I don't know how I can help her

[supersav144]

I've been with my girlfriend for a year and a half now, I am from the UK and she is from USA but is currently studying at cambridge. She's been under a lot of stress recently, being at cambridge isn't easy and she's been looking for jobs too which is proving unsuccessful. It's got to the point now that she's up crying a lot of the time and I just want to help, but I don't know how. The main problem is getting a job, if she can't find a job then she has to go back to America, just the thought of that now has reduced me to tears, I can't bare to lose her! It just seems to be really hard to find any jobs though because they only want to accept people who are eligible to work in the UK, and it's hard to get a UK Visa unless you have a job already offered to you (bit of an endless circle). I don't know what I can do to help her, I just feel so useless and the possibility that she'll have to go back to America scares me senseless!!!

[pisces25]

Marry her? Just kidding not a good idea. There isn't much else you can do at this point.

Can she extend her visa to continue studying?

[Dakini1]

Here are some idea... Not sure if any of it will help.
In Australia there are people set up in each university to help international students. Is there anyone at Cambridge and has she tried getting help there? Surely they would not want to loose a good student because of something like this. I imagine it would affect other international students as well. Has she spoken to them ? What kinds of things are they doing for work ? What kind of work is she looking for ? Perhaps she could look in a different feild, or area. If she is looking for serious possitions in her area of expertise, then perhaps she could look for work in, say, hospitality. Or visa versa. Could she see if there was any tutoring available at the uni, or with school kids. Coaching colleges in Australia are always looking for people. or perhaps her lecturers can put her in touch with in the field she is studying.

What's her resume like? Does it need work? Is it just a general resume that she puts in for all jobs, or does she have different resumes for the different types of roles she might be trying to get. The more targeted the resume the better. It might be worth getting an expert resume person to look at hers. You can find people online to help. You may have to pay.
Is she getting any interviews ? Maybe she needs to hone her interview skills. In other words try to identify the problem in the job search process. Is it getting the interview, or getting the job after the interview and work to improve that. Does she call up afterwards and ask why she didn't get the job. If so, try to get her to dig beyond the visa problem. If they really wanted her and she is worth the effort then they would surely do it. Can she offer something additional then the other candidates. Such as, saying, 'if you hire me, I'll work the first week ( or Whatever) for free, and if you like what I do then we'll fill out the visa form and you can pay me after that'.
Don't forget, most jobs are not advertised, so networking and finding work through alternative channels is a really good thing to do.
Finally, there are lots of websites that Help with careers. There is a website where you can pay people to help you with certain issues, legal, health, etc. I imagine they would have someone who could help her her. Just google 'online answers', you should find it. I'm not necessarily recommending them because I don't know for sure, but it would be worth checking them out....

[supersav144]

She has a few career advisers at Cambridge but apparently they aren't very useful, they keep helping out with her CV but not much with respect to applying for jobs. She's looking in Legal Analyst/Research Analyst work but she's prepared to do just general admin work if she needs to, I don't think anyone looking a general secretary would bother sponsoring an international student though.

She has several resumes and each is tailored to a different type of job, I've helped out as much as I can with that. She has 1 interview for an international company so am hoping that goes well for her. The whole Visa thing is the problem though, because not having one limits the jobs you can even apply for. I like the idea of trying to offer something additional in order to maybe get a sponsored Visa. I work for a massive multi-national company myself and am going to ask if they can help in any way, I don't know what the likelihood of them helping is but it's worth a go I guess.

Here are some idea... Not sure if any of it will help.
In Australia there are people set up in each university to help international students. Is there anyone at Cambridge and has she tried getting help there? Surely they would not want to loose a good student because of something like this. I imagine it would affect other international students as well. Has she spoken to them ? What kinds of things are they doing for work ? What kind of work is she looking for ? Perhaps she could look in a different feild, or area. If she is looking for serious possitions in her area of expertise, then perhaps she could look for work in, say, hospitality. Or visa versa. Could she see if there was any tutoring available at the uni, or with school kids. Coaching colleges in Australia are always looking for people. or perhaps her lecturers can put her in touch with in the field she is studying.

