Finding a job in Columbus

Driving a bus for the region. Training is paid and takes about nine weeks, and the commercial licence is obtained during hiring rather than before it.

• Transit Operator
• Coach Cleaner
• Customer Care Advocate
• Mechanic

The best single entry on this page. It is a paid route into a licence that is worth money everywhere, the employer is the bus system so getting to work is solved, and recent postings have put the starting rate around $23 an hour in training and roughly $28 to $30 once driving. Confirm the current rate with the hiring team — the postings did not agree with each other.

Not an employer — the free public job centre. Job search help, résumé and interview assistance, training referrals, and an employer on site every Thursday.

• Job search help
• Training referrals
• Apprenticeship pathways

At 1111 E. Broad Street, on the frequent E Broad bus line — one bus from Whitehall. Start here if you do not know where to start. Ask about training funding rather than assuming it exists; the published pages do not name specific scholarships.

Hospital work that does not require clinical training to start — food service, environmental services, patient transport, supply.

• Environmental Services
• Food and Nutrition
• Patient Transport
• Supply Chain

Mount Carmel East on East Broad Street is the largest employer physically inside the community's own corridor, and the frequent E Broad bus line names the hospital as a stop. The job board also carries a category for first-time job seekers aged sixteen and over.

School district work — driving a bus, kitchen work, classroom aides and office staff. The district trains bus drivers and helps with the commercial licence.

• Bus Driver
• Educational Paraprofessional
• Cook
• School Secretary
• Office Aide

The district publishes its own figures: $15.00 an hour as a trainee rising to $21.75 with the commercial licence. It is on East Main Street, on the frequent E Main bus line through Whitehall. School hours also fit around children at home.

The school district inside the community's own city — classroom aides, custodial, kitchen and office work.

• Educational Aide
• Custodian
• Food Service
• Substitute

At 625 S. Yearling Rd, inside 43213. For many families this is a walk or one short bus ride, which makes it worth applying to even where the pay is not the highest on this page. Applications stay active for a year.

School district work in the next suburb — bus driving, custodial, kitchen and office roles.

• Bus Driver
• Educational Aide
• Custodian
• Kitchen Helper
• Secretary

The district publishes $26.01 an hour for bus drivers who already hold the commercial licence — the highest published school-district rate found in the metro. It does not say whether it pays for the training, so ask. If it does not, get the licence at Reynoldsburg or COTA first.

University staff work that is not teaching — grounds and landscaping, security, and dining.

• Landscape
• Security
• Dining Services
• Custodial

The university's own careers page tells applicants to search landscape, security or dining for its hardest-to-fill roles — those three words are the practical search terms. It also offers tuition assistance for employees and their dependents, which is the strongest long-term benefit of any employer on this page.

Hospital roles that train you into them — patient care associate, sterile processing, pharmacy technician — plus facilities and supply work.

• Patient Care Associate
• Sterile Processing
• Pharmacy Technician
• Environmental Services

Filter the job search to OSU East Hospital, which is on East Broad Street and therefore on the same frequent bus line as Mount Carmel East and the job centre.

Warehouse work — moving, sorting and processing merchandise, loading, and lift operating.

• Merchandise Handler
• Loader
• Lift Operator
• Returns Processor

Rare among warehouse employers here: its East Broad Street logistics campus is named as a stop on the frequent bus line. Most warehouse work in this metro is in the southern corridor and effectively needs a car.

Warehouse, sortation and delivery work at the sites around the south and east of the metro.

• Warehouse Associate
• Sortation
• Delivery Driver

The lowest-friction door on this page: Amazon's own site says no résumé and no interview, with an offer the same day. The catch is transport — the Groveport, Obetz and Rickenbacker sites are poorly served by buses, so this generally needs a car or a carpool arranged before the first shift.

Airport work — operations, maintenance, facilities and custodial at John Glenn Columbus International and Rickenbacker.

• Facilities
• Maintenance
• Custodial
• Operations

John Glenn sits on the north-east edge, close to the Gahanna side of the community. The airport authority hires its own staff only — the airlines, ground handlers and shops inside the terminal each hire separately, so apply to them directly as well.

Free job placement for immigrants and refugees — résumé preparation, interview practice, placement, and help with transport to work.

• Job placement
• Interview preparation
• Employer introductions

Worth knowing which of these agencies takes whom: this one serves both newly arrived refugees and established immigrants looking to move up, while the other large agency in the metro limits its employment programme to people in the country less than five years. Much of the Ethiopian community here is long settled, so this is the one that will take you.

The IRS trains volunteers to prepare tax returns free of charge for people on low and moderate incomes. Its own page says training is offered online and in the classroom, and that sites are generally open nights and weekends with flexible hours.

• Volunteer Tax Preparer

Unpaid, and that is the point: it is the shortest route from no American work record to tax training and a real reference. Sign up on the page and ask the site what their training involves, when they recruit, and whether they need help in Amharic — many sites do, and it is the one thing you can offer on the first day.

Seasonal tax preparation offices in almost every American town, and the biggest single door into paid tax work. They run their own Income Tax Course and recruit from it, so the job and the training are the same application.

• Tax Preparer
• Tax Associate
• Client Service Professional
• Receptionist
• Seasonal Office Associate

Before you enrol on the course, ask the office what the TOTAL cost is — tuition and course materials are charged separately by some providers, and "no tuition fee" is not the same as free. Ask too whether passing it leads to an interview or only to a certificate. Get both answers before you pay anything.

A staffing firm specialising in accounting and finance, with offices across the country. They place people into bookkeeping, payroll and accounts payable roles rather than employing them directly, and the page linked here is their live list of those jobs.

• Bookkeeper
• Accounts Payable Specialist
• Accounts Receivable Clerk
• Payroll Specialist
• Staff Accountant
• Data Entry Clerk

This is the one on the list that expects a history — many accounting roles here ask for several years, and QuickBooks and Excel by name. If you kept books before you came, this is where that counts; if you did not, start at VITA and come back.