Job Fair, Is It Fair?
September 21st, 2005
After being a stay-home mom for more than six months, I started to look for a job in the Washington State. It shouldn’t be too difficult I thought. At least there are more businesses in the great Seattle area and the city looks more diversified. However, the truth is as an alien, job searching becomes to be a weird situation especially when my background in education and marketing is not really counted as “a company’s irreplaceable asset”.
“Are you eligible to work in the United States?” I usually have to think about the answer. If I say “no”, there will be a conclusion like what we can see in the Law & Order, “No further questions, you honor.” The statement usually put me on the stand wondering what I have been doing wrong. If I yes to the question, I probably can hope for a better situation such as “Your resume has been reviewed by our internal professionals. We will inform you if you are selected. If not, your resume will be put into our database for future consideration.” However, saying yes does not guarantee they will consider you as an alien equally to a citizen. There is a ground that so many US citizens are against the government issuing H1Bs.
I went to a job fair yesterday. There were lines waiting for registration. One line specifically for Engineering and Technology positions only accepted people with citizenship. Ha, for the first time I was happy that I am not in that category. However, my happiness did not last too long. “Oh, I don’t know you are not a citizen. I am sorry but we need people with citizenship for the positions.” I thanked to the HR representatives with fake smiles and turned away without having a second thought.
People always suggest me “You just have to keep trying.” I am not against trying hard. But is trying hard paid off? If you go to online job boards, there are thousands of employers claiming they are EOE, Equal Opportunity Employer. How many of them are truly EOE? Maybe it is not a question I am interested in asking. What I really want to know is in what degree Americans would like to be fair to each individual living in the United States. Shouldn’t each living individual have the right to work and to pursuit a better living quality?
How weird is that an individual is allowed to live and spend in the United State but not allowed to earn their living in the States?
Entry Filed under: 向婷，About Me,西雅圖，Seattle
6 Comments Add your own
1. mars | September 21st, 2005 at 5:20 pm
Ting,
Don’t be too upset, you will find a job sooner or later. Just keep trying.
Good luck.
2. Administrator | September 21st, 2005 at 6:17 pm
Mars,
Thanks for your ecouragement. After I posted the lines, I felt better about my situation. Sometimes I just need to speak it out.
United States is not a only place with weird immigrant policies. Taiwan is even worse in terms of treating aliens. Well….
3. Chumommy | September 21st, 2005 at 6:21 pm
I know the feeling…
There is one time I complianted to my friend that unless I can vote in this place, I can never really feel that I am part of it. He said, “anyone who has made it to this land and believes in freedom and democracy should be considered an American.”
I quite like it!
4. Po | September 21st, 2005 at 11:54 pm
I discussed this issue with Jeremy, and he raised an interesting point. A job fair is usually for companies who are seeking for entry-level employees, and they expect those people to leave their jobs pretty soon, say 1-2 years, so it’s more likely for them to avoid overhead hassles such as dealing with immigrant documents and other problems. We suggest you to use more networking.
Btw, living in the States doesn’t make us Americans. After all, this government has the rights to refuse our entries at the first place. Good luck!
5. Administrator | September 22nd, 2005 at 7:04 am
Thank you, Po.
I think Jeremy is right. And so far, networking is still more effective than other methods. But the thing is after I have been looking for a job more than just a few months, I am a little bit desperate since my EAD is expiring. Also, It usually put you at a worse position when you are away from jobs longer. What I can do is to use every resource and at least send out my resume. Good luck to myself too.
You are right about living in the States. We are not Americans after all. But when you wanna do something and you cannot do, you start to wonder why. There are many other factors contributing to not yet locating a job. The immigrant status is just one of them. Not rolling in a job might create other options for life. Scott said “Why don’t you just open your business?” Maybe that’s a good diea.
6. Annie | September 22nd, 2005 at 4:05 pm
A classmate/friend of mine found a job 1-2 months before her EAD expires. Persistency pays off.
加油
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