Finding Professional/Office Work in Austin (Dallas: employment, transfer, living in)

[MacUser85]

Hi All,

I am looking to gain some information on possibly moving to Austin over the summer and lining up employment upon arrival. I work in an office environment and have skills that would be transferrable across numerous business/professional service industries.

I'm curious who out there has packed up, moved to Austin with six months of savings and worked with staffing agencies doing temp work while looking for a permanent position.

I'm very happy in my current position in my current city - I simply want a change in geographic location and want to do so while I am still young and unattached.

Thanks for any and all advice you can offer.

[Trainwreck20]

I know lots of people that have worked via temp agencies. The ones that are good are snapped up pretty quick, the ones that are not as good can spend their lives changing jobs every few months or year. Temp work is a de facto 'trial run' for many companies, and the companies usually pay a 'penalty' (or finders fee) for hiring the temps that they are using - sometimes many thousands of dollars.

[sepa10]

Not to hijack the creators thread...but what are some of the good agencies in Austin? Not necessarily temp.
My wife has been looking at jobs through the online sites but majority of the job posts that she has found are through some kind of staffing agency. She has yet to get any of them to call her back or transfer her to the proper hiring officials. In other words, they all seem crap...

[MacUser85]

Trainwreck--thanks for your response. Do you have any recommendations for Austin staffing agencies? My thought was to fly down for a few days and meet with them and see if they thought I could find work once I officially arrived/moved to Austin.

The other thing I would plan to do while waiting for work would be to join some networking circles/churches/etc. to get myself out there and hopefully make some connections. Sepa10, has your wife tried any of that? Are you all already living in Austin?

[ImOnFiya]

Originally Posted by MacUser85

Trainwreck--thanks for your response. Do you have any recommendations for Austin staffing agencies? My thought was to fly down for a few days and meet with them and see if they thought I could find work once I officially arrived/moved to Austin.

The other thing I would plan to do while waiting for work would be to join some networking circles/churches/etc. to get myself out there and hopefully make some connections. Sepa10, has your wife tried any of that? Are you all already living in Austin?

Try posting your question in the Austin sub-forum. You will get alot more replies! Hope things go well!

[MacUser85]

I believe this is the Austin sub-forum - thanks though

[MacUser85]

Any other opinions out there on moving to Austin with six months of savings and finding temp work? Is it hard to secure employment once on the ground in Austin? Anyone else do this and have any stories from their experience they care to share?

Thanks to you all for your help.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by MacUser85

Trainwreck--thanks for your response. Do you have any recommendations for Austin staffing agencies? My thought was to fly down for a few days and meet with them and see if they thought I could find work once I officially arrived/moved to Austin.

The other thing I would plan to do while waiting for work would be to join some networking circles/churches/etc. to get myself out there and hopefully make some connections. Sepa10, has your wife tried any of that? Are you all already living in Austin?

What is your religion, or what church do you attend in your present city? Knowing that we could reccomend some churches for you.

[MacUser85]

I'm a practicing Catholic and joining a church in Austin would be on my top 5 list of things to do upon arrival.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by MacUser85

Any other opinions out there on moving to Austin with six months of savings and finding temp work? Is it hard to secure employment once on the ground in Austin? Anyone else do this and have any stories from their experience they care to share?

Thanks to you all for your help.

Well, in a way, the reassurance you seek has to come from yourself. It's like someone posting "I'm flying to Dallas to try out for the Cowboys. Any advice?"

Well, you're either talented, good at networking and do well in interviews, or you're not. We don't know you so it's hard to say how you'll fare (fair?).

I do know this. Every business owner I know grouses about how hard it is to find good candidates. A friend of mine spend 6 months looking for an Admin/Front Desk person, went through 100s of resumes, dozens of interviews, and finally hired a placement agency you pre-screens and sends good candidate applicants. That's how he ended up finding the right person.

So whatever those 100s of resume senders and dozens of interviewees were doing, don't do that. And there are plenty of business articles and anecdotale tales about what "that" is.

Good luck, and welcome to Austin. Come on in, the water's great!

Steve