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How To Work In The US (Part 2): Living & Finding Work In New York

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(this is a series and a real life experience from one of our readers who wanted to share his journey to work in the US in the hope it would educate and inspire others)
Part 1 – J1 Visa & Early Days
Part 3 – Job Application & Visa Process

I arrived in New York looking for work a year after the recession had hit, so things weren’t looking too great. Nonetheless, I found a retail job on my third day in the city, which I was pretty pleased about. I was pretty shocked to hear that they paid $9 an hour – that’s what I made when I was 16 and worked in a juice bar – but that’s actually a pretty decent rate here, as minimum wage is $7.25.

You must get used to the fact that the retail and hospitality industries pay significantly less than they do back home in Australia. You can make good money waitressing or bartending, but you make that in tips, so it’s dependent on where you work and how busy your shift is. If it’s a slow night, or it’s snowing outside, or if the economy has just crapped itself, you may not make that month’s rent – but you could also make upward of $200 a night if you have some high-tipping customers.

Craigslist is a great place to find jobs, but try looking in some unconventional places as hundreds of people apply for the jobs advertised there. I had a friend find a job in an art gallery/cafe because she looked in the “artists” category on Craigslist and hardly anyone had applied.

Babysitting will be your lifesaver. If you can handle kids, you can make great money, often cash in hand, looking after kids. People are desperate for good, reliable babysitters. You can’t strictly work as an Au-Pair on the J1, but you can get casual babysitting or nannying gigs.

New York is an incredible, dynamic city with wonderful opportunities available. There is so much to see and do it can be overwhelming. It can also be quite isolating, and even when you do make friends, people have difficulty with committment here, so plans that you thought were concrete were actually tentative. Having said that, there are just SO many people here and SO many things to do that you can find friends in the most unusual of places – on the subway, at a show, in a focus group. People are really charmed by the Australian accent, too, so use that to your advantage.

How To Work In The US (Part 1): J1 Visa & Early Days

Guest Posts, Visa Info, , , , , , , ,

(this is a series and a real life experience from one of our readers who wanted to share his journey to work in the US in the hope it would educate and inspire others)
Part 2 – Living & Finding Work in the US
Part 3 – Job Application & Visa Process

I was 21 when I came to the US for the first time. I had family living in New York and spent nearly three months hanging out in New York City. Within a week of being here I knew I was going to move here some day, so I set my sights on finishing my university degree and getting a visa to move to the US from Melbourne, my home town.

I finished university in November of 2008 and spent the next 10 months working and saving money to move here. I knew I would be eligible for the J1 12-month work and travel visa within 12 months of graduating. I spent a few months doing research on the program and trying to find the best sponsor to come over to the US.

All in all, the J1 process is very straightforward. The main thing you need is a visa sponsor, and there are quite a few of them out there. They make it possible for you to come here and live and work for 12 months. To be perfectly honest, it absolutely does not matter who you get to sponsor you.

Finding a sponsor with built in travel insurance (a requirement of the visa) will probably cut your costs a little (as opposed to paying for sponsorship and insurance seperately.) Do a search for companies that sponsor you – GrowUSA, CIEE and the YMCA are three big organisations that sponsor the J1 visa.

The organisation I went with (not one of the above) were helpful before I got my visa, but once I got into the country they didn’t really care what I did. They didn’t check in to see how I was doing and I was the one who called them to notify them of my arrival. I was unemployed for a decent chunk of my first few months here and no one called to see how I was doing or if I needed any help. Which is fine – it’s not something I was promised – but for the $1600 I paid to be sponsored, I would’ve preferred to go with a company who at least wanted to know I was still alive.

Once the company receives your sponsorship paperwork, they send you the DS-2019 and you take that and your supporting
documentation to the consulate for your interview. The interview is really straightforward – they’re just going to want to
know that you’ve got ties back home and that you’re bringing enough money to support yourself for the first few months. I
think the minimum you need to show evidence for is $1500, but I stupidly wrote $US8000 on my form, not realising that;

a) that was $11000 AUD at the time and
b) that I had to show evidence that I had that money at the time of my appointment, which I did not.

So my visa was denied initially until I sent them evidence that I had parental support and a credit card.
Moral of the story – just put whatever you have. As long as it’s over $1500, you’ll be fine.