Want to move to St. Pete

[Lucky_Sevens]

Hello! I lived in St. Pete in 97-98 as an embassy Marine, married a Russian woman and moved back to the states. We have traveled to see my wife's family in St. Pete several times and now we want to move back to St. Pete for a few years. I have been trying to find employment there for the past few years but have had no luck at all. I have learned to speak elementary Russian, I have taken resumes to recruiting agencies during a few of our trips, I surf the Russia job listings all the time, and I have applied for numerous positions. Does anyone out there know a good headhunter in St. Pete? I have five years of management experience in the construction, manufacturing, transportation, and logistics fields, and a degree in Finance. A headhunter that places expats would be great! We don't need anyone to pay for our relocation and we already have a place to live in St. Pete. The last piece of the puzzle is a job.

[datt3n]

Hi there,

Try http://www.staffwell.com

They seem to be effective...but I am not certain...try out your luck....regards, abie.

[Lucky_Sevens]

Have you heard good things about Staffwell? I know they are relatively new, at least their online presence is new. I have not sent them anything to date. Thanks for your help!

[Vic07]

Well, you should be able to find a job if you find a good headhunter...high tech is booming here now...but your qualifications should find you something nice. The only question I have is: do you have Russian Citizenship? If no, you have a constitutional right to get it as your spouse is a citizen...if I am not mistaken you can apply for it even now (as long as you have a place of residence). I suggest you do this in advance because you will end up waiting up to a year for it.

[C-Force]

Originally posted by Vic07
Well, you should be able to find a job if you find a good headhunter...high tech is booming here now...but your qualifications should find you something nice. The only question I have is: do you have Russian Citizenship? If no, you have a constitutional right to get it as your spouse is a citizen...if I am not mistaken you can apply for it even now (as long as you have a place of residence). I suggest you do this in advance because you will end up waiting up to a year for it.

If you voluntarily apply for foreign citizenship you may lose your US citizenship. Check with the State Dept. beforehand.

[Lucky_Sevens]

I don't have citizenship but would be able to acquire the right to work when we move because my wife is Russian. At least that is how it was explained to us. The difficult part is just cutting everything loose in the US and moving without even seeing any potential for a job. The agencies I have contacted in St. Pete don't seem very interested, basically they tell me to come see them after we move, that is if they respond at all. That is why I want to talk to a headhunter see what potential really exists for someone like myself before I sell the house, quit my job, and ship off to Russia with the family. I would like to develop some leads before taking the leap. All of the positive feedback is very encouraging but I am still looking for a headhunter referral Thanks!

[Vic07]

Hi again. Well, you must understand that the headhunters will not be interested, and will not take you seriously when you are phoning/emailing them from overseas. They want to see your commitment and to see you in person. This happened the exact same thing to my dad when we moved from Ottawa, Canada last year (July 2003) to Russia. When he was phoning them from Canada, none of them took him seriously, but when he bought a ticket, flew over here and talked to them in person, he got very interesting offers and its a whole new world. What I suggest you do (if you are really serious about this) is to come for a week or two as my dad did and talk to the numnerous headhunters in person and analyze the situation yourself.
I also recommend you look into the citizenship issue. (If you can get russian citizenship without loosing U.S., it will not guarantee you a job, but it will help you in the long run once you are living here.)
Vic