Husband first job | Imamother

amother

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 5:46 pm

For those of you whose husbands started out learning full time, how did your husband find his first job? In what field? Did he need connections? What was starting salary and if it was low, how did you manage financially? Was he able to work his way up? How long did it take?

amother

Sapphire

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 6:09 pm

After eight years of kollel, and with a sub-par education, my Dh attempted to join the working world. It was one of the the most anxiety- inducing stressful times in our marriage, since we were penniless and clueless as to where to turn.

B"H, he joined a frum accounting firm, and did very well there. Three years later (almost a year ago,) he became a controller at a large and successful insurance business, and he now earns $200k. He likes his job, which had excellent potential for growth.

The transition is very tough and can be frightening. I hope you have s smooth journey.

amother

Ruby

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 6:10 pm

Usually lives on wife’s salary or family help.
Yes prob first job with no degree will be low paying. Connections help. Word of mouth. Lots of people start jobs and go to school at same time to get degree. There’s lots of differnet strocks for differnet folks

amother

Jetblack

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 6:33 pm

My dh left kollel 4 years ago to pursue school. Still living off of my salary and will be for a while. Hes in med school weve borrowed in years we needed to (had a baby etc..)
My sis husb just left kollel and hes becoming and AIT in a nursing home. Also taking 9 months - 1 year without pay to train but the starting salary after that is 80k or so and climbs quickly...

amother

Scarlet

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 6:35 pm

I’m married 2.5 years and dh just got his first job a few weeks ago. We weren’t really getting support, his kollel wasn’t working out great and we had lots of medical expenses due to fertility treatments.
He loves construction/working with his hands so he did some research and decided to go into the electrical field. He asked around but since we are from out of state, his connections from his hometown only had job offers that would have required a commute.
In the end he went to PCS (a division of the Agudah) for career consult/job placement meeting and within a week he had a job working for an electrician. He loves it. Right now he is just getting experience and he’s still not sure if he wants to go into high or low voltage eventually or get licensed but it’s a start. He is making an internship salary now so we are so grateful that he decided to go out to work now, and we didn’t wait until we are totally desperate. Not sure yet where this will take him but hoping for the best...!

amother

Powderblue

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 6:39 pm

Nearly 10 years kolel
DH was offered a position in large Jewish accounting firm.
Takes 4 years to study while working, he’s doing it in under 2 years.
Starting salary is low as a trainee but he hopes to progress quickly.

amother

Magenta

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 6:59 pm

Learned full time 4 years, took programming course and got job right away. Entry level was less than he'd be making in kollel between stipend and bein hasedarim jobs. People should realize that the transition time can be rough.

But as an odom gadol told us, don't regret a moment in kollel.

amother

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 7:16 pm

For those of you whose husbands learnt for 10 years or more, how did you manage the transition time financially while you had a large amount of immediate expenses and your husband was only earning a very low starting salary?

amother

White

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 7:17 pm

DH was in Kollel for 8 years, left a few months ago with no degree or work experience. He’s making 40k working for a family friend. Job may have potential, may not. We have to see how it goes. BH I have a good job, and make more than him (and I work part time.)

amother

Powderblue

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 7:20 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Starting salary is still more than kolel

amother

Sapphire

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 7:21 pm

It was rough.

I taught full time.

We scrimped, and went without at times.

And we borrowed too... sigh.

But we felt that our struggles had meaning, and that bolstered our spirits a little

amother

Pewter

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 7:54 pm

amother [ Jetblack ] wrote:

Wow!
Didn't he need 4 yrs undergrad to go to Med school?

weasley

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 8:06 pm

We moved back from Israel 1 year ago where my husband was learning.

After months of painful job searching my husband got a entry level job in finance. He is paid peanuts but they pay for his studying to qualify and the potential can be very big.

It's excruciatingly painful at the moment. We literally scrape by month by month. Erev pesach had me sobbing as we had literally no idea how we would buy matza and food for the kids.

It's so hard now I'm feeling so stretched with no spare money to treat myself or buy anything new. When I'm too burnt out to function take out suppers are not an option. A ceaning lady is a very far away dream. And a holiday - makes me cry thinking about it bc I feel so desperate.

But bh he has this job when he was jobless it was alot worse.

amother

Rose

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 8:07 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

loans

amother

Wheat

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 9:07 pm

amother [ Rose ] wrote:

Learned for 10 years. Went to ivy league law school with his BTL and got a job in biglaw.

Was it a hard transition from yeshiva to ivy league law school? Most guys I know don't have the educational backgrounds to even have college level English. I always wonder how guys manage to keep up with this level of education.

Right now my husband has been learning for close to a decade, and we're keeping our eyes out for possible options.

amother

Rose

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 9:10 pm

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

No, he always had excellent reading and writing skills. Near perfect score on LSAT. Read Jewish newspapers, wrote letters to the editor. He also had some offbeat hobbies that looked good and made him seem more normal to admissions officers. He graduated near the top of his class and enjoys his current job.

amother

Dodgerblue

Thu, Jun 13 2019, 9:18 pm

My DH learned in kollel for 6 years and then decided to become a PA. His BTL didn't count for anything so started at the beginning with community college. After 6 years of schooling we are struggling greatly. He has been looking for a job for months but the field is very saturated and he is having significant trouble finding a job where he doesn't have to work on shabbos. Bh my job got us through most of the years, but it got to a point where we needed to take out significant student loans and now living off credit cards.
I appreciate the years we had in kollel, but it's really hard Crying