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economy is booming and so too is San Francisco. Unemployment is around 3% with graduate
unemployment at 1%. Contractors are booked up 18 months in advance. With figures like
these it doesn’t take a genius to resolve that you can get a job easily in San
Francisco. However there are a couple of factors you need to take into consideration, such
as: Are you here on a legal status visa or are you
seeking ‘under the table’ work?
Your legal status will have a huge impact on your job search.
Holders of Green cards and Walsh Visas can find employment just about
anywhere. Internship visas issued by Council/USIT stipulate that the holder must be employed by one employer for the duration of the visa. J1 (summer work visas)entitle the holder to work (for any employer) for up to 4 months. Employers face huge fines for employing non-visa holders and hence many are
reluctant to do so. However it is possible to find ‘under the table’ work
particularly in construction and hospitality. Without a work visa you must be prepared to
work harder to get a job and to face the risk of deportation.
How much money do you need/want to earn?
Are you here for a good time alone or are there loans looming back
home in Ireland? In the case of the former it is possible to get a regular job paying
around $9 p/hour and live to enjoy yourself. If you are serious about making money and
saving then consider either working more hours (overtime or another job) or seeking a
higher paying job. Over time usually works out at time and a half after 40 hours per week
with double time for weekends.
What kind of job are you prepared to do?
Do you just want to have fun and earn some cash to get by or do
you want a career-enhancing job that can benefit your CV? The options are there for both
and it is up to you to choose.
How hard are you prepared to look?
There are jobs everywhere but the market is extremely competitive.
You must dedicate a lot of time and effort to finding a job and never assume that you are
going to find one. Look everywhere, ask everyone and keep trying until you are sure of
work.
How many jobs are you prepared to work?
Some people take 2 or 3 part time jobs to ensure regular hours,
variety and flexibility. This is a popular option and gives you more experience, options
and fun.
Tips
Try setting up a job before you arrive. A good way to do this is
via contacts or Internet searches. Emailing employers and hassling them for work is
another good way. Even if they don’t have suitable openings they may refer you to
someone.
- Make sure you have your ID, resumes and references at all times.
Try and organize these before arriving in the USA. Do not bring these with you if you are
coming illegal, as immigration will send you straight home. If listing contacts for
references clear it with them first.
- Ensure you are contactable at all times and not just reliant on
someone to give you a message. In many cases this involves buying a pager with voicemail
which can be had for around $50 for 3 months of service. This way you will not miss that
vital call.
- Call into Irish bars between 4pm and 6pm when workers are returning
from work and ask around. If there’s nobody about talk to the bar tender.
- Buy the Chronicle or the examiner newspaper everyday to search the
classifieds. Do not buy both, as classifieds are the same. Also check out the SF weekly
and SF Bay Guardian free publications from street booths. Some web sites such as www.craigslist.com also list jobs on a daily basis.
- When walking around town and suburbs keep your eyes and ears
peeled. Often employers list vacancies in shop windows. Try walking in ‘on the
spot’ and asking. In any case talk to everyone and tell them you are after a job.
- Keep a notebook and pen on you at all times to record ads, contacts
and numbers you receive during the day.
- For casual and flexible work in building, security and maintenance
register with a Labor Ready office which offers ‘work today’ ‘get paid
today work.
- Security firms are always looking for people and offer regular and
easy work.
- Bar work is virtually impossible to get as it offers lucrative
wages due to the tipping structure. A good way into this is to work as a door host first.
- If money is of the essence apply for as many jobs as possible and
take the first one that comes along. You can always take another (better) offer at a later
stage.
- Don’t go too crazy in your first week/s. This is the most
important period of your trip when you will NEED to arrange accommodation and employment
as well as settle in. Don’t take any of these for granted.
Agency Work
There are dozens of employment agencies in the Bay Area. Many deal
with temporary help in construction and security but most are concerned with office work
such as secretarial, administrative and clerical. A few are more specific in that they are
technical (e.g. Computer programmers or Human Resources Management).
Information on using employment (temporary agencies)
- Assignments can be range from one day, one week, several months or
indefinitely.
- To sign up with an agency bring along your resume, references and
ID and fill out the application paperwork. You may have to do some short spelling and
arithmetic quizzes. In office temping agencies you will almost certainly be asked to take
a test in MS Word and possibly Excel, PowerPoint or Access. This will be followed by a
speed-typing test, which is important. The next stage is to chat with one of the
recruiters about the agency and their work and what you are seeking and why.
