US Dream: The Process of Managing Projects in US with arcoglobal

The United States, a country that many dream of, is actually quite familiar to me. Most of my relatives live there, and I’ve visited different regions several times. In fact, when my family named me, they thought, "If he ever goes there, he'll be comfortable."

Seven years ago, I turned down the chance to go to my company's office in Atlanta, saying, "No, I don't want to live there” But when a new opportunity came our way years later, my spouse and I decided to give it a try. I’m so glad we did, because we're now happily settled in Sterling, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC.

Of course, setting up this new life wasn’t easy. We had to pack up in Turkey and arrive in this new world with only our suitcases. One of the biggest challenges here was our lack of a credit score.

Without one, you can't get a credit card, rent an apartment or even take out a loan to buy a car. But after a month of hard work, we managed to overcome these obstacles, even without a credit score.

MY FIRST PROJECTS IN THE US

My journey in the US started with our company's Bally and Alexander McQueen, although I was mainly supporting these projects from Turkey. Now, I’m laying the groundwork for a long-term collaboration with a world-famous French luxury fashion brand, and I’m getting more hands-on with two of their US projects.

MEASUREMENT UNITS AND LANGUAGE BARRIERS: CHALLENGES OF WORKING IN THE US.

The first challenge you encounter when working on a project in the US is the Imperial Measurement System. While it may seem easy to adapt, using feet, inches, and pounds can be quite confusing, and I still find myself trying to convert everything to the metric system. ?

The second challenge comes when working with teams on site. You would think that everyone speaks English, but that’s not always the case. Especially on construction sites, many workers speak only Spanish, and communicating in English can be difficult. With Mexican and Latin American workers, we manage production through body language and translation apps.

THE CHALLENGES OF TIME DIFFERENCES WITH TURKEY

Another challenge is coordinating the work with Turkey. Although a 7-hour time difference doesn't seem too big, by the time I wake up and sit down at my computer, it's afternoon in Turkey.

You only have 3-4 hours left in the working day, which can be a bit stressful. You don't want to wait until the next day for an answer. So I focus on doing all the tasks that require communication with Turkey early in the morning, before switching back to my own time zone. It's like travelling through time every day ?.

TYSON'S BLOOMINGDALE’S PROJECT

The Tyson's Bloomingdale's project I was working on for a French luxury fashion brand was my first project in the U.S. Interestingly, the project site was only 20 minutes away from our home! This allowed me to visit the site frequently and closely monitor the progress. After all the hard work and dedication, the project opened on 26 September, which happened to be my birthday, and the initial feedback has been very positive.

The experience we have gained from this project has strengthened our ambition to take on even bigger and more comprehensive projects in the future.

Greetings from US...

Cansın Şengül - US Project Group Manager