In the summer of 2006, I applied for a
French resident card (or a green card) which will allow me to
live and work legally in Paris, France. The interview and
waiting process lasted for almost two months, and
then in late September came the verdict—NO. There you go,
in the denial letter the French government stated concisely
that I no longer have anything to do with their country.
Therefore I must leave France within two weeks of receiving
this notice. It was my official visa to exit the country!
My son and I only had enough time to
pack our clothes, bought the airline tickets, hopped on the
plane the day after Christmas to come home in Orange County,
California—it’s about half an hour driving down South from LA.
Before we left, I have made arrangements with our wonderful
French neighbor, Christine. I handed over to her the
apartment’s keys so she could help me giveaway the furniture and
empty out the place as needed.
When we arrived in LA, we were blessed that
my longtime friend Sara allowed us to
stay at her place
until whenever that I have found a job. Plus, I was lucky that
my mom agreed to lend me her car. OK... I was all set to
begin my job hunting. I started out by posting my resume on Monster.com.
From that point on, I've received many
responses but most were for sales—making money strictly based
on commissions or nothing at all. I was on the verge of losing
hope as my savings is running really low. But suddenly,
something popped into my head... I decided to get out of the box
and go to every job fair that I could find in-n-around Orange
County area. I must say that these fairs were much more
helpful than sitting at home, sending out resumes to hiring
companies on Monster.com—most of them just don’t care to
answer at all.
At my first fair in Anaheim I met Joy, a
Life agent from Aflac. Joy is a wonderful person; she was
the one who’s got my feet wet in the insurance business. She
told me about the procedures of getting a State license to sell
Life insurance. I followed her advice, completed the 52-hr
training class, took the State license exam on April 4th
in downtown LA, and passed it. During this time, I have also
met with the recruiters from the Claims Department at AAA (the
Automobile Club of Southern California). They promised to
forward my resume to the hiring managers at their Direct Sales
Unit in Costa Mesa. Then Sylvia, the sales
secretary, called me two weeks
later to come in and take the test at HR office for the agent
trainee position. Well, I fell... in the second part of the test, but
I was given a second chance to try out the sales clerk openings
in the same department. Then I passed… gosh, I was so
thrilled!!! It was Gigi and Eddie who interviewed me...
On April 9th, I started my first
day at the Automobile Club of Southern California. I was
extremely happy beyond my words—the reason because, at last, I’m
back to the working world after 10 long years of living in
Paris. Tears were pouring down on my cheeks on the way
driving to my new workplace.
The Automobile Club
of Southern California: A personal experience...