Job advice needed: Hospitality and/or restaurant management?

[Ajax]

Are you H1B? It might be hard to find a sponsored position, but I suspect the major chains that have international presence may be your best bet. You'd have to stay in finance for the initial position, but you might be able to be renewed into a different slot if your potential employer is willing to do the legwork. Unfortunately, it costs the employers time and money to do this, so they'd have to be very happy with you and with your rate before they'd even bother.

Do you currently work with an attorney who knows the process? If so, perhaps s/he could direct you to likely employers.

Yes, H1B. I think it'd be highly difficult to switch to a finance position in a hotel though. I'm an investment analyst, I basically look at stocks all day. In a hotel chain the finance work would be mostly budgeting and payroll, which are both Those positions are also not considered as specialized as what I'm doing so it's very unlikely that any hotel would sponsor my visa. (The H1B is for "highly-skilled" immigrants so you have to be in a position where you're doing something not many people are qualified to do.)

It's a great idea to talk to attorneys though. A friend recently worked with an immigration lawyer. As you say he might at least tell me which hotel chains are known to sponsor H1Bs, if any.

[aliceanne]

Thank you so much for your suggestions, everyone. I've noted down all your points and will take them under consideration. To clarify the situation a bit, I'm a foreigner living in the US. I would really like to stay here for personal reasons. My visa is tied to my employer - I am not allowed to go to school and work at the same time, or to work two jobs, or basically do any job that is not related to finance. As you can imagine this complicates the situation... I've become totally disillusioned with finance and really want to switch to something else but getting practical experience is not possible due to this visa problem. Going to school seems to be my only option for a career change if I want to stay in the US.

I don't want to be working in the kitchen. I'm aware of the "boy's club" mentality (I'm female), the long hours, lack of vacation, the stress. Don't think that's a job for me. But I definitely want to be involved in food somehow. I have some managerial experience in the finance field, so I thought food director in a hotel might be a good career aspiration. I do know a few people in the industry and have already set up some informational interviews for next week Hopefully they'll offer more clarification on the pros and cons of the job.

It's very frustrating to be limited by the visa, to feel that all your years of education and work experience are in a field you no longer want to work in, and to not know exactly what you want to do instead. I admit I'm a bit desperate

One thing I would caution you about is that even if you don't intend to work in the kitchen you will need to a have a good rapport with those workers unless you intend to be a corporate accountant. If they feel that you wouldn't be willing to do what they do you likely won't. Hotel managers frequently have to pitch in and do some of the grunt work when the hotel is busy and/or short-staffed. Especially if it is a high end hotel, if the guest wants a hamburger at 2am and you are the only one there, you will be expected to do it.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

...I'm a foreigner living in the US. I would really like to stay here for personal reasons. My visa is tied to my employer - I am not allowed to go to school and work at the same time, or to work two jobs, or basically do any job that is not related to finance. As you can imagine this complicates the situation... I've become totally disillusioned with finance and really want to switch to something else but getting practical experience is not possible due to this visa problem. Going to school seems to be my only option for a career change if I want to stay in the US.

...I definitely want to be involved in food somehow...

It's very frustrating to be limited by the visa, to feel that all your years of education and work experience are in a field you no longer want to work in, and to not know exactly what you want to do instead. I admit I'm a bit desperate

You have a US visa tied to your current employer, yes? To be very honest, it is highly unlikely that any employer in hotel, restaurant, travel would be able or willing to sponsor your visa after you finish school. This is something you want to carefully research.

You may also want to start looking into what you'd need to do to apply for a US green card, if that's even possible for someone in the US under your type of visa.

[agalisgv]

I don't know your personal situation--is there a reason you couldn't pursue a career change in your home country? It sounds like that would be much easier to do.