Personal experience: how to find first job in the USA

Russian woman Liza Karaseva won the green card in the lottery. In 2016, she moved with her husband to live in Seattle. In Russia, she received an economic education and two years before moving to work as an analyst. In your blog Alfabelka Lisa told how she was looking for her first job in America. ForumDaily publishes an article with the permission of the author.

Photos from Liza Karaseva’s Facebook page

24 May 2016 was my first day at Getty Images, exactly three months after I moved to Seattle. The culmination of my story is that I was confronted with the classic situation “Better a bird in the hand than a crane in the sky”. But in the end it turned out that it turned out “And to eat fish and not to choke on a bone”.

About job search

The first attempts at finding an American job were made during the winter holidays. I updated my LinkedIn profile and purposefully began to respond to job ads related to my experience in one way or another. Served in Visa, Amazon.com and somewhere else. I was very glad that the Amazon company immediately wanted to talk to me about the position of the Senior Business Analyst. It was a big event and a big hope for me. I directly on the phone dictated them the SQL-code for the task. Unfortunately, this interview I failed.

The next and main wave of the search began at the end of February 2016, when we were already living in the city of Renton, not far from the almost native Seattle.

Mostly job searches were divided into two areas:

• Active - response to jobs on LinkedIn and on sites of potential employers;
• Passive - resume update on a popular recruiting resource Monster.com.

About passive job search (about recruiters)

At best, I received calls from local recruiters. They told that they have something suitable for me. Sometimes they even applied for a specific vacancy. And each time they invited me to their office. I did not see the point of refusing, because for me it was an experience. So in one of these interviews, I visited the 80 floor of one of the high-rises of Seattle.

In addition to the typically local recruiters in America, there is a widespread separate type of incomprehensible recruiters - Indians. Why incomprehensible - because they could not understand. These guys also could not answer specific questions, it seemed that everything was read out according to a template.

However, whatever these recruiters might be, they were similar in one thing - they all pretended to know what financial modeling is, Oracle databases and the Monte Carlo method. Without exception, they talked about my great experience, and then almost without exception, no matter how paradoxical it might sound, they tried to prove to me that my financial inquiries did not correspond to my level of skills. And here are some excerpts from our dialogs:

Recruiter: How much do you expect to receive?

I am: 35 dollars per hour (looking ahead to say that this is quite an average rate, nothing is unreal).

Recruiter: We usually offer 25.
Recruiter X: Well, maybe all the same 25? BUT? (it is inept Indians so were bidding).
Recruiter U: Do you understand that with your experience and given the fact that you have just moved, it will be very difficult to find a job with your inquiries?
Recruiter Z: Do you understand that people who have 5 years of experience get little more than what you ask for?

The funny thing is that all these dialogues ended with the classic “It was nice speaking with you. Have a good day. ” And then basically silence and no concrete suggestions.

Pro active job search

There were moments of despair, and surges of vitality and optimism. Below I give some approximate statistics from my personal experience of finding a job in the USA:

Photo: Alfabelka

If you count the conversion at all stages, it will be seen that the most difficult thing for me was to receive an invitation to a telephone interview. Those. Only 15 from 300 (5%) of the applications I sent were positively noted by employers, which led to the consequences in the form of assigned calls. But then, the further things went to the final stage, the easier it became. It turns out that after 1 from 5 phone calls (20%) I was invited to my office. And at the last stage of the entire 2 from 3 in-person interviews turned into a receipt (offer letter). From all this I would put forward several hypotheses.

Employers prefer to find candidates through internal channels, networking (here I even have an additional argument - one vacancy for each, c Bridge Partners, I went through the fact that our previous landlord introduced me to his company, made the so-called );

Americans are afraid to hire “fresh immigrants” because of legal risks (“what if he doesn't have a work permit?”).

To be or not to be? Which of the 2 offers should I accept?

Here I learned the very irony of the famous Russian proverb "Better a bird in the hand than a crane in the sky."

The 3 face-to-face interview has already been completed. Two of them are with Getty Images in Royalty Analyst and License Compliance Services Analyst. Another one is Consultant in the growing Bridge Partners Consulting. Then I will add a section on how the interviews themselves were going, but for now the main thing. Ultimately, I really liked the License Compliance Services Analyst position in Getty Images. And I really waited for me to be called there.

