Lena's (& Russian women's) experience in looking for her first job in America...

-by Khashyar

Hi Everyone...

A couple of months ago, Lena and I decided that it would be a good thing for Lena to experience what it was like to work in America :) and have a job...

We thought that it would help Lena become even more familiar with American culture, help Lena further hone her English language skills as she dealt with different situations with other English speakers, and also bring some more income into our family and help Lena feel that she was contributing to our marriage financially.... I felt that finding and securing a job would also help her strengthen her confidence in maneuvering within her new American culture...

Lena was a bit nervous about finding a job, since she had never worked outside of Belarus before.... She may have been a bit nervous about having to compete with other Americans who are native English speakers, and also in looking for a job in an economic climate that was even difficult for native U.S. job seekers....

So, about 6 weeks ago, Lena began to look for a "job" in Los Angeles :)

Lena had received authorization to seek employment from U.S. immigration about a month after we applied for Lena's Adjustment of Status... (During that time, we submitted an Employment Authorization application along with her Adjustment of Status application)...

Since I had some experience in looking for a job in America, I helped Lena write her resume, as well as fill out applications (since there are a lot of references in American job applications that are culturally geared to Americans and that foreign-raised job seekers may not understand).... I also helped Lena by driving her to different areas in L.A. so that she and I could talk about what were the best businesses for her to apply...

Even though I like to think as positively as possible and wanted Lena to apply for her best options possible, I think that Lena was prejudiced in a way by her Russian friends who lived and worked in Los Angeles.... Her friends kept telling her that it was very difficult for a Russian immigrant to find a job in America, and they somehow got her thinking that she should expect to receive a job at a very basic business:

One of Lena's friends (without wanting to name this person) has lived in the U.S. for a few years and has worked at a small retail shop for the past 2 or 3 years... This friend is very educated and intelligent (was perhaps the top English student in her University in her native country), and began working at this retail shop for about minimum wage... After a couple of years, this friend now makes a couple of dollars above minimum wage...

Another friend of Lena's, who has been in L.A. a few years longer than the other friend, works at a fashion retail shop, and makes a decent wage for a retail store employee (about $10 per hour)....

Both of these friends were expressing how difficult it was to find a job in America, and that Lena should not have high expectations and should accept any job so that she can begin to gain experience in the U.S.....

But I felt that because of Lena's positive personality, intelligence, caring nature and pretty good English language skills, that she was able to find a decent job that she liked.... I felt that I had to repeatedly work against the pessimistic voices that were telling Lena otherwise :)

Since Lena wants to eventually teach children in a public school, Lena and I thought that it would be a good idea for Lena to apply at some kind of school that deals with children... So, a friend of mine knew the owner of a highly regarded pre-school in L.A. (which teaches some celebrity children) and set up an interview for Lena at this school.....

The job did not work out for Lena, because the owner of the school worried about what the children's fickle parents would think of a teacher with a foreign accent teaching their children, and Lena felt disappointed and discouraged as a result because when Lena had a conversation on the phone with this owner, the owner was very positive about Lena working at the school and complimented her English....

I think that since this was Lena's first experience in speaking with an American employer, and her first "job interview," that it slightly reduced her confidence in finding a job (because the owner of the pre-school mentioned Lena's non-native English as a reason for not hiring her)....

But, I continued to feel that Lena had all of the attributes to find a decent job that she would enjoy, and that would bring her good experience....

I felt that since other people felt that Lena was sociable, nice and physically attractive, that she could find her first job in the U.S. at a decent clothing store (like GAP, Bebe, or a similar store)....

I think that because of her experience with the school, Lena lost some "job-seeking confidence," and inside of herself, she felt that perhaps she could not compete with native English-speaking Americans for these kinds of jobs at more prestigious shops....

(She also felt a bit less confident as a result of all of the news that she was hearing about the American economy, and how many U.S. workers are being laid off and having a difficult time finding jobs-- even entry level positions)....

I think that many new Russian immigrants also feel less confident about finding a job in the American workplace, and in "competing" with other American workers for these same jobs.... This is true especially if a Russian immigrant's English language skills are not strong. So, this is one reason why helping our Russian spouses to strengthen their English language skills in very important to helping them succeed in their new English-speaking culture.

Even though Lena had one rejection :)  I still wanted Lena to send out as many applications as she can, go to shops and speak with store managers, and put as much effort as she could in finding a job..... I told Lena my feeling that in the U.S., you needed to apply to as many jobs as you could until you receive a job that you could feel happy about...

At times, Lena felt that this was difficult because she found it stressful to put herself out into the American world of employers and to speak with managers, and to face the inevitable that she would receive some "rejections" of jobs that she applied for...

One of Lena's friends told her to look at the classifieds of a local Los Angeles Russian language newspaper, because this friend mentioned that they listed several jobs there...

I felt skeptical about this, because I felt that Russian business owners who advertise for Russian workers in a Russian language newspaper may expect to mistreat their Russian employees (or treat them differently than they would a more informed American employee), or might be looking for undocumented Russian workers (and thus pay them less and treat them with less rights).... I just did have a trusting feeling about Lena working for a Russian employer in America who posts a job advertisement in a Russian language newspaper....