What's her resume like? Does it need work? Is it just a general resume that she puts in for all jobs, or does she have different resumes for the different types of roles she might be trying to get. The more targeted the resume the better. It might be worth getting an expert resume person to look at hers. You can find people online to help. You may have to pay.
Is she getting any interviews ? Maybe she needs to hone her interview skills. In other words try to identify the problem in the job search process. Is it getting the interview, or getting the job after the interview and work to improve that. Does she call up afterwards and ask why she didn't get the job. If so, try to get her to dig beyond the visa problem. If they really wanted her and she is worth the effort then they would surely do it. Can she offer something additional then the other candidates. Such as, saying, 'if you hire me, I'll work the first week ( or Whatever) for free, and if you like what I do then we'll fill out the visa form and you can pay me after that'.
Don't forget, most jobs are not advertised, so networking and finding work through alternative channels is a really good thing to do.
Finally, there are lots of websites that Help with careers. There is a website where you can pay people to help you with certain issues, legal, health, etc. I imagine they would have someone who could help her her. Just google 'online answers', you should find it. I'm not necessarily recommending them because I don't know for sure, but it would be worth checking them out....

[Dakini1]

Ok, that's good she is getting some help.
Just some other random thoughts? Is a research analyst like a business analyst?
1) has she tried registering with a legal or business recruitment firm.? They are often happy for people to go in and talk about their career prospects, options etc. they always seem to love having more, new people on their books.
2) it might be worth looking for admin work in a legal firm. They might see it as an advantage that she could do other things such as analyst work if required. It might make employing her worth it for them.
3) it could be worth cold calling the HR departments of companies of places she would be interested in working for. Or, seeing if she can meet with people who are potential employers to see if they can give her advice. My manager and I would often meet with people to give them advice. Over the years we were able to employ a few people who we met with. The etiquette with this approach is to not ask for a job with the people you are talking to, but ask for advice in getting a job in the industry. Of course the advice is still very useful and can often lead to a job later on or somewhere else. Or, they might know of a position straight away that they can refer her too.
4) has she got relevant work experience in the area. Even if she has she might want to see if she can volunteer somewhere. I understand there may not be time for that, but if here is, it would be worth considering. You don't need to volunteer full time, even half a day or so a week is valuable. And you don't need to disclose on your resume that you're doing it unpaid or evn part time. So on your resume it can look like a 'real job'. The advantages to this are many. 1) it is always easier to get a job when you already have one. Employers like employing those who already have a job because it show they are employable. 2) it adds more to your resume and makes you look like you have more experience. 3) it may lead to a job offer with the organisation you are volunteering for. I have employed a few volunteers over the years when I could. 4) it's easier to get to know people in the industry who might know about jobs coming up elsewhere. I was once able to let one of my volunteers know about a job that came up at a similar organisation down the road, which she got 5) adds to the number of people who can give you a good references etc....


Anyway, fingers crossed that she lands the job she has the interview for. She might want to google interview questions, in general and for a legal research analyst and think about what she will say if asked those questions. It will definitely help to be prepared.

Best of luck, if I think of anything else I will let you know....

[supersav144]

I guess it's similar in a way, a research analyst basically just analyses the legal information and data that a company uses. We've put her CV out there on the web, on all the job sites I can think of.

Yea I think an admin work in a legal firm is probably the best route, but then it's still the problem of the Visa, they have to prove that she can do a job noone else can, and as I understand it this can be pretty expensive for them.

She definitely has relative work experience, do you know if the Visa rules are any different for volunteer work? The only problem with doing volunteer work though is being able to support herself, she's just coming out of doing a Master's at Cambridge so funds are exactly great.

Thanks very much for your advice, this has really been a hard time for both of us and I neither of us can bare the thought of being apart.