But suddenly one day my potential boss Tanya Fernandez de Castro from Bridge Partners contacts me and says that they are ready to accept me, that the offer letter has already been sent and that I need to give an urgent answer, because Amber Purvis is a client from Amazon Web Services can not wait. And here is a piece of the job offer itself:

Photo: Alfabelka

I'm confused. The bridge was the first company with which my search went further than with the others, therefore they gave their answer faster to the Getty. Honestly, at first I even dreamed of being taken there. But when suddenly I had the opportunity to meet with Getty Images, it became clear that I would be better off with them. The only problem was that I was not sure that they would make me an offer from the Getty. The rest of the working conditions and compensation were about the same.

Photos from Liza Karaseva’s Facebook page

I make an appointment with Tanya Fernandez from Bridge. She tells me in detail about my prospects and about the risks, thanks that I offered to come in person. I say that by the evening 8 will give the answer. I am meeting with my husband, weighing all the pros and cons - I understand that this project will not “bind” me much, and sign an offer letter in agreement. The next morning, we meet with a client in the Amazon office. After talking with her, it turns out that it will not take me much time to complete the project and that full-time job options still remain available to me. I sigh with great relief. And that meant that I could still accept the Getty offer.

From Bridge I receive a young fighter’s kit - a laptop, notepad, pen and backpack - and begin my work on May 8th. By the way, I work from home, so during breaks I go out into the yard to get some fresh air and bask in the sun. At the same time, I keep in touch with Getty, asking how things are going.

12 in May is answered by Annie from Getty, says that the team is going to make a decision about the final candidate 13 in May and that as soon as she gets the update, she will call me right away.

On the agreed day, I do not receive any messages from Annie, but I am already sending a nearly completed project to a client in Amazon. Understanding that the project with Amazon and Bridge Partners will not bring sufficient funds in the future (since I will spend only 25 hours per month to update the report I have already created), I continue to search for work for full-time.

On May 15th, I log into LinkedIn and see that the License Compliance Services Analyst position at Getty Images has been updated as of today. The one I really wanted to work on! I thought: “Well, that’s it, they’re starting the search for candidates again.” I was so upset that I flopped into bed with the thought “I’ll go to bed now and never do anything again...”. Suddenly a mobile phone rings. This is Annie from Getty. In my “optimistic” mood, I thought that she was going to thank me for my interest and say goodbye. And then she says that they are making me an offer. “Yeah, yeah,” I say, and then: “Whaaat? Offer?". I was literally speechless, I couldn’t put two words together. Annie rejoiced with me. Here's a short excerpt from a job offer from Getty Images:

Photo: Alfabelka

How were in-person interviews

I will only say a few words about telephone interviews, because everything goes according to a typical pattern - they briefly tell you about the role, and then you already crucify about your wonderful work experience. In general, they are aimed at creating an overall picture of the candidate. A couple of times they even asked tricky questions from the series:

• How to estimate the amount of beer sold at a football match? (ABC channel)
• Is it worth building a processing center in Amsterdam? (Amazon)
• Tell me how you solve problems? (Yes, right so abstract statement of the question).

More interesting was the situation with face-to-face interviews. I will tell only about those interviews in which I received offers of work.

Photos from Liza Karaseva’s Facebook page

Consultant Position - Bridge Partners Consulting Company

This position assumed the management of a small project, which consisted in a technical audit of software vendors on the Amazon Web Services Marketplace. Simply put, there are 60 vendors, there are 10 requirements for what web pages they should have - and you need to make a beautiful report in Excel that would clearly describe how things are.

It began with the fact that my current boss from Bridge Partners sent me a list of 5 vendors and requirements, asked me to spend an hour and send the results. Tanya appreciated the work done by me and called me to a personal meeting. In the Bridge Partners office, she told me in detail and structured about the company and the project, even drew on the board for clarity. Finally, I felt that I was talking to an intelligent man. Tanya was pleased with our meeting, so she introduced me to the client in the best possible way. It was funny when, after accepting the offer, we went to meet with the client at the Amazon office. Amber was surprised when I talked about my work experience. And I was surprised by the office of Amazon. This company is very friendly to the pets of its employees, so in some negotiation and other work areas you could see the dogs. Probably not only them.

In general, the interview process for this job did not seem difficult, since my experience was more than enough to easily complete the project.

