Technical Jobs in SDQ

I've had a (hopefully promising) business opportunity in DR that gears more towards the kind of work my wife does (beautician) and I'm seriously considering making the move there from the US (North Carolina specifically). Howeverrrr, prior to making any decisions I figured, hey.. let's take a look at the job market in MY field to see what that's like. I have no problems finding work in the US as I work in the high technology industry (systems/networking), so I says to myself... BIZC8, why don't you go ahead and throw your resume around in SDQ through their infoempleos.net website and whatnot and see what happens.... Well folks, to my surprise and after two months, I've gotten NO responses. Now mindful, I've not specified any salary requirements (or pictures) or anything, but I'm just wondering... is this field over-saturated in the DR, or do you like have to live there? Or do they just have different approach techniques in the DR that I'm probably not aware of here in the US or is it just that you just have to know somebody who knows somebody who knows the HR director's half-brother?

Not to brag or anything, but my skill set is pretty highly desirable in any mid to large company who uses Windows as their operating system and Ethernet as their topology (pretty much 99.99% of all network environments).

Anyone care to enlighten me?

Chris said:

So, throw your fingers over the search button and your eyes over the search results, and you'll get an idea of what the market is. OK.. :laugh: It does not surprise anyone else on the board that you got no responses to throwing your resume around. Do a little homework on the site and you'll soon figure out how to go about it.

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Chris... Chris... of course I've done all that! I've actually gone as far as speaking with a couple of potential employers in the DR (not because they responded to my application, but because I initiated the contact after having sent my resume - sort of a follow-up). Both of their responses were "the position has been filled." My natural answer to that was to ask how long ago and each answer had been over 30 days. These were posts on Infoempleos.net that were supposedly less than 14 days old. At that point I thought I'd have to revisit my basic math skills... > 30 days... < 14 days... hhmmm!:surprised

All in all, I'm still not getting a clear picture as to what "works" in the DR to get your foot in the door...

In reference to the suggestion of moving first and worry about the job later, well.. to me that's not a viable option. There are kids involved, an entire process of settling there, finding appropriate schooling, transportation, etc... The business opportunity is one where the business needs to be first solidly established and all and as we all know, there's a ramp-up time (which varies in length depending on a number of factors) necessary before the business itself starts to yield profitable results.

Chris said:

So let me be a little smartass today .. If you've done all that, howcome you don't get it already?

You need to do what you need to do by networking.

Salary is another story .. (just feeling feisty and messing with you a little!)

Read a lot .. read the forums from top to bottom. Do those searches and find out what we say about the IT market. It is like something you've never experienced before. People that only understand hooking a router between two computers, in charge of huge networks. They cannot spell TCP/IP and ethernet topology must be a new thing that they've not learnt yet. And then, so now and again you find the gem who understands this stuff just inately and is hungry for knowledge and a good theoretical understanding.

Your resume should probably change. You need to dumb it down a little. Make it practical. Have a look at the stickies on this board. Chirimoya posted a good resume outline that is appropriate for our market.

Then, come back and cry if you do get an IT job and it is like something you've never seen.

(I am known to be so fussy about these things that I've literally 'braided' ethernet cables into a network switch cabinet just to make them look nice! - it is a marvellous thing of beauty!)

Btw, do you speak Spanish?

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Chris, I took your advice.. did a li'l walk-around the forum, read a little here and there, saw a few posts about "networking" and have come to the conclusion that there are two things I need to do: one is to establish professional/personal connections with people already in DR and #2 is I need to get there.

Problem with option 2 is that as I said earlier, it's not just me moving. I'm married with 3 children. Problem with option #1 is that in order to establish such connections, I would have to accomplish option #2 first. Something you mentioned that I found very, very interesting is that I needed to "dumb down" my resume. I wanted to know what it is that "works" in order to get a potential Dominican (or otherwise) employer to become interested enough in my resume that'll prompt him/her to give me a call. If you could, please provide a link to Chirimoya's post so I can review it and make it 'practical' for the Dominican market. This is exactly the type of information I need to have and I sure do appreciate your time and effort in providing direction. Although I can assure you that my resume is not as "nerdy" as you may think it is.

With regard to my Spanish.... manejo el idioma en su totalidad, hablado, escrito y le?do. Me puedes escribir en el lenguaje de Cervantes cuando gustes. Dios te bendiga.

Chris said:

Oh yes, a quick question? Is it your resume that I received this morning? If so, for a DR position, it needs to be in Spanish (followed by English) and your skillset needs to be wiggled down into a DR context.

