work for mechanical engineer in Hawaii?

[csgray]

Folks,
I did not ask about visas, I asked about employment possibilities within the profession. This is someone who is certainly capable of researching visas on his own. Job prospects for a mechanical engineer is something that I wanted knowledgeable informed people here on the Big Island to share information with me. Mahalos to the people who actually weighed in on the question asked.


Carol

[TomK]

Carol,

I don't know if it's on your list already, but keep an eye on jobs at Gemini. Compared to all the current observatories they seem to have jobs available on a fairly regular basis. No mechanical engineer/technician jobs now but that can change quickly. The link is http://www.gemini.edu/jobs

I don't work there but know many of the scientists and engineers very well and it's a good group of people.

Tom

[Youser]

The visa issue is extremely important for foreign nationals, as Ed Smay pointed out.

It's not simply a question of how many jobs there are here he qualifies for. An employer must prove he has advertised the position widely and that he cannot find an American who can do the job. It's pretty hard to prove a new graduate has skills that no one else has in the entire country even if he is very intelligent, especially in this climate of high unemployment. An employer must pay thousands of dollars for a work visa, and a work visa is only valid for the job in which it was issued for. The visa must be renewed frequently (every 2-3 years or so, depending on the type of visa). The number of work visas issued to foreign nationals is also limited each year.

If the young man thinks he's got a 10 year travel/work visa and can just wander around looking for a job, he may be sorely disappointed and setting himself up for big trouble with the immigration authorities the next time he crosses the border.

[Kapohocat]

There is a mechanical engineering firm in Hilo that is going to be busy busy busy if the energy codes go into effect.

They are across from Spudnik's - cant think of their name but I will check next time in town.

[csgray]

I posted this once already but it vanished.

Youser and company,
You do not know what this young man does or doesn't think, he didn't post a question here, I did. I asked a simple question about job prospects, not visas. If you can't answer the question asked, go post on another thread.

Thank you to Tom and Cat for their on topic replies.

Carol

[Aliismc]

well excuse the hell out of me for trying to be helpful.... oh i will probably post where ever i want to... your comment is really a shame when people are trying to be helpful not all people that are foreigners are on top of the visa laws and what is encompassed in being able to stay here as well as most Americans except for some of us that have been involved in hiring foreign nationals. now please dont get your knickers so high up in a bunch....
People were trying to be helpful, but since he is an expert then I guess we were all trying to help for nothing. hmmmm what if he makes an error and finds a job then finds out he is out of status or similiar and cant take the job because he made a mistake or the previous employer told him wrong. now he has to leave the country possibly and a job was available and no one here tried to help out. wow like i said just trying to help out.
oh and this is an information type board maybe someone else who reads the different posts will get something out this besides just you!!!

hope this can be useful for you Carol or others.... http://www.immspec.com/questions-and-answers.htm
ALOHA http://myhawaiipardise.blogspot.com/

[Ed Smay]

I am really surprised at your response Carol. You might as well have said "get off my post!"

Just keep this in mind, it is one thing to be qualified for a job and
then it is another to "eligible"

One of the questions that I asked prospective candidates was " what is you residency status?" Meaning do you have a right to work in the US? Some employers won't deal a candidate that isn't eligible
to work in the US. Maybe you should ask your daughter what his status is, might improve your attitude.

Enough said.

"From knowledge comes understanding"

[csgray]

aliismc:
If you read the following from youser: "If the young man thinks he's got a 10 year travel/work visa and can just wander around looking for a job, he may be sorely disappointed and setting himself up for big trouble with the immigration authorities the next time he crosses the border. " you can see he is not trying to be helpful, but instead is making all kinds of assumptions about a 3rd party who isn't even the original poster.

I first politely asked people to not keep talking about the visas, and then youser just had to keep harping on it. Thus my second request that the thread not be hijacked any farther into visaland, a request you chose to take personally. If you look at the thread I did not respond in any way to your initial post, because it simply wasn't pertinent to my quest for information. Youser clearly isn't "just trying to help" he just wants to keep hammering away at his off topic point while throwing in some snide hyperbole about someone who didn't even post here.

I was asked to find out about work prospects for a mechanical engineer because I live here, and because my daughter knows from experience that job searches for Hawaii done over the internet do not closely resemble the actual situation. I am in no way involved in any visa research. I think someone with 2 masters degrees who has lived and worked internationally before can manage our visa system. These are two intelligent educated people who are trying to navigate how to reconcile having lives and families in two different countries while wanting to be together. The young man in question has never had as part of his game plan being an immigrant to the United States. He loves his own country, his family and his culture, and has excellent prospects there. He simply had the fortune (or misfortune according to his family) to fall in love with my daughter, an American citizen and Hawaii resident who needs to finish her degree at UHH. She asked me what kind of work there might be here for someone with such a specialized skill set and I passed on the question to Punawebbers.

What I absolutely did not ask for was endless advice about visas from various random people who post on the internet. Ed Smay is the only one who gave any reason to consider his information about visas credible. If visas are such an important issue why would anyone ever take advice about it from some faceless poster on the internet?

Tom, Carey, and Kapohocat all gave credible responses to the actual question I asked, based on their personal knowledge of the Big Island, for which I am very appreciative.

Carol

[Youser]

Carol, I really don't know why you are so hostile towards me:

"Youser clearly isn't "just trying to help" he just wants to keep hammering away at his off topic point while throwing in some snide hyperbole about someone who didn't even post here."

Excuse me???

I think you are creating a storm in a teacup here. If you wanted to know about jobs in Hilo then why didn't you just say so. You felt it necessary to post he is a foreigner with a visa none of us has ever heard of, so some of us thought the visa issue was worth bringing up.

If an immigration officer has even a gut feel a non-American is intending to seek work in this country, he can deny him/her access - forever. This happens to poor innocent young people every day; being in love or engaged means nothing. It's not something that should be taken lightly or overlooked. Just having a degree and a good GPA isn't enough. Don't forget there are thousands of Americans with his credentials who are out of work and also looking for jobs.

This is a forum where people people freely share information and learn from others. If you just want to know about the job market there are lots of job sites out there.

Your last post is not very polite and certainly not in the spirit of what I thought this forum was set up for.

[Kapohocat]

Carol - May i suggest (respectfully) you go back and edit your original post to reflect "where can a mechanical engineer find a job..." taking out visa reference?

That might help others who havent seen it yet (and dont need to get tangled up in the Visa issue) to respond with viable usable suggestions for you.