The work is not the wolf to run into the forest! But I want to work...
Do you remember this old proverb? Usually it was told by our old grandmothers, but even a lot of women after 35, working in their home countries as its said “for herself and for the stranger”, while come for the marriage life in their new country, will breath with relaxation at the beginning: just the right time came to rest for a while!
But a certain amount of time will be passed - usually it's something around half a year, when the old nervous life, almost forgotten, and the growing abilities of the society of social consumption are forcing you to look around. If the people have new Jeeps and wear diamonds rings, if in your mail you get from time to time the tempting proposals of cruises on the Mexican Riviera on the big boat “Princess”, it means that for sure there are users for such commercial products. More then that: after half a year in America your dreams of shopping will not be limited with the shopping in “Wal-Mart”. And in the search of the additional sources of meanings of survival, remembering the old days proletarian formula, which was implanted into our brains with the socialism, that all you can have should be earned with your own hands. Knowing for sure that the incomes of your family - what's a pity it does not even come close to the six digits number and you can not expect miracles from anywhere, having heard about the American phenomenon - that you can earn yourself to buy the house in antebellum style, and car with the brand name Lexus, and regular trip to Hawaii - only with your own hump, you start to search intensively in the newspaper columns, the frames with work proposals.
I will say from the beginning that such probes of the territory on the case of employment I was doing from the time I arrived here. The time- alas, reduces my ambitions. That's why I will share the collected information - maybe somebody have the other experiences.
So, one of the first announcements as soon as I found my financial appetites - the work at the post office with the year income of 47 thousands dollars- even for America - good result. The ad, besides, does not require the previous experience and special qualifications, proposing all possible insurances and pension plans and I decided - let's be what it will be: let me change my intellectual white-collar habits on more simple but profitable job. But alas! In order to get work in such enterprises, as I understood after calling them, there are taken only the people with US citizenship - so this work will wait me minimum for several years.
So, the variant number one has gone and I smoothly move to the variants number two and three: the seller in the furniture store for example. We went there to take a look, because in was located just in our village. The work was neither hard, nor dusty; the purpose was, as I joke, to decorate the store. The shop for sure does not suffer from the big amount of visitors. On my resume, giving to them in time and done by the rules, nobody ever bothered me, calling back; I consider that is because of the absence of American working experience.
Further in the forest- more branches. In the next case it seemed like it will be the exact work for me. Into the local college - 20 minutes from the place we live, they needed teachers in public relations and image making- its just what I know, like to do and have big experience in. because several last years on my motherland it was my main occupation - being PR representative for the international companies. I will add, that search for the same job was my main interest while I came first to US. I sent through Internet thousands of CV's and cover letters in different directions - and ...never got even a single a reply!!! Conclusions make yourself, please...
So, the mentioned above college required from me the paper that I do not object that their detective will make researches about my past. I had no past that can cause me troubles - that's why I easily agree. The case with my background check lasted during four months, I found this out when I was applying for some other position in the same college, that my documents are already checked and I have my own portfolio for the potential candidates. But besides that, they required the set of documents from the university I graduated from with the amount of credit hours on the learned subjects. Of course I found all this info occasionally and nobody bothered to inform me about that. At least I am in file!
When I got tired from these chaotic searches through the Internet and newspapers with no positive results, I suddenly found out that in every city there exist so called employed offices, take my husband by the gills, saying: “whether help me to find job, or pay for my kitchen skills!” Oh, how we, educated women do not like to invent three dishes per day!!! And although my American husband was not very exited with the idea to send me to work but the perspective to pay for me for housekeeping does not warm him either. That's why we both, creaking with mutual soul went to the neighboring town that is bigger then ours to give my declarations for the working life.
I will say from the beginning that I was met in the employment office very friendly as everywhere in the similar organizations - for that they are paid. Charming ladies in retirement age understood at once my desire to find the work, at least part-time, in order not to be bored at home, put me into the database and ask to wait at the table, looking through the positions available in the registration magazine.
My guide in the world of American employment bank became black man with Bond's body architecture named Zap. Impressive personnel works for the American employment office! Zap was amazed with my qualifications and picked for me the first vacancy - the specialist in communication in the bank of the capital of our state, sent by fax my resume and told to go there the next Thursday, I fulfilled exactly as I was said. The bank, however was not satisfied with the fact of my residence status- I suppose the security rules of this company urged to employ only US citizens, and giving to me to fill out some forms which would allow them to make investigations about my background, I was send with the God's help. But it seemed to me, that I was simply kicked out as a wastes, because in comparison with the other candidates, who were also filling the applications for the same positions, HR specialist does not even spend a minute to talk with me, as she did with the others, only because I have resident's status.
Of course, to say that I was upset- is to say nothing. I was depressed, because I suppose I am also a human being at least ask me a couple of questions, but in this bank, they for sure decided that from the other world there came to their country only deaf and dumb immigrants. The next time I went to employment's office - I started from the beginning saying that the new arrived are being discriminated. On these words the dark skinned blue collar of this state organization smile to me indulgently: I read in this reaction his own life experience, he suffered with his skin color.
He proposed me on choice: part time librarian for 5.15 per hours, or in Wal-Mart for distribution for 10 bucks per hour, to the positions in hospital, on telephone with the payments 7.50 per hour but with not regulated schedule - so one can work all the weekends or holidays. But I was not squeezed by the life yet, I wanted to find creative job, that's why I did not go to the storage or to the hospital, and the librarian position after checking was already occupied.
Then their start to flash like in the removing tape different tests in different organizations, which imitated that they are sleep and dream to take personally your to work (in the situation when there were more then 12 people per opened position). It was tests in programs Office 2002 on the positions of secretary, TOEFL”s - the points on the knowing of languages, then GRE, evaluations forms to check you diploma on the local market - oh, boy, what's a bouquet of reminiscences! Then suddenly I remembered when I read the current newspaper on the page “Positions Available” that years ago I graduated from the music school and may be at least to the position of the church musician I will be welcomed, or at least as a player on the keyboard in the show I would be good!
In reality the church was two hours drive distance from us (for such distances better to fly on the plane- smile!) and the show-people seemed to be the individuals with such unstable psyche that I did not want to continue any relations with them, finding them dangerous. For example, the lady producer could call you eleven o clock night (it is in the puritan's America!!!) with the idea just to come by to discuss the new music (its almost in the middle of the night!). And it could not settled in my head, like a lot of other strange features of her behavior. I decided to look at her with the strange eyes: what I saw shocked me more: dirty nails, not clean hair, this unpredictable night calls - may be this lady from show business is drug user? I saw a lot of crazy people in my home country to have any deals with the same kind in the new one!
...And that's why today or tomorrow or in the current week I will go again to my supervisor in the employment field, Zap - I saw one add on TV, that they need advertising agents and some creative stuff like copywriters on the TV channel - may be I will be given the new track.