If not yours, then I hope the applicant reads this.

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I haven't sent my resume to anyone in DR1... that I know of anyways.

I did find the stickies and will have my resume translated into Spanish and see if that has any impact...

Thanks.

StellaRay said:

BIZC8, what exactly is it about the DR that attracts you? I mean, is there anything for you, besides your wife's business opportunities? By the way, I don't want to be rude (maybe I'm just feeling fiesty, like Chris) but what specifically is your wife looking at?

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What attracts me about the DR? Let's start at.. I'm Dominican. But, I'm a Dominican who hasn't had the opportunity to actually live, make a living in the DR. I left as a child. I have plenty of relatives down there, but I'm not counting on anyone of them to provide support for me (in terms of lodging or transportation). I will use them to get information, establish relationships with key people, etc.. but that's as far as it'll go.

My wife's business venture revolves around the establishment of a beauty spa/boutique importing women's garments from Colombia (hosieries, lingeries, jeans). We'll be trying to take full advantage of her Colombian citizenship to acquire goods in Colombia and my Dominican citizenship to get them into the country. Having US citizenship will help in other areas especially with the roll-out of the DR-CAFTA.

Now, to answer the earlier post about what it is I do specifically my job is to perform the day-to-day, mundane overhead administration of servers, workstations, applications, OS, LAN maintenance, WAN optimization duties a typical Systems Administrator in the US does. My position is not project based, although some projects do come from time to time; but for the most part, I'm the guy that wears all the hats and who normally has a couple of more junior staff members assist with end user support. My ideal setting would be a company in growth who's looking to expand their online presence, interconnect branch offices and automate processes.

My attraction to the DR is for the most part what has attracted the rest of the expats/foreigners in this forum. A change in lifestyle. There are so many things about the DR that I as a native miss and that I believe I could expose my wife/children to to enhance their lives and break the monotony that characterizes life in the US. The day to day go to work, come home, flick on the news, eat dinner, go to sleep. I'm tired of all that! I'm tired of not knowing when the next lunatic is going to go crazy in some school and shoot my kids dead, the stress of having to pay for every single glass of water you drink, the fact that social security is not going to play a role in my retirement and if it does, it'll be so minimal I won't be able to survive on it (thank God for 401K). I want to go back, buy property in my homeland. Spend my elder years in self-sufficiency. My intentions are not to become filthy rich (they're not my intentions stateside, let alone in DR), but I do hope to make enough money to provide a bilingual education for my children while in the DR, own my own home, decent transportation and live a somewhat more financially independent lifestyle that the burden of taxes from Uncle Sam tend to make difficult.

I don't know... all I know is that I'm tired of the same ol' routine and so is my wife! I'd much rather take a shot at becoming an entrepreneur in the DR than say Colombia or the US, that's for sure.

Chip00 said:

If you will be happy maybe with normal Dominican pay, create a simple resume in Spanish that emphasizes what you would do for the company - no need to embelish too much - Dominicans can be very "class" conscious and might not want to hire a person who is a lot more intelligent, educated and experienced than they are - and why not? - job protection of course.

Suerte

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You know, it's funny. I've had the answer right in front of my nose the whole time and didn't see it. All I needed to do to get the answers to my questions was simply to look inside of me. Although very deep, the answers were in me all along. What are Dominicans like? What do I do (or don't) say when interacting with a potential employer? What's their "coming in" attitude to someone like me? And you're right. For one, I would never straight out tell them how much I make in the US. They should know the answer to that anyways.

I once spoke with Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Sto. Dgo. about a potential opportunity as their Systems Administrator and their initial offer was RD$60,000/month which I immediately converted to US dollars and said "hell no, I can't survive on that". Of course I didn't tell them so, but that's what I thought so forcefully I could've sworn he heard me think it. Over the phone too, go figure! Few days later I found out RD$60k/month back in 2003 was a decent salary (by DR standards). Anyways, that didn't materialize and since then I've been unsuccessful in trying to contact them.