Position License Compliance Services Analyst - Getty Images Company

I'll start with the office itself. Unlike Bridge Partners, Getty is a typical European company. The office immediately reminded me of Kiwi. In addition to the reception area, the lobby has a dining area, where the center of attention is a large and stylish kitchen in the Ikea style. There are also free tea, capsule coffee of a million types and - attention! — refrigerators with free soda. Even the peanut butter comes in individual containers, toasters and all. I think I’ll tell you more about the Getty office later.

The work itself is the automation of reports, work with databases, analysis of the market and competitors, and a bit of modeling. This was my second interview with the Getty. It so happened that my first interviewers for the position of Royalty Analyst recommended me specifically for this job. The interview lasted about three and a half hours. And almost by tradition, I called up with my girlfriend a couple of hours before X and we arranged for an english speaking club. And here is my list of interviewers in turn:

• Carlos Pinto: Senior Director, Copyright Compliance
  Ezra Ahn: Supervisor, Copyright Compliance Operations
  Barry McGrath: Copyright Compliance Legal Partner Relationship Manager
  Adam Bauer: Copyright Compliance Reporting Specialist
  BJ Last: Director, Copyright Compliance

At first I talked with Carlos, he is the most important there. His interest was only to check me for adequacy, so we talked almost on excluded topics. He said that I would love it in Seattle, said that summer in Seattle is the best place in the world.

In place of Carlos came Ezra and Barry. These guys asked me in full:

• What do you know about the company?
• Tell me about your most difficult project. How did you get it? Have you been assigned to him?
• Tell me what you like in your work?
• What was your functional role in the team?
• How would you describe your role in the team as a person?
• Why would you start the first working days?

I did not remember all the questions, but it was fun to communicate with these guys, they were with humor. Ezra is a young guy of Asian appearance, wearing fashionable black-rimmed glasses and a reper's cap. Barry is a peasant of 40 years, so good-natured, no words, it turns out that he, too, got to the states by the lottery. After this part I was given a short break. Barry pointed out to me where their restrooms are (in America they call the toilets in public places). In rare cases, you can even meet the pretentious Lounge sign.

I grabbed a free soda from the refrigerator, barely had time to catch my breath, and Adam was already walking in. Adam is the person who knew the most about the role, since it was assumed that the new candidate would replace him. Adam himself was moving to another department within the company. We talked a little about the tasks, and then he asked me professional questions, which smoothly turned into a little testing. He gave me the task of writing an SQL query in accordance with the conditions of the problem. He said: “Don’t worry, none of the candidates have written it yet.” At first I was stunned, as there were a lot of specific business terms and abbreviations. But after a couple of clarifying questions, I understood everything and wrote this code! Adam was very happy. And I was glad that when I initially explained to him what my full name sounds like in Russian, he understood everything and pronounced it quite accurately. Apparently, his experience in Spanish helped him understand Russian pronunciation.

Photos from Liza Karaseva’s Facebook page

Finally, I got the hard part. BJ entered the meeting room, who, by the way, was to be my immediate supervisor. Oh, he tortured me. He was so meticulous that I had to tell in the smallest details about how I built financial models and how I predicted. Whether from fatigue, or from the fact that I was not very familiar with the type of his personality, I had the feeling that he could hardly accept my answers to questions. And when I came out with an interview, I thought that if I had already flunked him, it was only because of BJ. It seemed to me that we spent an eternity in this negotiation room.

In conclusion, Annie approached me and asked how everything went. She spent me before the release and focused on the timing of a decision on this vacancy.

Personally, after this interview, I realized that here it is, that same ideal role for the start. And the company itself and the team - it's all in my spirit. Even when I came to the Getty Images office for the second time, I went to the kitchen quite bluntly to brew a tea and quietly waited until the time of my interview came. And the office is located in Chinatown, you can try different Chinese food at lunch and, of course, ride a bicycle to work - it is close by.

UPDATE: The second time, it took me 4 months to find a job, but I was already more selective about what the employer offered me in terms of salary and benefits. I submitted about 100 applications, received 44 calls from HR, had five interviews in offices and received one job offer - they called literally 2 hours after the interview with the offer. I accepted it - I was very interested in this work. She applied for the roles of business analyst, business intelligence analyst, data analyst. I settled on the last one. By the way, while looking for a job, I still received a fairly decent unemployment benefit, because from my first job I was laid off along with the entire department.

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