- Upon registration do not assume they will contact you. There are
hundreds more job seekers in the same position so you need to stand out. Call the
recruiters every morning and evening and assignments come in regularly.
- Make sure you are contactable immediately (a pager is usually best
for this purpose), as the agency will be looking to fill the position as soon as possible.
Remuneration
| Wages vary
buy typical examples are: |
|
| Min wage is
$5.75 p/hour |
|
| Furniture mover: |
$10-$15 p/hour + tips |
| Waiter/Waitress: |
$5 p/hour +tips |
| Graduate Job: |
$15 p/hour |
| Construction: |
$10-$20 p/hour |
| Shop work: |
$8 p/hour |
| Fast food work: |
$6 p/hour |
| Receptionist: |
$9/10 p/hour |
| Administrative assistant |
$11-$13 p/hour |
| Technical positions
(computing etc.) |
$18+ p/hour |
San Francisco Bay Area Employment
AgenciesABA Staffing
Inc. - San Francisco - a temporary and permanent employment agency.
Access Staffing
Inc. - San Francisco - temporary and permanent staffing agency specializing in
administrative support.
ACM Staffing
Specialists - providing permanent placement of sales/marketing and technical positions
in the SF Bay Area.
Adecco - Foster
City - Bay Area jobs, careers, employment.
Alan J. Blair
- San Francisco - specializing in support staffing for permanent and temporary
placement.
Alpine
Recruiting - San Francisco - offering technical recruiting for Fortune 500
companies.
BACH
Personnel - San Francisco - career placement of qualified administrative,
technical and management professionals.
BrainTrust
- San Francisco - full-service staffing agency. We specialize in placing bright,
well-educated and multi-talented individuals with dynamic companies in interesting
industries.
Career
Consociates - San Francisco - full-time and temporary staffing for the
corporate, financial, and legal communities.
Career
Group - San Francisco - full time and temporary career placement agency
specializing in placing administrative, legal, and technical personnel with Fortune 500
and leading companies.
Choice For
Staffing Inc. - San Francisco - provides office staffing solutions.
Corporate
Concepts - San Francisco - opportunities for executive assistants, engineers,
accountants, and programmers in the Bay Area.
DM Stone
Personnel Services - San Francisco - specializing in permanent, temporary and
temp-to-hire placements in the financial services field, including the stockbrokerage,
securities and banking industries.
Dougherty &
Associates, Inc. - San Francisco - attorney recruiting firm working with law
firms and corporations to place qualified attorneys in commercial practice areas.
Eastridge
Group - San Francisco - temporary, contract and full-time employment, featuring
speciality divisions in technical and professional staffing.
HRCS - San
Francisco - offering contract recruiting and executive search services.
Johnson
Staffing - San Francisco - career placement and temporary staffing in San
Francisco and the Bay Area.
Joseph
Michaels, Inc. - San Francisco - temporary and permanent accounting placement
firm.
Key
Resources - San Francisco - staffing firm that specializes in administrative,
accounting, and office support placement.
Key
Resources - Oakland - staffing firm that specializes in administrative,
accounting, and office support placement.
Management
Recruiters & Sales Consultants of Oakland - Oakland - offering placement
positions in telecommunications, water treatment, transportation, finance, medical,
biotech, and information technologies.
Management
Recruiters International of Berkeley - Berkeley - placing candidates in the
following industries: banking and finance, healthcare and managed care, environmental,
semiconductor and food operations.
Management
Recruiters International of Emeryville - Emeryville - providing staffing
services for the bio-pharmaceutical industry.
Net-Temps - San
Francisco - listing of local recruiters. Includes job openings and resumes.
Outsource
Consulting Services, Inc. - Oakland - providing contract and permanent staffing
in IT / telecommunications.
Pacific Heights
Network - San Francisco - guiding companies and personnel into long-term
relations.
Sales Consultants
of San Francisco - San Francisco - positions in telecommunications, industrial
water treatment, transportation, finance, medical, food, information technology, biotech,
and packaging industries.
Sandy
Nash Personnel - San Francisco - placement of temporary, temp-to-hire, and
permanent personnel.
Search West
- San Francisco - filling management and profeesional positions across a broad
spectrum of industries.
Searchwright
- San Francisco - full-service personnel agency providing administrative, finance,
accounting, and technical staffing from temp to full-time.
Strategic
Staffing, Inc. - San Francisco - temporary, contract and permanent positions in
the areas of administrative, accounting, financial, legal, management, marketing,
programming, sales and technical.
