Why you shouldn't hire Russians in the USA: personal experience of an immigrant

Very often, coming to the USA, our immigrants want to work with “their” people. Author blog "The Truth About Life in the USA" on Yandex.Zen told how she tried to recruit Russians into her team and what problems she had to face. Further - from the first person.

After living in New York for enough years, having received a master's degree here, a stack of useful certificates and worked in the field of American education, I decided to open a small tutoring company.

Tests for all kinds of classes and schools for gifted children here start from the age of four, so there is a wide scope for creativity. The main idea was to combine the best traditions of Russian, European and American teaching methods.

"Our" in the city

So, with joyful anticipation, I posted a job posting for teachers and tutors. In addition to popular American websites, I posted positions on the platforms of local Russian-speaking groups on Facebook. The desire to give work to “ours”, the memory of how it was once difficult for me to break through, pleasantly fueled the feeling of civic consciousness.

Finally, I started to receive resumes from English-language sites. Alas, although I clearly indicated the requirements, including experience working with children, tons of resumes came from those with experience at the checkout, in a legal office, etc. etc. The experience is probably very valuable, but completely useless when it comes to teaching children.

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And finally, my former compatriots activated on Facebook: "You will pay a penny for your demands." I even felt somehow offended, because we pay quite well even by the standards of the Big Apple, from $ 30 to $ 100 per lesson, depending on the duration of the lesson and the qualifications of the teacher. But “ours” don't ask stupid questions, for example, about salaries. They themselves know everything better than anyone else. “Don't go to work for the Russians! Warm up! " “Russians don’t pay x **” No, well ask at least what the pay is! What for? Our people are their own experts.

The second part of Marlezonsky ballet

Insinuatingly, "in a personal", messages of a different plan also came: "I am a major specialist in mental mathematics. I have been in the country for two days, I don’t know English. Type a class for me, and I will come to teach you. Expensive, high quality. " Or - in the tone "I will condescend to you, the poor": "I am a former deputy. dean of a large Moscow university. English, of course, at the native level. I teach at Harvard, Yell, and Em.Ai.Ai.Ti, but, so be it, I'm ready to earn some money as a tutor for you. " You start talking with “deputy. dean "in English, it turns out that his language is at best at the level of" mine yours do not understand. " But, clear the stump, no one has any doubts that he is the leading specialist in the Ivy League.

Conclusion

In general, I found great teachers. Among them were Americans with once European roots and not only, the descendants of Chinese and Malaysian immigrants, as well as one very sweet and responsible Russian. Alas, my desire to hire our compatriots and put together a team of "friends" led for the most part to reading impartial posts and empty conversations. It was only wasted time by me, as well as by them, while other applicants sent out resumes, prepared for interviews and as a result got good vacancies.

As a student friend of mine from China once said, “you Russians are very lazy: money is under your feet, and you don’t even bother to bend over to pick it up”. That's it.