Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Last spring, we made the decision to move back to Austin after being gone for the past seven and a half years. My husband started looking for work but it has been slow going. I’ve read many threads on this site saying that it is really difficult to find work in Austin from outside Austin. I’ve also read threads arguing that it would be foolish to up and move without a job because the economy is tight there (as it is everywhere). Many people made the move and have been unable to find work.
He may have the option to telecommute in his current position but that would not be for long term, maybe three to six months. Does anyone working as a software engineer have experience doing this? Did you move to Austin and telecommute until you found something permanent? Did you notice a dramatic increase in interview opportunities once living there? How long did it take to find a permanent position? Naturally, any one person’s experience may not be indicative of what we could expect, but my hope is that if there are several people who’ve done this, I might be able to discern a trend.
If you are a software engineer and moved here without a job, how long did it take you to find a position once you got here?
I ended up landing a job before I moved to Austin. The work that I do is quite specific, so it wasn't all that difficult for myself. This was 3 months ago.
What kind of work does your husband do as a software engineer?
I'm here in Austin right now. I'd emailed out resumes for months without much interest. Finally I decided to be a little more proactive and just come out for a week or so -- and I've talked to temp agencies and a few companies and was able to line up some interviews. It's really helped with showing them I'm serious about moving. Otherwise I'd still be at home feeling frustrated. Austin's market is a hard nut to crack.
With the economy the way it is, and I heard Friday, on CNBC, for what they're worth, the number of people who have been unemployed longer than 27 weeks is 1.8 million.
1.8 million.
The near-worthless unemployment number is 6.1%. Not good, as it keeps rising.
This said, yeah, I moved here, from Lost Wages, without work. Looked there for about a year before giving up. I don't want to wash dishes, drive a cab, wait tables, deal cards, or clean rooms. This is what exists, there.
Like you, Atlanta Hope, I am an IT-guy, but network/hardware. You'd think with this being the Silicon Valley of the south, there'd be more work. As it is, I've broadened my search to D/FW, even though not a month ago I swore off Dallas (I'm from there, and never, ever wanted to return)...and Colorado, all of it.
This month, I've sent 20 resumes, most to the D/FW area. Since April, the total is 106. There'd be more, but I was looking only in Tarrant county, before September.
I've had 8-10 interviews...some of them were a joke, I really liked a couple of places, but I've yet to get a call back save for "no thanks". Part of it, IMHO, is the area is positively saturated with IT folk, so they're inexpensive to hire, and tend to be over-qualified for the jobs they take. So it goes.
One thing I've found exceptionally difficult is to land a job, or even be seriously considered, if you have an out-of-town address. I have addresses in each area, as we're very mobile.
This is especially true in Colorado, though I landed an absolute crap job, they lied about several aspects of it in the interviews, while I was still in Vegas, and was using that address. Six weeks was more than enough.
To put it in an IT-perspective, in the first 4 weeks, the naming convention was changed, for the entire, state-wide 'company', twice. What's hilarious is they got progressively less-informative with each new iteration.
Idiots.
None were IT-people by profession or education. The boss of the department was connected by family, and the other people were either ex-tellers or something like that. It was a bank, FWIW.
My apologies for rambling, but this is something which strikes a nerve...looking for work for months and finding little-to-nothing decent. At this point, I'm open to much-lower paying positions for which I am truly over-qualified. Of course, nobody wants to hire over-qualified people, but y'never know...some jobs can actually lead to better things.
I do a radio show where we discuss these job topics but I transferred to Austin area from my cleveland Company, but it is still basically a seasonal job.. my cousin and husband both found work in Round Rock fairly quickly, he is a carpenter, she is a teacher. She also worked for Dell! I heard Dell does a lot of hiring, if you are willing to work in customer service or sales. But dont bite my head off, anyone, because I am totally new to the area and was losing money staying in OH, where couldnt get a job for 4 months and the employment ads had seven openings, seven, all p-time and lowpaying.
We moved from Denver 5 yrs ago with no jobs, Well we did have a possible back up job for my hubby, Turns out the back up job became his career after not finding a job in his field..and he is very respected and successful in this new field.
He has a PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, but is now working in telecommunications. He still looks around in case the opportunity returns to go back to his field.
I had a harder time since I lacked the basics (no real computer training and not able to speak spanish) but eventually got a job in my field and love it. I had to wait for company turnover.
We made the move to get closer to family, so we just knew we would find something sooner or later! It turned out great and we are very happy.