Still, I think the job market in DR is somewhat difficult. You can't embellish your resume with everything you are able to do, but by the same token you can't undermine yourself as someone who's half-good at what they do. Either way you have stakes to lose. This is actually the first time I've seen selling yourself and your capabilities/skills as a possible deterrent to getting hired.

fago said:

I understand you very well. I have a baby too, a dominican wife, a good cv, and very high level family relations in Dr but i'm still living in italy....why? because as i told you ,and Cris and the others too, u can't find a job without being there. I've visited all the internet sites but then i realized that they don't hire people from outside DR. Starting your own import - export businnes is not easy too, you have to know people when your container gets there.......Anyway i fell the same, and i understand that you are looking for a different lifestyle. A life more "human" than the one we live in Europe or US.
So, if this is your aim, why don't you move to Cayman Islands or Barbados? you will easily find a job and paid as you are paid in US. Visit Caribbean Jobs & Overseas Jobs Abroad, Cayman Islands Jobs & International Jobs, Bahamas, Bermuda Job !. Good luck

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Honestly Fago? Why do I want to take my chances at the DR and not say, Barbados or Cayman Islands? Because I want to be active in the development of my people, my birth country. You see, it's not just a matter of wanting to financially well-off. I have ulterior motives as well that at this stage of my life have become more and more prominent in the way I think and act. I'm not middle aged yet (not very far though), but there's something in me that wants to experience that change you and I mentioned in previous posts with regards to living a more "human" conscious lifestyle. A lifestyle with more meaning, purpose, significance and substance. My purpose while in the DR is not just to become financially independent or change my daily routine, but also to give back to society in general. Share my knowledge and experience with the younger generations, to make a difference.

fago said:

Well, i understand you. and i think it's a good reason, first of all 'cause comes from your heart.
So...if have not tryied yet, you should search in internet (i know it's an hard work) all the american companies(many) that have an office in DR and explain that you want to move to DR. It's the only way you can move with a job.
Visit , as well, los periodicos como Hoy, Listin Diario, Diario Libre...hay de todo..la mayoria de las veces son trabajos de un nivel medio/bajo pero , a veces, se encuentran ofertas mas interesantes.Mi hijo es medio dominicano, el pais es una belleza, la gente tambien, lo que falta es una direccion y , tambien, una organizaccion de estilo internacional para conseguir un lleno desarrollo de el pais.En este sentido una persona como tu sirve..entonces sigue adelante!! que dios te bendiga

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Te agradezco el consejo y debo admitir que tienes raz?n en el sentido de que desafortunadamente si uno no est? en el pa?s las probabilidades son casi nulas de conseguir un buen empleo desde fuera. A pesar de las vicisitudes y las limitaciones del pa?s, si todo el mundo decidiera ver los problemas y no las soluciones a esos problemas, al pa?s le espera un futuro incierto. Los criollos que vivimos fuera debemos y tenemos una obligaci?n y un deber de alguna manera aportar al desarrollo y crecimiento de la tierra que nos vi? nacer. Existen infinitas maneras de contribuir al mejoramiento y bienestar de tu pa?s, tu provincia, tu ciudad, tu comunidad, tu cuadra, tu vecino, tu pr?jimo. Lo importante es que des el paso ajeno a ego?smos e intereses particulares. Como dijo un ex-presidente norteamericano (JFK) una vez: No preguntes qu? puede hacer tu pa?s por t?, sino mas bien qu? puedes hacer t? por tu pa?s.

A otras personas esto puede sonar como propaganda o politiquer?a barata t?pica de un candidato a un puesto, pero es la verdad. No podemos pretender a toda hora querer sacarle provecho a todo sin dar nada. Es mejor dar que recibir. No s? a t? pero a m? en lo particular me llena de much?sima satisfacci?n y gratificaci?n espiritual el poder ser de bendici?n para alguna(s) persona(s), el poder marcar la diferencia y dejar un legado positivo en la vida de un ni?o(a) especialmente.

Bueno, el Se?or conoce mi coraz?n y conoce mis intenciones. Si algo habr? de ser de su santa voluntad, as? ser?. Sino, otro plan tendr? y lo he de seguir.

Bendiciones.

Chip00 said:

I agree one hundred percent. It would be a shame if a person of such ideals would never want to get involved in politics here because witout thinking like this change may never happen.

The fact is most Dominicans feel utterly powerless and they have a saying to describe it "Tengo ni voz ni voto". How can this be that in a democratic society the people don't know that their vote counts? - especially when there are so many like minded people who want change!

It appears you are a relatively young fellow but I hope you change you mind one day becasue La Patria needs people with ideas of such and who are willing to take action.

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Ironically Chip00, I have no intent on becoming politically involved. I would have no qualms about being active in my community, but it would be a long shot before I decide to run for any kind of political office. I truly believe there's a lot that can be done without having to be (fully) subjected to the relentless scrutiny and lack of privacy usually attached to being a public figure, a political one that is. History has shown you can't serve two Lords. The world of politics is somber and if I can help being surrounded or absorbed by it, I will.

As far as my age, well... my elevator's about to stop on the fourth floor.