Student
Source - San Francisco - careers, full time and part time jobs and paid
internships available for students as well as college graduates.
Tetsell
Group, The - San Francisco - employment search firm specializing in the
property/casualty insurance industry.
Total Support
Services Inc. (TSS) - San Francisco
Visuals
- San Francisco - places highly qualified digital and new media artists into
contract and full-time positions.
San Francisco Bay Area Employment Resources
- balist.com -
find and post jobs in the Bay Area.
- BAJobs - San
Francisco - lists biotech, computer, and other premium employment opportunities in the
San Francisco Bay Area.
- Bay Area
Jobs - links to company employment pages.
- BayArea
Computerwork.com - computer jobs for Bay Area high-tech professionals, free Web
resume, career resources, discussion forums, and more.
- Career
Journal - Berkeley - job openings for software developers and network
engineers. Also, software developer product reviews, salary surveys, and HR trends.
- CareerMosaic
- City
and County of San Francisco - San Francisco
- Contract-Jobs.Com
- Chronicle
& Examiner Jobs classifieds
- Craigs List
- Excellent daily updated service with jobs, appts, listings
- Digital
Station - comprehensive guide to computer and Internet companies, employment, job
listings, events, and news.
- Electronic
Job Guide - database of jobs submitted locally and taken daily from the Usenet
newsgroup: ba.jobs.offered; includes search by job type and a clickable map to search by
location.
- Job Explorer
- Berkeley - formed by Stanford and UC Berkeley computer science graduates. Free to
both candidates and employers.
- Jobs &
Careers Newspaper Online - job, career, educational and career listings. Updated every
two weeks.
- Kitchenette's Job Bar - serving the
Bay Area's job seekers and employers in the food and beverage industries.
- KQED-TV9 and
88.5FM - San Francisco
- LIFT
- San Francisco - summer job and volunteer opportunities for local youth.
- Monster Board
- NASA Ames
Research Center - recruitment info, job openings, benefits info, and government
personnel related texts.
- NetStaff, Inc.
- San Francisco - multiple listing service for the staffing industry which also
allows candidates to apply online and can put your candidate database online.
- OnLine
Staffing - browse the database for a list of jobs in your area, or add your resume
confidentially for contact by an appropriate representative.
- Opportunity NOCs - job
opportunities at non-profits, presented by The Management Center.
- SF Weekly - Alternative weekly
mag with classifieds
Other useful links
Dept. of Social
Security
Dept. of Labor
IRS
USIT
CIEE
BUNAC
DMV
European Student
Services
Misc.
issues:
Social Security Cards and Documentation
Employers often demand to see this right away so make it a
priority to apply. The Social Security offices are located downtown on Market St. Go there and present
your passport with your Visa and other appropriate documentation. You will be given a
receipt for application of the Social Security card and it should arrive within 2 weeks.
Office
Phone:
- (800) 772-1213
- TTY: (800) 325-0778
Office Hours:
- 9:00 TO 4:30 MONDAY THRU FRIDAY
Directions to Soc. Sec. office:
- LOCATED BETWEEN 5TH AND 6TH STREETS ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF MARKET ST.
OFFICE IS LOCATED NEXT TO PAYLESS SHOE STORE. BART EXIT IS THE POWELL STREET STATION. BUS
LINES ARE 5,6,7,8,9,21, 66 AND 77.
Banking
One of the first things you should do upon arrival
is open a bank account. You will need 2 forms of ID such as passport, driver’s
license, and social security card. An initial deposit is not required in most banks. Your
account will be active right away but you will not receive your ATM card for about 10
days. If you have no permanent address you should request that your ATM card be received
care off the branch. The 2 biggest banks in the San Francisco bay area are Wells Fargo and
Bank of America. Also note that, unlike in Ireland, ATM machines (other than your own
bank) charge a transaction fee.
Rights
Whilst you are working legally in the USA you have
equal employment rights to U.S. citizens so do not be afraid to exercise them. Employers
sometimes take advantage of employee’s lack of legal knowledge through unfair payment
and conditions or recruitment and selection practices. For further details of your rights
visit the library or citizens information centers.
"ESS can get you an income tax
refund quickly and easily by doing everything for you!"
20 Eden Quay, Dublin 1
Tel: 1850 66 88 66 Fax: 01 670 6963
This Site by Ruairi
(415) 2456512
Email: J-1@iname.com |
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