I have an example to illustrate the job market situation in Austin, although its not from the IT field. My daughter, a recent graduate, was sent on an interview by a recruiter. The job was marketing, with a salary in the mid 30's. No commission or bonuses. Without getting too specific, she was well-qualified for the job. The interview was a group one, so she got to meet the other candidates. Most were twice her age...or more, sales professionals with years of experience. One gentleman even owned his own company and wanted to change fields. Needless to say, she didn't get the job. So, yes, overqualified people are going after anything remotely related to their previous jobs.
I'm one who has posted on here about people moving to Austin without a job already secured. It's NOT easy to land a job here if you're currently living in another city/state, trust me. You're competing with so many Texas graduates (not just University of Texas, but many others as well) and native Texans who are willing to live in Austin for lower pay. Add to that the fact that housing keeps getting more expensive, taxes keep going up, etc. and you have a recipe for a really bad situation for those that come here without a good job already lined up. Seriously, you need to bring something really unique to the table in Austin in order to land a good job. Having a Master's degree isn't that big of a deal anymore, but without one, you're just another "Joe" competing with hundreds or thousands of others. A lot of the times people come here on credit because they don't have the saved up funds and then really find themselves in trouble when they can't find a job. Trust me, despite what the headlines and internet articles are saying about jobs here in Austin, they're very hard to come by because of all the competition. Yes, there are probably more jobs opening up here than places in other parts of the country, but you have more people from all over the country trying to land those jobs. Trust me, most local employers here will hire a University of Texas graduate over a transplant from California, Ohio, Oregon, etc. any day of the week. Don't kid yourselves and think that you'll be able to find a job here just because you have a degree or some experience. You're taking a huge gamble! I've seen 1st hand how employers weed out all the out of state resumes they receive and focus primarily on "local" applicants. And don't think that just having a local address changes everything because employers aren't stupid; once they start seeing your out of state education and out of state experience that went through a month or two ago, they'll know what's going on. I'm not saying all employers do this, but a lot of them don't want to deal with the hassles of an out of state applicant, especially when they have more than enough local and "home grown" applicants at their disposal. But hey, it's your life and sometimes taking a risk pays off.
I'm one who has posted on here about people moving to Austin without a job already secured. It's NOT easy to land a job here if you're currently living in another city/state, trust me. You're competing with so many Texas graduates (not just University of Texas, but many others as well) and native Texans who are willing to live in Austin for lower pay. Add to that the fact that housing keeps getting more expensive, taxes keep going up, etc. and you have a recipe for a really bad situation for those that come here without a good job already lined up. Seriously, you need to bring something really unique to the table in Austin in order to land a good job. Having a Master's degree isn't that big of a deal anymore, but without one, you're just another "Joe" competing with hundreds or thousands of others. A lot of the times people come here on credit because they don't have the saved up funds and then really find themselves in trouble when they can't find a job. Trust me, despite what the headlines and internet articles are saying about jobs here in Austin, they're very hard to come by because of all the competition. Yes, there are probably more jobs opening up here than places in other parts of the country, but you have more people from all over the country trying to land those jobs. Trust me, most local employers here will hire a University of Texas graduate over a transplant from California, Ohio, Oregon, etc. any day of the week. Don't kid yourselves and think that you'll be able to find a job here just because you have a degree or some experience. You're taking a huge gamble! I've seen 1st hand how employers weed out all the out of state resumes they receive and focus primarily on "local" applicants. And don't think that just having a local address changes everything because employers aren't stupid; once they start seeing your out of state education and out of state experience that went through a month or two ago, they'll know what's going on. I'm not saying all employers do this, but a lot of them don't want to deal with the hassles of an out of state applicant, especially when they have more than enough local and "home grown" applicants at their disposal. But hey, it's your life and sometimes taking a risk pays off.
But my question really is if he has the opportunity to telecommute for six months meaning that we relocated to Austin, he works in Austin for an out of state company, but we are PHYSICALLY in Austin, would that increase the likelihood of more interviews? It seems to me that companies don't interview out of staters not because there is some sort of universal prejudice against out of staters, but because of the cost of bringing someone in either to interview or to take a job.
Also, I've read that many jobs in the technical sector down there are found based on networking and it sure seems that it would be easier to build a network someplace if one is already there. Because he used to work in Austin, we have some friends that are there but they all work for the same company (the one he left almost eight years ago) and it currently has some hiring freeze in effect. So his tech sector network down there is pretty limited.
Atlanta hope: how many interviews were you able to line up and how far in advance did you do so? Did you just call the companies and say I've applied and I am going to be in town during such and such a period if you would be willing to interview me? Did you only do this with temp agencies or were there permanent employers that were willing to meet with you as well? Thanks!
If he can telecommute and you really want to move here - then you should. Just rent something way below your means for six months, so you can save extra cushion money. If it does not work out, you can always move to Houston where jobs are plentiful.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Well Jennie B
