How can I work in the United States?

For work in the United States It is necessary to meet two conditions: have a permanent work visa or residence (Green Card) and be professionally adapted to the US market.Without visa it is not possible to work legally in the United States, but, in addition, it is necessary that the company wants to hire us in front of the rest of the candidates.

There are a wide variety of visas that allow working in the United States: B, H, L, J, or … and each of them has its requirements, advantages and disadvantages. In general, the processing of the visa has to be carried out by the company that hires the worker or expatria from the country of origin. This implies certain bureaucratic costs and procedures that the company will only be willing to assume if the foreign worker is very interested.

On the other hand, salaries that are willing to accept foreign workers - in many cases, better formed - are usually lower than nationals, which is an important competitive advantage. Therefore, the important thing is to highlight and that a company is interested in you. In the book we wrote thinking about you «We No Speak American» we help you define certain strategies to achieve that goal, if it is working in the United States, depending on your particular case.In many cases, it will imply, as a previous step, to study something in the US, to facilitate access to the labor market, both for visa and by adaptation to the country.

However, work in the United States is very interesting from the professional, personal and economic point of view.The US is, without a doubt, the country with the greatest cultural diversity in the world, thanks to its historical development where it has been a traditionally receptor of immigrants.It is also the first world economic power, which implies that there are many possibilities to find work (its unemployment rate is less than 8%), wages are high and daily expense is medium.Living in the USA also brings a great quality of life and is a culturally very enriching experience.

Therefore, if your goal is to work in the United States, you have to correctly define the strategy and at least meet these requirements:

• Create a good summary and cover Letter, adapted to American standards, very different from Europeans.
• Make an intense job search throughout the country.
• Make known through personal marketing.
• Talk and write English correctly.
• Have reference letters from teachers or supervisors.
• Some of the pages to search for employment are:

www.monster.com, www.hotjobs.com or www.jobsearchusa.org

Another option to work in the United States is recruitment agencies, which work carried out processes for the selection of many companies, but that will normally demand work permit.For this it is necessary to register in the agency and conduct an interview with them.Thus, the agency will decide which positions are suitable for the candidate and contact him in case he meets the requirements for a certain position.The best known recruitment agency in the United States is Manpower, and has a presence in almost everyone.

Alert: In the US there are many scams of fraudulent companies that contact the candidates and ask them for a certain monetary amount to start working, resulting in being a hoax.In no case is it necessary to pay any Fee or management expense.In case of doubt, it is best to look for the company’s name followed by ‘Scam’ or ‘fraud’ on the Internet and see the results.