Lena found an ad for a waitress position in a Russian restaurant in the Beverly Hills area and called the Russian owner (who was an older Russian woman). Lena had a nice conversation with her and so she went for an interview........

After a couple of hours speaking with the restaurant owner, the restaurant owner said all kinds of nice things about Lena, and then told Lena that she was hired, and everything seemed fine.....

But, after Lena's training period during which she worked for 3 days without pay, Lena was supposed to begin to work with pay on the fourth day.... After I drove Lena to the restaurant for her fourth day of work (and after Lena had won the hearts of the restaurant's customers), the restaurant owner lady told Lena that she could not afford to pay Lena for this day of work, but asked Lena to stay anyway and work with her (for free:)   ).......

Lena became suspicious, and was told in private by the Russian lady cook who also worked there and who befriended Lena, that the Russian restaurant owner was regularly bringing in Russian employees for "training" from respondents of the newspaper employment ad, but never intended to pay any of them.... Apparently, several Russian (and Western) potential employees had come and been interviewed and began to be trained, but then left when they figured out that they were not going to be paid. (This restaurant owner was using these people as free labor)... Lena discovered that one advertisement respondent worked for about 3 weeks without pay before giving up and quitting...

So, Lena decided that after this experience, that she was not going to work for another Russian business owner from this point on :)

So, Lena went back to applying for jobs at retail shops and even restaurants, and I kept encouraging and supporting Lena by driving her to different shops and helping her fill-out applications and by just giving her general encouragement and support.....

Lena and I also understood that at least in the beginning, that Lena would need to find a job that she could ride the bus (public transportation) to, since she had never touched the steering wheel of a car in her life, and I would not often be around during working hours to drive her....... So, Lena and I rode the bus a couple times together so that she could become familiar with how the Los Angeles bus system worked, and until Lena felt comfortable with riding the bus....

The job application process continued :)

Lena was applying at different businesses within this upscale outdoor mall in Los Angeles (called "Hollywood and Highland"-- in the same complex where the Academy Awards are held), and she applied at an Ann Taylor fashion retail shop there... The manager of the Ann Taylor (who was Eastern European) liked Lena very much, but she said that they did not have any openings at the moment....

One day, a couple weeks later, Lena received a telephone call from a lady who Lena had never spoken with before, about coming in for an interview at a store that she did not remember applying to.... The store was in a location just north of Hollywood where Lena had never applied for a job...

Lena and I were both curious about this mysterious employer...

I drove Lena to this location in Studio City, CA (which is just a few minutes north of Hollywood and near some film producers' offices and movie studios). Lena found the interview location, and had an interview with a manager (a Hungarian woman who had just come to the U.S. two years ago)....

It had turned out that the lady at the other Ann Taylor store in Hollywood had recommended Lena to the Hungarian-born manager of a newly opening Ann Taylor store in Studio City.... This Hungarian-born store manager (named Nataly) asked Lena if she knew the other Ann Taylor manager well, and was surprised when Lena said "no" because she told Lena that the other manager had spoken very highly of Lena and seemed very impressed with her....

While I hung out reading books in a nearby bookstore for about 2 hours (drawing the suspicion of the bookstore clerks :)  ) Lena had a wonderful and long interview with the Hungarian Ann Taylor manager, and at the end of the interview, she told Lena that she felt very good about Lena and would check our her references and get back to her soon...

Lena felt good about the interview, and received a call a couple of days later stating that they wanted to offer Lena a full-time job there :)

So, beginning this Thursday, Lena begins her first official job in the U.S....

This job will be good for her, because it will help Lena better understand American culture as she deals with American co-workers and customers... She can use this as an experience to build upon as she prepares in the near future to finish her University education and then choose her future permanent profession in America.....

I am coming to realize that many Russian immigrants have a difficult time finding work that they can feel good about, and lack confidence (perhaps as a result of their English language skills) in finding work in the West.....

(Their Western spouses should be patient and prepared in supporting them in this and exhibiting understanding)...

I think that part of finding their confidence in their new culture is to look for and navigate through finding employment....

It also feels good to me (and to Lena) that Lena will be helping with our household's finances..... In a more real way, this makes Lena more equal in our partnership, as she takes more economic responsibility for our marriage...

I know that for some Western men, it can feel stressful having to be financially responsible for themselves and their wives..... Of course, it is a pleasure to do so, but... psychologically (and even financially) it can feel stressful for many people. So, the fact that our Russian spouses make an effort to work and bring in additional income is good for our spouse's confidence level in their new adopted country, and also helps ease the psychological and financial burden that their Western spouses sometimes feel...

(After almost three years of living in American, Lena has learned so much about life in America, including what the American work environment is like. Because of Lena's hard work and sociability with her co-workers and managers, she now has a job that she really enjoys and that pays her more than the average American earns. At the end of 2005, her employer is going to train her for a management position, where she will being earning twice as much as the average American makes. With that added income, Lena plans on helping her family by buying them an additional property in Belarus from which her family can receive extra financial security).
 

*(You can find much more in-depth information about Russia, and helpful advice from Lena, Khashyar and others in the Russian Meeting Place's active Russian-Western Discussion Forums)

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