Good Day Kobi (and friend)!
I have to agree with Mell, the cash jobs are not that hard to find in the states. We have a lot of illegals and people in general who "fly under the IRS radar" working in the states, so Ma & Pa businesses are use to people asking for cash work.
Then their are people (employers) who don't want to deal with the tax paper work. A lot of Nanny jobs or one family child-care is done for cash. Things like Mom & Pop hotels, stores, etc are willing to work something out if you can explaing to them that you are in the US to "study", but don't have a work Visa.
*A little note* There's a lot of good people in the US, but there's a lot of "scum" too. If you take a job with a person and they start to get all weird on you, don't stay, try not to put yourself in a place where they will pay you like once a month, try to get paid once a week if you are working 4-5 days a week. If you are only working 1-2 days a week, I would say it's not too much to ask to be paid in cash on the 2nd day.
I don't want this to come across as sounding like a jerk of a guy, but if your looks are on the average to better then average side, I know people who "house sit" (live in a person's home while they are gone on vacation / business) for wealthy people. The people I know fit into a stereo-type of being a female, of average to above average looks, they are trust-worthy "looking." (No tattoos, dred-locks, etc, if you owned a multi-million dollar house would you want to hand over the keys to a person that looks a lot like the homeless people here in the states? ) The people I know "sit" for more then one family / home owner, one person I know has made it a career, she lives in California and has the use of some nice cars, stays from house to house, walks their dogs, and gets a couple of dollars at the end of it all. As far as I know, she has been doing this for year without ever having her own apartment or anything.
But she has also traveled by herself in Central America, and because she looks like someone daughter, she has been able to just knock on someone door and ask nicely for food, work, or a place to stay. This also brings up a good point, not just about traveling or living in the US, but anywhere, be nice (see my comment about the scum) and you will go far, being mean, even if the people are mean to you first and it's a nice way to draw attention / the Police to you. Personality gets you more then looks, and it can take you far or get you out of trouble most of the time.
Now-a-days, the US laws have gotten a lot tighter on cash work, so you can pretty much forget about working for a corp, or any big company. The Law, if they want, will come down hard on the business, so it's not worth it to them. The Mom and Pop's on the other hand need the savings, so some of them are willing.
As for finding jobs, your best luck is going to be by doing it in person / face to face. As a US Cit, I even have a hard time finding work over the phone, job boards. When I moved from Chicago down to Longboat Key, FL, (an island in the Gulf of Mexico, in the mouth of Tampa Bay) I tried calling / contacting companies down here in advance, they all said the same thing, "see me when you get here." They get SO, SO, SO, many people calling them looking to do what you want to do that they are tired of people "planning on moving to Florida" that just say stop by and see me, we'll talk then.
Short list of places / jobs:
-Hotels
-Small retail shops
-!Cleaning (rental houses / condos) crews, always need english speaking people, and love to pay cash
-Waiters, Ma/Pa business
-House sitting
-Dog walking / walkers
-Trades, can you "really" house paint? Not like a do it yourself'er, but if you can paint more like a pro, then if the economy is ok, they pay pretty good.
-Entertainment / Entertainers. Music / singers, pretty much only make cash.
-"odd" jobs, helping out old people, it doesn't pay much, but less likely to get the short-end of the stick.
To get some ideas of what people are looking for, look at Craigslist org , view the state, then city you are thinking about and there will be all kinds of post from people doing anything from a SCAM (a lot of crap on that site, if it sounds too good to be true, it's a SCAM) to a real jobs, to a real person looking for someone to do a small job around their house. It use to be a great website, but too many perverts, and other scam artist started using the site because it's free. So you just have to use your common sense.
I just signed up for this forum, so I'm not sure how to find the link it my last reply to a couple from Spain, but if you know how to find my (SirDude) post, look for the people who are "looking to stay in the US for some months" is how I think they wrote it. I wrote a lot of info about Florida and Colorado in there that you might find useful too.
Good Day and Good luck!
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