Can an international young woman find work in the Burgh? (Pittsburgh: school, universities)

[bryanr]

Hi all,

My wife and I moved to Pittsburgh earlier this year, and fell in love with the city. We love the the geography and all the wonderful culture. She in particular came here really wide-eyed and hopeful. She's not from the U.S. (although I am), so she had to immigrate here so I could go to grad-school at Pitt.

However, finding a job here has been gruelingly difficult for her. We've been applying like crazy since April, and are starting to feel a bit down about it. She has a very nice resume for someone in her early twenties. She's got a degree in tourism and 5 years of experience staffing and helping to coordinate conferences and other events. She also speaks fluent French and Spanish (and English of course -- plus some German and Russian). Basically, she's an excited young woman with great interpersonal skills, who loves sharing her love for cities and culture.

But reading through some of the other threads, I saw a lot of agreement that knowing the right people can be really important in Pittsburgh. That pretty much sums up our experience: most jobs needing people with her skills seemed uninterested in hiring someone who's new to the Burgh.

So does anyone have advice for someone in my wife's situation? Any ideas for a young woman in Pittsburgh who is interested in tourism and events? Or if knowing the right people is really that important, how can we get keyed into the right networks?

Any ideas you can offer would be very much appreciated. My wife and I really love Pittsburgh, and would feel so much better if Pittsburgh would just show her a little love in return!

[globalburgh]

You do have to be creative to land a good job in Pittsburgh. But that's true for a lot of cities. Don't get discouraged. If your wife has permanent residency already (Green Card), then she has already cleared the major hurdle.

I recommend making a few contacts at Global Pittsburgh:

GlobalPittsburgh.org: Jobs in the Region (http://www.globalpittsburgh.org/jobs/ - broken link)

You wife's language skills are highly sought after and she might find a number of opportunities outside her field of choice. My guess is that she will need to be flexible on that count.

[slamont61]

Someone Bi-Lingual should be more than able to find some sort of suitable work there in Pittsburgh. Advise her to stay postitive and to keep on networking her skills around the area no matter how rough it may seem. The right contact is but a moment away at any time.

Have her contact the Convetion Bureau to gage possibilities and don't forget to research all the Local universities for any and all oportunity. It's there somewhere I'm sure.

Particuarly with the laguage skills, one of these companies will Jump at the oportunity to bring her on board. Don't allow her to be discouraged as it's not always easy to find work when you guys really don't know for sure what her biggest asset will turn up, and that is the language skills - for sure.

[creepsinc]

Lots of people hire temps now and then offer a permanent position down the road. That's how I got my job. Go to the agencies (avoid Adecco, DM me for the one I used) and give them the resume and see what she qualifies for. You might be surprised.

[dugdogmaster]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

Lots of people hire temps now and then offer a permanent position down the road. That's how I got my job. Go to the agencies (avoid Adecco, DM me for the one I used) and give them the resume and see what she qualifies for. You might be surprised.

Yeah, temp services are very reputable around here. I know several people that eventually got hired on to permanent full time at good jobs they actually enjoy. I'd recommend going that way as well.

[bryanr]

Thanks so much for the great replies, everyone!

[bryanr]

An update on my wife:

After five months, she has finally been offered a job doing the event coordination for a small company. Hooray! She had sent her resume to several temp-agencies as suggested, but actually came upon this job posted on Craig's List last month.

In addition to her new job, she has also found another company -- Landmark Events -- to be a great additional way to work extra hours doing something she likes. Landmark does the staffing for Steeler's games and some local concerts. These things typically occur once or twice a week in the fall, and Landmark always seems to need help. They are also very flexible -- you can go work just about any time they're doing an event.

Thanks again everyone, for your encouragement and support!
B.

[dugdogmaster]

Congrats