Securing work in San Francisco

To be honest with you , while planning my GAP year in the USA, the last thing I was worried about is not being able to get a job. I thought I would basically walk into a job. I knew all about the economy collapse, the lack of jobs ect. this didn’t scare me or worry me. I thought people would be crazy not to want to hire me. With my great work history, experience and all. All I was searching for was a simple non skilled job in hospitality. I figured the americans still had to eat. I started looking for work the day I arrived in San Francisco. mainly on the internet on craiglist, there were new jobs appearing every hour or so. I had a great resume filled with 7 solid years in customer service at companies known to the US such as blockbuster video & TGI Fridays. I wasn’t fussy on the restaurant or job role, I was willing to just take anything. Beggars can’t be chooses now can they. I was willing to do dishes, clean , or anything. All I wanted is a simple job.

Suit shopping at Macy’s In SF for job interviews

The shock.
So when you apply for a job , and are invited to an interview. I was assuming it would be just me and a few others. WRONG. I went to quite a few job interviews, and there were loads of people competing for the ONE job. I thought I would have an advantage over other candidates, you know being a happy little outgoing Aussie and all. and you know, Americans LOVE the Aussie accent and all. So I was wrong, the customers may like you, but the employer not so much. As soon as i would open my mouth, they would ask oh your not from here. No, but I have the legal rights to work here. A lot of companies are interested in hiring employees that are going to stick around & grow with the company. This is fair enough, My visa was only valid for 12 months. not so attractive. What I learnt is that the US has a lot of illegal workers, from other countries. Especially California , being close to Mexico an all. It also takes some more paper work to hire a foreigner, something that some employers aint interested in deal with.

So weeks had gone by, my savings were drying up and I still had not secured a job. I started getting quite depressed. I couldn’t give up though. I had just spent thousands on my visa & flights and did not want to go home just yet. I had payed enough up front rent that at least I had a roof over me for a few months.

I kept applying, finally I had some success. the company “ Lucky Strike” had a job advert on craigslist advertising they are coming to San Francisco & that there were many positions available.
They held an open day for about 3 days. I researched Lucky Strike, found out it was an upscale yet casual bowling lounge/restaurant that was founded in Hollywood. I thought great, sounds perfect. I rocked up to the open day that was hosted at a hotel in town, grabbed a form and like many others filled it out. they had a panel of what looked like 3 judges. You would wait your turn and hand in your form and briefly meet the companies employment staff from LA. I sat down, met one of the ladies. As soon as I said Hello, she noticed my accent and was very interested in me, your from Australia, Why have you come to San Francisco of all the Cities. we went on from there. Had a decent conversation filled with laughs and overall positive babble. I could grasp from her tone of voice & body language that she was interested in hiring me. She shook my hand and said it was nice to meet you and I will be hearing from her soon for a follow up interview.

I left my brief interview feeling hopefull , happy & overall optimistic. Now the waiting game.
This new place was still being built and wasn’t due to open for well over another month.
A long few weeks had gone by & I got called for another interview. This time the owner of the company was present. It went shorter then I expected , they basically just told me that I had a job and were looking forward to having me on board & training me. I was overwhelmed. I was like , are you serious, I got the job…. and I literally had a skip in my step as I walked out. Feeling happier and so relieved that I didn’t have to go back to Australia just yet.