Finding A Job In America; What African Migrants Should Know?

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King climbed the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and gave one of the most famous speeches in human history. It was a speech about an America he dreamt of, most especially from a Black perspective. There is a 55-year gap between when Martin Luther King made that famous speech and when I set foot on US soil, but the sentiments are just the same. I also came with a dream, like most African immigrants, I dreamt of a United State full of opportunities.

I come from Nigeria where they see America as a land where you pick money on trees. There is an instant expectation the minute you set foot in America that you should be sending huge cash of money home. Though their expectations are far-fetched, their sentiment isn’t as America truly is a land of opportunities but recognizing these opportunities is the hardest part because it is almost untold.?

This is essentially what this write-up is about.

Let’s start with some context.?

When I arrived in the US in 2018, the unemployment rate for immigrants was just around 4.0%. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, there was about 2.7 million employment in 2018 alone excluding farm jobs, an average of 223,000 jobs per month. Where I was coming from that would be synonymous with lions flying. Nigeria’s unemployment rate was at 8.45% when I left, twice the number of US when I arrived and it has continued growing at a pace that could rival Usain Bolt’s speed.

With that plethora of jobs being created on a monthly basis in America and the competitiveness, the lack of jobs inculcates in Nigeria, it didn’t seem like navigating the job market in America would be harder than taking candy from a baby.

By the time I graduated from Austin Peay State University in May 2020, like the rest of the world I didn’t see Covid-19 coming. The negative effect of the pandemic on every facet of our lives has been much-reported and no different was the job market in America. The worst hit by the pandemic in the job market were immigrants in the USA. According to Pew Research, the unemployment rate for immigrants rose to an unprecedented 15.3% in 2020, which was only 4.0% the previous year. The reality for me was suddenly worse than where I was even coming from. After graduating I was instantly thrown to a challenging reality that I was escaping when I left Nigeria. The United State of America which was known to be the land of opportunities suddenly became the land of few opportunities due to Covid-19.

My job search in the US was onerous largely due to Covid-19, looking back, one of the salient questions I asked in the Computer Science and Quantitative Method program was ‘what is the job prospect at Austin Peay State University after graduation in our program?’ Although I never got a definitive answer to this question, it certainly did provide the right insight into uncovering what I needed to know and do to become attractive in the job market.?

What we often fail to realize sometimes is that the right question doesn’t necessarily need or provide an answer, sometimes it just provides the right direction. This question provided me with the right direction to follow in my job hunt.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

In the American job market, it doesn’t matter what you think you know, what truly matters is what your field and industry expect you to know. I swiftly realized this in the first conference I attended in America in 2018 at Indianapolis; the Society of Women Engineers. Knowing what your future employers expect you to know is like seeing the exam questions before the start of an exam. You are already two steps ahead because you understand what is required of you in order to succeed in that role.?

This begs the question, how do we know what recruiters expect us to know? The easy answer is that you can find it in the job description/responsibilities of certain job postings but a few lines in a job post won’t provide you with enough insight into what recruiters are seeking in prospects. The best place that illuminates how the job market works are job conferences and industry events.

At the Society of Women Engineer conference, there were many companies in attendance as prospects pitch their knowledge, experience, and projects to recruiters. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get an offer at the conference but the lessons I learned from that conference were possibly my first steps towards securing a job in the future. There are many job conferences hosted every year in different fields in the US, that is the first place your job hunt should start. The contacts you could get from these conferences are also invaluable.

SKILLS ARE LIKE OKADA IN THE US; FASTEST MEANS TO A JOB

My first interview at Century Link was when I realized that I still had a long way to go to securing a job in the US despite my four years of experience as a Network Engineer in Nigeria. The hiring manager asked me if I knew how to use a particular tool, but a worm is probably more familiar with salt than I was with this tool. That experience set me on a skill acquisition path for many parts of 2019, stacking up my skillset and earning more certifications became more important than air to my lungs. I started learning technologies like Wireshark, routing protocols that are predominantly used by companies such as OSPF, BGP, and switching technologies like STP, PVST, VLANS, Python…well you get my point.

Skills are the king of the employment market in any field. Your skill is the value you bring to any company you apply to and most companies base their hiring decision on this. It goes without saying that you must learn and master skills that are not only relevant to your field, you must also recognize obsolete skills in that field and not bother wasting your time learning because it would be of little value when the world has moved on from it like Typewriters.

WHAT’S THE POINT OF YOUR SKILLS WHEN IT’S NOT OUT THERE?

