urban city! Barely saturated!

drane2

The problems with J1 visas in 2004 is that the authorities now reuiqre everyone to find a job before they leave.

Souperfreak

yes and no, they have been saying that for the past 3 years. The only countries that have 100% pre - departure job placement is: poland, lithuania, russia, and every other country beside Ireland. They are NEVER going to get 100% job placement with ireland. Too many companies will go out of business. But I strongly recommend having worked at those companies that you try to find a job before hand. Remember you can switch it is just a bit tricky, basically you have to have a good reason, like the employer was bad for some reason...has to be the employers fault. I hate to be kind to any one organisation I would say try Sayit. And no they are not the company I worked for I worked for an american company. Sayit is a smaller company that has a VERY small amount of people working for them which means the decisions get made faster, and more accuratley than in the larger companies. If you want to work in a specific area they will be able to offer MORE one on one help.

drane2

Then why are Sayit and USIT saying that 100% of applicants have to have a job pre-departure. Last year it was 50% I believe.

uberwolf

a new thing which you'll have to worry about is that they won't accept final year students(i.e those who've done their finals) as there's a higher chance of you staying in the country. You have to have evidence of acceptance into further education or a permanent job offer for sept(easily forged- headed letter paper will do) before you have any chance of getting your J1.

As for getting a job over there, I have no idea. Good luck

Souperfreak

They are trying to get that, but closer to the departure date when numbers are down...they will take anyone. Last year for Ireland 20% pre placement.

Our man in Havana

USIT and SAYIT also have a policy of limiting second time applicants. When asked they claim the us goverment restricts them. I asked another competitor based in the UK who told me that you can get as many J1 visas as you like so long as your still in college.

In my experience the companies involved dont properly brief their clients about the harsh realities of looking for work in the USA. Most of the problems stem from the fact they dont encourage people to go else where away from the gateway cities. There are plenty of jobs to be found in places such as Reno, Salt lake City etc not far from the hubs.

Its a big money spinner as you have to take their insurance which is expensive and you cant book your own flights.

Would be a lot cheaper if you contact a sponsor yourself and get the IAP66 from them yourself and do the rest yourself.

Souperfreak

I am not sure they offer that to individuals, I think the american government wants companies to control the DS- 2019's then they don't have to (NO IAP 66 FORMS THEY ARE NOW CALLED DS 2019). That is beyond me whether or not you can get them without a sponsorship company. As far as the insurance you would be ignorant not to take it. Health insurance in the US is HUGELY expensive. If you have to go to the hospital it can be upwards of 1000.00 dollars each time. Get the insurance, the 300 euro it costs you saves you a fortune. I must say myself USIT gives the best insurance. They will fly you back to Ireland if you fail your exams, then fly you back to your final city! Take the insurance it is vital in the US!

There was a kid this year on the program who strained his ankle to the point that he couldn't walk, he had to go to the hopsital and it was all covered by insurance. He was very lucky!

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by Souperfreak
I am not sure they offer that to individuals, I think the american government wants companies to control the DS- 2019's then they don't have to (NO IAP 66 FORMS THEY ARE NOW CALLED DS 2019). That is beyond me whether or not you can get them without a sponsorship company. As far as the insurance you would be ignorant not to take it. Health insurance in the US is HUGELY expensive. If you have to go to the hospital it can be upwards of 1000.00 dollars each time. Get the insurance, the 300 euro it costs you saves you a fortune. I must say myself USIT gives the best insurance. They will fly you back to Ireland if you fail your exams, then fly you back to your final city! Take the insurance it is vital in the US!

There was a kid this year on the program who strained his ankle to the point that he couldn't walk, he had to go to the hopsital and it was all covered by insurance. He was very lucky!

Sure it would be stupid to not get insurance, but it may be cheaper to arrange your own. You can contact a sponsorship company and obtain the DS 2019 yourself in exchange for a fee. Still reckon you could do that all yourself cheaper and not worry about usits quotas on 2nd time applicants etc.

IrishMike

needle in a haystack gettin a j1 job m8
plus interview procedure over there is seriously different
no such thing as 1 interview and offered the job straight away like here
i had 4 interviews some 3 hours long over the space of 4
weeks before i was offered my job
granted it was a great job but still it seems to be the standard procedure
cant really see how a company would go through that effort for a person that will be there for only 4 months
my advice is to head to england m8
seems to be jobs there and whatever money you make will be worth you 1 and a half times more when u get back because of sterling
no point going 2 the us without a job arranged cause money disappears VERY fast over there
just my 2cents

mada999

Listen man just go over on the J1 and get a seasonal job. the experience will be worth it. You'll have lots of fun!! I did it last year and it was deadly!!! And get proper IT experience when you graduate.

The_Bullman

thanks for the replies lads keep them comming

I don't really want to go over and get a seasonal job really. I generally don't do those kinds of jobs well, plus I'm a little over the usual age for this type of work.

I was planning of moving outside the standard area's for J1 arrivals. I've a place in mind, for other reasons, but I don't know where to go from here.

Should I get the yellow pages for the area, and basically start sending out cv's(or resume's, whatever the americans call them) to any of the companies that I see in the area that I'm looking at? Would I be better of to go to recruitment agencies?

Is there nobody out there how got a "proper" job for the summer?