How to work in the US

So my first piece advice really boils down to these questions;
- What do you exactly want to do?
- What will you settle for as a minimum?
- How much of an initial financial commitment can you afford?
- Which region do you want to be in?
- Who are you now?

Say for example you want to work in IT, you will settle for as a minimum a just above entry level position, you can commit $5,000, you want to work in California somewhere and you are currently a middle level manager. Well more than likely you are going to need to do most things yourself (I assume you have no US contacts) and have to take one of two risks.

You either have to travel to the US as a tourist and devote yourself completely to applying to positions and hope to secure a position without incurring too much cost. Alternatively you could try do the applying from Australia and hope to set up interviews and then travel to the US. The obvious risk you run with the first option is all the costs of travel, accommodation, internet, etc. but the risk of the second option is that I found and have heard US employers are very reluctant to even contact or call back someone if your phone number (and also address) is not US based. You can overcome this by setting up a US number through a service like Skype but you really should be able to answer the phone during US business hours then which is often inconvenient hours for you.

Just with this one example you are starting to see the first set of hurdles you immediately face. In my many of my upcoming modules I will give you heaps of tips and resources to minimize both the cost and risk to yourself as well as more sneaky ways of doing things.

So please think about those questions until my next installment and as always look forward to your questions and comments.

By far internal transfer offers and word of mouth are the best as chances are you have already achieved the second part of the convincing already as people in charge are aware that sponsoring you is part of the package. Also as with applying at home, it probably means you are coming highly recommended, and thus seen to be less risky therby increasing your generalhiring chances.
The only tips I have hear are to keep your eyes and ears open at the company you work at if they have a US office or the stakeholder companies you deal with and also talking constantly to your management, colleagues and HR people. Otherwise try and join as many networking and business groups that Americans are a part of in your area. Rotary groups usually attract expat US people as do religious and cultural organizations. Similarly tap every relative or friend you may have with any connection to the US as well. Online groups like LinkedIn can help to a limited degree as well but usually in conjunction with another suggestion above.

If you are at a certain level and/or you are of high ability in your field of expertise, head hunters and recruiters may come knocking. They are a big part of US work life in all industries and for almost all levels of career probably bar entry level positions. If you are in a position where you think you have these sort of abilities or even if you haven't, it can't hurt to contact head hunters and recruiters in the US directly describing your expertise and unique selling points. REMEMBER this is the US, Sell Sell Sell Yourself!!

There are many job sites all over the place and many good ones catering to specific fields but my favourite and I think by far the best ones covering all fields are;

1. Monster.com
2. LinkedIn.com
3. Craigslist.org

These sites are the easiest to use and apply from, have the least SPAM and crap to your email and have constant stream of positions every day. There is another site call TheLadders.com for positions only with salaries above $100K USD that you have to pay to see the jobs so would recommend if you are in this sphere.

The other sites Career Builder has so much spam that fill your email with and the jobs and site ease of use is very frustrating and limited I believe. Yahoo Hot Jobs and Google Jobs just don't have the volume of roles although are fairly easy to use and then all the big newspapers in the country have their own offerings.

In general my advice is to stay focused on niche industry segment and apply like crazy with the 3 sites I mention. If you spread yourself across many industry segments like I initally did you get lost and you get little return. By focussing, you almost own and industry and know all about it and every position and company that may be in a hiring phase putting you at great advantag for every company you apply too. I only did this much later in my search and it was only then I started to get a flood of interview instead of just a trickle here and there and actually get some traction.

I hope this helps and Happy Hunting :)

Well it's almost here again for another year, the Green Card Lottery! Anticipated by so many people around the world as perhaps their only chance to establish permanent residency in the United States to live and work freely and bring their families.

The Green Card Lottery or it's official title Diversity Visa Lottery is completely FREE to enter!
So do not think that you have pay as their are many sites out there that charge a fee saying they wil enter you multiple times over many years, ensure your application is correct and enhance your chances of winning as well as pay for your ticket over here partially or in full if you win.

The Lottery is run by the US Government and is very simple application for the most part with just basic details required along with a digital photo. More official information can be found at the official Green Card Lottery Information area of the US State Department.

This year the lottery will run from October 2, 2009 through November 30, 2009 and if successful you will be notified via a formal letter between around May to July in 2010. Following an interview at the US Consulate you will then be able to enter the US in the 2011 Immigration year in their calendar which begins on October 1, 2010.

Official instructions and eligble countries are yet to be announced for this year but if you read our Diversity Visa Lottery Instructions you will get a pretty good year about a lot of this as it doesn't change that much.

The DV-2010 Lottery was the first year results were able to checked online and also that non winners were able to verify that also online where in previous years they were told nothing. We assume that will continue and possibly be expanded for the DV-2011 Lottery.

We wish you well and good luck this year in the Green Card Lottery (DV-2011) and just remember that is completely free to enter and is run every year around about this time.

http://e3visa.info/2009/02/22/the-diversity-visa-dv-or-green-card-lottery/