Something I consider miraculous happened to me in 2019 while I was still searching for a summer internship. Quite frankly I turned Linkedin into my home because there was no other place you would easily find me. One of my connections on Linkedin posted a picture with Dell Technologies’ VP after getting an internship at the company at the Society of Women’s Engineer conference and I was quick to congratulate her as many other people did. Unknowingly to me, one of the hiring managers at Dell was also inside the comment section and later went to view my profile. A few weeks later I got a message from someone who would later be my manager at Dell about an internship opportunity at the company.?

Despite an amazing interview where I strongly felt I performed well, I was still skeptical about getting the internship at Dell, it felt like my last chance. Seven laborious months of searching for an internship had squeezed the life out of my sense of belief like a dry cleaner. To my surprise, I was given an internship at Dell in less than 48 hours.?

A JOB HUNT IS A JOURNEY NOT A SPRINT

I will never forget my time at Dell and I’m extremely grateful for the people I worked with as well as the opportunities. My three months of internship at Dell flew by like money in the hands of a gambler, and at the end of it, I was not able to get a return offer. This was one of the most devastating periods of my life because I fully expected to start my career with Dell after graduation. But unfortunately for me, there was no budget for the team, and that meant letting me go. I returned to school with that disappointment and with the realization that my full-time job hunt had started. But I also never imagined the struggle that awaited me.?

I graduated when Covid-19 started, just when the world was at a standstill when uncertainty could be perceived in the air. Though I didn’t wait for graduation before I started applying for jobs and I was also being served rejection letters like breakfast. One of the most painful ones was my interview for a role at Amazon where I passed through a rigorous recruitment process that could pass for those applying for the position of deity. Nothing hurts like getting to the final and not winning the prize, at Amazon, I got to the final stage but didn’t get the job. I felt every shred of emotion athletes feel when they lose a final. I was lost but I also realized that I couldn’t afford to be down for too long, so I did what every religious person like me does, accept it as the will of God and that gave me enough strength to move on.

Getting job interviews felt like searching for a living dinosaur. I spent hours networking and talking to hiring managers on Linkedin, people ghosted me and as if that wasn’t enough, Covid-19 decided to stick around when no one needed it. From the scarcity of job interviews to companies shutting down and no longer hiring, I went from “frying pan to fire” like they would say back home when a situation gets worse.

To say I was scared when the pandemic started just around the time I was graduating would be an understatement. Given how scared I was, Scooby-Doo would have looked courageous. I wondered how I was going to get a job in such an uncertain time. When hunting for a job, hope has to become your best friend. You will need it like you need air.?

People often make the mistake that once you apply for one or two job openings, you should get a job, the truth is very few are that lucky. For most, it’s a long process and that is what you must prepare for. When companies started recruiting again, I interviewed with several companies such as Google, Amazon, Spectrum- to be honest, you would find it harder to name a company I didn’t interview with. In some interviews I got to the second stage, others to the final stage but these words became more familiar than my phone number.

????????? ?“Sorry we won’t be moving forward with your candidacy”

TREAT YOUR JOB SEARCH LIKE A JOB

A job hunt is a job and must be treated as such or you will never get a paycheck. A job search takes its toll on the mental and physical framework of applicants; it is Darwins’ survival of the fittest. Every day people are finding new ways to work and achieve their goals and that also applies to searching for a job. People are using several channels to creatively find unique opportunities for themselves, especially on social media.

In the world we live in today, how you use social media can go a long way in defining your life. In my case, a hashtag made the difference in securing my first job post-graduation. I did a hashtag on Linkedin (#AfroTech) and anyone that posted anything related to #AfroTech like drop a link to their database companies, I immediately dropped my resume on it. That what seemed like an insignificant move secured two interviews for me; PNC and Spectrum. I interviewed with both companies in September 2020 and got to the final stage. Spectrum did not give me an offer but I was able to secure an offer from PNC. I later had an opportunity to join Palo Alto Networks Inc through a friend’s recommendation, there were three rounds of interviews and that was how I was able to become a Senior Technical Support Engineer.

What To Do Be Successful In The US

From my experience in the USA, the first thing you need to do to be successful is to know what you want to do before you set foot in the country. You have to know what you’re passionate about and ask people who are already in the field what are the skills required in the role by prospective employers. Asking questions from people who are experienced in your area of interest is the first step to being successful.

Next is networking, in Nigeria, we often call it “Man know man” but it’s a common practice anywhere in the world and especially in the US. Your network is your net worth. Your network will help you navigate your job search faster and make your life easier. It’s not just only what you know, who you know is just as important. And knowing relevant people in your field who know what you can do is even better.

Build relationships with people in your field of interest, they have already gone through the path you are about to step foot in, their experience can be your guide. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, you can go ahead and schedule an informational interview with them. Learn from their experiences and how they were able to navigate entry into the field.

I believe one or two lessons can be picked from my story and I wish everyone the best of luck.

Words on Marble: "Let your faith be bigger than your fear"...