Prelude: My advice will be slightly different from others above, though above are great advices. So take it for what it’s worth.
If you’re new in the country, the most important thing is to just get a job. Any job!
The new job may be in your field, or not, it may not be exactly 100% your dream job, but hey – if it pays, it’s good. If you can do the job, (even though it may not be the dream job, or not even remotely related to your old job), just do it. That will/may also alleviate the depression you’re feeling when you get any job.
It can feel hopeless and dark when you can’t find your first job in your new country. That’s why it’s important to swallow your pride, and just take up any job.
You said your previous experience is in IT, so apply for IT jobs and get any kind of IT job, just get your foot in the door! Repeat: Just get your foot in the door! Any job!
Can’t get any IT job? Apply for other jobs as well! Temp office work, administrative assistant, whatever. Can you type? Data encoder/typist. Look at your current skillset (what can you do?) and apply for jobs that you can use those other skills you have. Can you greet people, stack products on a shelf? Then apply for those kind of jobs.
If I go and work a labor job in walmart, I can’t put that in a web dev resume as the experience.
So what? ^^ But it will be good for the soul, because now you have a job. You’re not stressed for lack of money, and more importantly you have a safety blanket. And you’ll feel useful and productive, and who knows… maybe meet other people/contacts. And who says that once you work at Walmart, you’ll be stuck there forever? You’re just doing this for the money.
(As an aside, I know someone here in FCC who worked retail in the past, and now got accepted in a HUGE, FAMOUS software company. Maybe she’ll chime in here.)
So think, getting this temporary job is not the END of the journey. After all, you just needed this whatever job for the money to support yourself. Continue learning/studying at nights and weekends, during lunch breaks, etc. Continue building up and learning new skills.
– and continue applying for other jobs! A different job this time around. Think of it as stepping stones. You don’t go from Level 0 to Level 10 over night. It’s a series of small steps. Especially in a new country.
And once you’re inside a new company, look for opportunities, to learn new experiences. If there’s an opportunity to show off what you know – show it off! Volunteer! Speak up! Do the “other job” even though its not in your current job title, do other stuff. Example: Offer to update their website, or make a website for them… even though that may not be in your job title. You get the idea…
Thing is, your new boss will now see you have other skills, and will put you into better use… maybe assign you new tasks, to do other things. Yeah, you’re not “officially” a developer, but this new thing you’re doing is something you can put in your resume… “updated and maintained the company website, wrote web copy, analyzed web statistics, search engine optimization, etc”… — stuff that will be useful for your next job hunt. Climb up the ladder. Work your way up.
You can be an introvert, that’s fine. But you also need to know when to speak up (If somebody is sexually harassing you, don’t be an introvert and tolerate it. Tell them to “Fuck off!” ) , and not be afraid of telling others, especially your boss, “hey I know how to do that, I can do that! Give me a chance boss!” – yeah, it’s a game changer. You’ll have to learn how to do that in your new country. You’ll need that guts, confidence, and hunger and speak up for yourself. Nobody else will do that for you. You yourself will be the best advocate for yourself. So the other little/unrelated jobs you’ve had? Theyre not wasted. They’ll also give you experience, teach you new social skills, how to interact, how to behave, how to carry yourself in this new country of yours.
The good thing about western culture is it doesn’t matter what you look like, pretty or not, your sex, your age, whether your family has connections or not, whether you’re rich or poor. All they want to know is can you do the job? Do you have the skills? Can you learn new things?
Look, It may not be a straight easy path from where you are right now, to your eventual dream job. But you will get there. You can get there. It may just take longer (months? years?), or follow a different curving, alternate, spiral path… but eventually, you’ll get there! Don’t lose hope. As an immigrant, this is the most important thing you need to have – HOPE! Hope that it will get better, you’ll get a job, you’ll find that dream job, you’ll climb up the social and financial ladder. It will not be overnight. It will not be easy. But it can, it will happen! You can make it happen.