Frustrated by Austin Job Market

[atlanta hope]

Originally Posted by nomore07

This is very true. It's entirely who you know and how perfectly your personality matches everyone else. You will tire quickly of hearing about "networking", and even that seems restricted to who you already know.

Being a cliquish "match" here is more important than your degree, training, experience, certs, or anything else. There is not much variety in workgroups here - if you're not a perfect match from the start, you don't get in. Hence the reason you won't get a job here unless you have the right "connections". Think back to high school.

If you're looking for "IT" work, it's very saturated here and employers prefer cheap new college grads. Most positions are entry level and are meant for UT students and grads.

Watch the flaming responses that will follow and you'll see. While some of these issues can be found anywhere, it seems employers here are rather extreme and defensive about it. Perhaps interviews are too much work, or it's easier to have everyone be exactly the same

And yes, I've seen some insane flakiness in the job hunting process. Be prepared for retracted offers, interviews cancelled without notice, and living from short contract to short contract.

Not trying to be a pessimist, I just think you deserve an honest answer beyond all the hype. Much of the advertising is to attract business and investors, and not an accurate reflection of tangible opportunity here.

I've had someone else tell me the same exact thing. She experienced a retracted offer... and has had problems finding work for 2 years now. She's very talented and requires a decent salary at this stage of life. She's found that for the upper level design jobs, the pay really sucks and she rarely gets a second interview. Seems like it's a hard market to get your foot in the door...

[nomore07]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Ah, well yes, you are at somewhat of a disadvantage then. I know that even in good times, I'd be a little hesitant as a manager to higher someone who was going to relocate... not because I didn't think they were qualified, but because I felt a bit more pressure about the job security of the position I was filling. I didn't want someone to up and move and then 6 months later we'd be terminating them... which is always a possibility, especially in a smaller company that has to be able to turn on a dime if things aren't working out with a particular project/person.

This is the instability I was referring to. Perhaps there's less "guilt" in layong off a local after 6 months. If you live and work in Austin, you're expendable. It's a "priviledge" to work here for any length of time.

Originally Posted by atxcio

Furthermore, when hiring, if you can find someone who is referred by an existing employee... assuming that the applicant also has excellent qualifications and a great interview...

Many managers in the area don't even bother examining qualifications or interviewing.

Originally Posted by atxcio

I may be more inclined to hire them with the knowledge that they may work a *little* harder or avoid tardiness/absence issues because they don't want to disappoint their friend. Minor things, really, but they come into play when you have a stack of applications for 1 position.

Not always the case...

[shaxs]

Originally Posted by DennyCrane

Part of why I'm wanting to move to Austin is because of its IT market. I'm in Chicago now and even though IT here is strong, it's a very expensive place to live and the winters are just awful. I guess I'm luckier than your husband. I've had several phone interviews, but no in-person ones. I would hate to fly all the way out there and not get an offer. Feel free to PM me and maybe we can pool our resources.

Im using Phone.com to have a virtual 512 number that just forwards to my cell phone. I own my own company so I dont need a job, but I thought it would just be easier to give people a local number and not a clai number Might get better reactions that way