A new immigrant, any advice would be helpful.

miroa12004

Hello,

My name is Omar and I am from Egypt. I was graduated from university with a bachelor's degree in Information Engineering & Technology (Network's concentration) about 18 months ago. During university I did two 6 weeks internships as a Field Network Engineer but the job duties were more like 1st and then 2nd line of network support.

Anyway, due to some problems, I couldn't leave the country after graduation and had to spend a year working at one of the country's major mobile phone operators, at that time I obtained my CCNA certification as well as learned some basic UNIX commands (servers were on UNIX), plus I was involved in some sort of 3rd line of support when it came to customer complaints and all that stuff.

Recently though, I decided to take my chances in looking for a job in the US. Since my uncle lives in Massachusetts, I thought it would be a good idea to live with him and save myself the hassle of looking for a place to stay in while looking for a job, in essence a money saving move but a month has past since I landed in the US and so far, there isn't any success when trying to search for a job. To make matters even worse, few people respond to my job applications (mostly recruiters), not a phone call or an e-mail explaining why I got snubbed for a job. I am studying right now for my CCNP and trying to get more into Linux but it has been so frustrating so far failing to get a job and almost doing nothing in my life. I know that not having any North American experience can count against me but even then, my resume (which I have uploaded) isn't that bad to at least warrant a phone interview.

So I thought that maybe it is a good idea to turn into this forum to ask for help, if I am doing something wrong or if I needed to edit something on my resume to make it look better, I don't know.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks.

EDIT: For some reason, an error message appears when I try to upload the file on here so here is a link to my updated resume, please review it http://www.filedropper.com/omarhany

Thanks again.

networker050184

You should definitely expand on your job experience section. From reading your resume I really have no idea what you have actually done. You were a 'Revenue generating engineer'. How did you generate revenue? How much? Any big projects you worked on? This is where the meat of your resume should be. Your's is severely lacking in detail and anything that would make it jump out of a pile or 100 other resumes.

A few other suggestions. I'd get rid of the skills and objectives at the bottom and replace it with a summary to start your resume out. Then go into your experience section. Close it out with education and certification. Drop the high school part.

sheckler

Do you have a visa that lets you work legally in the country? If so maybe put that in your resume or cover letter. If you're just here on a tourist visa or something that will make it much harder.

CoolAsAFan

Hey Omar, just a heads up but its tough for a lot of people to get a job right now in our country so your not alone in your endeavors. That's why networker050184 mentioned you need to make your resume stand out in the stack of dozens or hundreds that a company might receive. Just keep your head up and keep at it and eventually you will hit on something. Keep in mind as well that we tend to see it a lot when getting a job that's its not what you know, but who know, so definitely make many new friends and network!

You definitely made a great choice coming to TE and asking for help because the guys on these forums are amazing! Good luck!

Frostbite

sheckler wrote: »

Do you have a visa that lets you work legally in the country? If so maybe put that in your resume or cover letter. If you're just here on a tourist visa or something that will make it much harder.

It's kind of a gray area because if you enter on a visa and state that the purposes are for tourism, you're not really supposed to be seeking employment because that would imply you lied on the visa application. If you state that you have dual purposes though, (tourism and job hunting) you're likely to be denied. Either way, to actually start working, you'll have to find an employer to sponsor you for an H1B, which can be difficult.

--chris--

I unfortunately don't have any first hand experience for you, but my last employer hired almost exclusively people who needed sponsorship. Just be careful who you choose to work for, they took advantage of their employees citizenship status. It seems like you wont be able to be to picky, just keep this in the back of your mind. I am certain those type of people are few and far between, but you should be aware it can happen.

miroa12004

For those asking, I have a green card so I don't seek any sponsorship from any employer. Thanks for the advise

networker050184 wrote: »

You should definitely expand on your job experience section. From reading your resume I really have no idea what you have actually done. You were a 'Revenue generating engineer'. How did you generate revenue? How much? Any big projects you worked on? This is where the meat of your resume should be. Your's is severely lacking in detail and anything that would make it jump out of a pile or 100 other resumes.

A few other suggestions. I'd get rid of the skills and objectives at the bottom and replace it with a summary to start your resume out. Then go into your experience section. Close it out with education and certification. Drop the high school part.

It's revenue generating via GSM/SMS & Data charging, they charge fees for calls & SMSs back there. I can add some stuff in that area like:
*GSM, SMS & Data charging engineer *Ericsson Charging System 5.0 subject matter
*Was part of a customer migration project for charging customers using 4G from Vollubil to Ericcson CS5.0

Will this be explanatory enough?

LittleBIT

My advice - Browse Craigslist.org in the MA/Boston area, Create a LinkedIn account, Wouldn't hurt to create a Monster account as well. It may not be top notch 100 million dollars jobs, but every offer wouldnt be bad to look over.

I posted my resume to craigslist (get rid of your personal info and leave your email address/Phone number), I've gotten job offers (not from recruiters) that way.

The IT market in MA isn't bad, you just got to look. I would also do as these guys recommend, Good luck.

miroa12004

Been three weeks and nothing new so far.

FYI, here is an updated version of my resume and still nothing new happening so far, unfortunately. Any tips?

http://www.filedropper.com/omarhany2014

--chris--

I cant offer any advice, all I can say is keep your chin up! Something will come threw eventually if you keep looking.