Professionals from licensed fields will find it harder to jump into the fray of New York job searches. Here in New York, health care, engineering and law are among the toughest sectors to break into, due to a number of factors. It is not impossible though, and I’ve put together a list of some helpful tips and resources to get you started.
Heath Care Professionals
For health care professionals, the highly unionized system in New York, the extremely high level of competition, and rigorous licensing requirements are all hurdles that foreign-trained professionals will face.
- Registered Nurses will need to be licensed by the New York Licensing Board which involves several steps outlined here.
- If seeking a medical residency, you will need to score in the very highest percentile of your USMLE exams to be considered. Many people make the mistake of attempting these tests before they are fully prepared, just to get started – and score in lower percentiles. It is much smarter to prepare and wait until you know you will do your very best. Also, in seeking residencies, if you are not open to relocate to other areas of the country, your best bet is to apply to New York inner city hospitals with internal medicine or primary care programs.
Resources for Medical Professionals
- One great, free resource for foreign-trained medical professionals in New York City is the Welcome Back Center NYC, located at LaGuardia Community College. In addition to resource sharingand placement support for foreign-trained medical professionals, they regularly offer a free NCLEX prep class for qualifying Registered Nurse candidates.
- An alternative for doctors to consider is an MD-to-RN relicensing program, which allows for a much faster reentry to the medical field.
- Consider becoming a community health worker! Other organizations in the city, including Make the Road New York and Harlem United, offer training programs in this area. This is where your medical knowledge, language, and cultural skills can be utilized easily and to the great benefit of other New Yorkers! Also, many CUNY schools offer medical interpreter training programs, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s PROMISE program is offered regularly for free to qualifying applicants.
- Seek a volunteer or paid position in hospitals such as a research associate, community health worker, or a lower-level licensed technician role while you prepare to relicense as an RN or secure a medical residency. Knowledge of the work environment, and local references, will be an asset.
Engineers
Engineers from some areas will also discover it’s hard to find jobs in their sectors here.
- If your area is aeronautics, oil and gas, solar, or civil engineering, you may want to look out west. Those positions are generally not prevalent in New York City.
- Mechanical or electrical engineers may have better luck in New York as their skills are not so sector-specific, but they will need to either seek a New York State Professional Engineer license or be careful to apply for jobs at lower levels that don’t require it. The PE license takes years to achieve, but can open doors for long-term career growth.
- Telecom engineers should research large telecommunications companies that work with the networks and technology they know, and check out their job boards to see where in the US they are hiring.
Resources for Engineering Professionals
- Many engineers (and scientists) can also benefit from the courses offered by B’Nai Zion at Cooper Union. Courses are free to qualifying participants, who can also benefit from their job support services afterward.
- ASME Training & Development offers continuing education courses in various areas of engineering.
Lawyers
For legal professionals, there are several possible pathways that can lead back to your field.Preparing to pass the New York barInternationals who want to become lawyers in NYC have to follow a few critical steps that can take significant preparation:
- Allow plenty of time for this process! The New York State Board of Law Examiners outlines the deadlines for the many different steps here.
- Get your foreign law degree evaluated by World Education Services to determine if your coursework is equivalent to an accredited US degree. Without this, you cannot even sit for the bar exam and will have to start over and earn a new degree.
- Complete any outstanding courses that may be required by New York State at a local accredited university with an LLM program. NYU outlines this pretty clearly here.
- Find a New York bar exam preparation class or study group and devote yourself to focused prep
- Take and pass the New York bar examination.
Find an Alternative
There are plenty of roles at law firms that don’t require a law degree. Paralegal certification is much faster, and legal assistant roles don’t typically require any certification. You may also be interested in research with a think tank related to your specialization.
Resources for Law Professionals
- The NYSBLE lists all the bar essay questions from 7 years of exams – a great resource.
- A recent white paper by Mary Campbell Gallagher highlights key areas to help foreign trained lawyers pass the bar exam along with this helpful toolkit.
Get Started!
Needless to say, working and succeeding in New York has a reputation of being tough for a reason – which you may have already found out. But every day millions of people head to professional jobs, so it is not impossible. I’ll end with a popular but resonant saying that bears repeating. As Benjamin Disraeli once said, “As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.” More importantly, you’re responsible for driving your own job search, and nobody cares more about your future than you. By following these tips, you will lead yourself to that information best suited for your goals to reenter your field and thrive in New York.