The first few things you will be doing after landing here are

• Applying for SSN
• Opening a bank account
• Reading the street names
• Crossing the road
• Tips for writing a resume

Of course, your employer will be there to help you out in carrying out all these things. But, just in case!

Applying for SSN

In the SSN application, the most confusing part would be the different parts of your name. For example, if your name is "Pichi Venkata Subbarao",

• Subbarao is your "first name" with which you'll be called by in India
• Venkata is your "middle name" or "middle initial"
• Pichi is your "last name" which is called as surname/family name in India
• "Mother's maiden name" is the last name of your mother before she got married.

SSN & Mother's maiden name should be kept very confidentially by everybody and can be disclosed to only authorized personnel like bank employees (while opening a bank a/c, etc), etc.

Opening a bank account

You can find lot of info reg this, in "Coming to America Ver 1.0".

Reading the street names

You cannot find the name of the street by reading the shop names, like we do India. Here the junction of 2 or more roads is called an intersection (like we call a chourasta). At every intersection, you can find the boards hanging to the street light polls or similar polls.

At the intersection, you can find two name boards... one facing you and the other perpendicular to that. The name of the street you can read easily, i.e.,without turning your head to side, is the street you can enter by turning left/right at the intersection. Finally, the name of the street in which you are walking is the name board that is perpendicular to it!

Not to forget the intersection at which you are, if you are lost and calling up somebody for directions.

Crossing the road

Just don't cross the road where ever you want, if you have to. At almost every big intersection, you can find the "pedestrian" crossing signals. If you want to cross the road, around the height of your waist, you can find two buttons on the pole near the corner of the intersection. Press one among them depending on the direction you wanna cross the road. Just like all the vehicles on the road get a "green signal" to go, pedestrian will also get a signal in white saying "walk" or just a symbol of man in white. After some time, it flashes indicating that it's going to be over and finally it comes back to its original red/orange letters saying "walk" or a symbol of man in red.

Tips for writing resume

Resume is simply the reflection of a person, presented in an understandable language. So, try to be as clear as you can anything you present! A couple of tips for resume writing from my own experience goes here:

• Don't put any objective
• Summary should have all the keywords of your skillset
• Put the logos of any certifications you have got
• Try to fit as much as possible in the first page. Most of the interviewers in US do not turn to second page in your resume
• Try to compress the content to limited # of pages, as possible (not by decreasing the font to a very small level)
• Don't put any page #s
• Should not have any spelling and/or grammar mistakes. I strongly feel that, if you are not even in a position to explain about yourself without mistakes, how can one expect you to be a fool-proof worker!
• No personal details please!