Job search for out-of-towners

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by City Girl

My husband must be really fortunate. He is an operating engineer and there is a local in Denver. He called them over the phone and told them we were thinking of moving to Denver. The guy told my hubby to come on down and he'd give him a shot. My hubby has been an operating engineer for 10 years and can drive most anything. That could be why he offered him a job straight away.

I think I will have a harder time finding a job though. Right now I am a helpdesk coordinator in IT at a large medical clinic in California. I started in Medical records and worked my way up through the company. I have no formal training or degrees. I never needed them. I was fortunate enough to learn on the job. I haven't had to look for a job in 10 years so, it should be interesting to see how employers react when they see my resume with all this experience and no education except for a GED.

You might find it easier than you think. There are a lot of medical establishments here. You could try the Kaiser website for starts. They have several installations in the metro area. Where is this job your husband was offered? Is he taking it?

[csqui523]

Well, you us the idea. My husband is going to move to Denver on his own in March to look for work. My daughter and I will stay here until he finds something. We will start selling some of our non-essential furniture and our second car to give him something to start off on. Hopefully he can find a job quickly, as being without one salary and maintaining two homes is going to be a nightmare! The house will never sell that quickly, but we'll just have to take that as it comes. This seems to be the only way to do it. My husband will look for temp work as an accountant to start with, then find something more permanent (or a temp to perm job to begin with). I am hoping that I can find something quickly too, once I get there. We're thinking that we'll be 2-3 months apart, before it's time for me and the baby to move. That should give him enough time to find a job.

We've even found an apartment complex that looks nice (on Monaco Street?). I hope it goes well for us (and for the rest of you). Thank you all so much for your ideas. Any other input would be great!!!

Cindy

[movingfromcolorado]

I moved from Southeast Florida a little over 2 years ago without a job lined up. Here’s what I’ve learned:

The greater Denver area is pretty spread out. I currently work between Denver and Boulder. If you look at a greater Denver area map – I’m in the northwest area. There are some people that I work with that live south of town and have to drive 45 -60 minutes to get to work. The reason I am saying this is because jobs are spread out all over the area. There are lots of jobs in Boulder (about 25 – 30 minutes from downtown Denver) as well as lots in the Denver Tech Center and Centennial area and all points in between. We rented an apartment (month to month) off of route 36 because it’s a somewhat central location and if we found a job south of town the commute wouldn’t be horrible for a month or two.

There are plenty of jobs in the area but it’s hard to get your foot in the door. A lot of companies hire through a contract firm then hire you direct after 6 months or so. I would recommend that you contact contracting firms as soon as you hit town.

Without a degree it’s very difficult. Denver is one of the most educated cities in the country and they have a high percentage of people with advanced degrees. When I first moved here, I hadn’t completed my degree and most recruiting firms wouldn’t even speak to me unless I had a degree (no matter that I had 15+ years experience).

Monster.com, hotjobs.com, dice.com - most don’t work very well unless you know how to tweak your resume for each and every job. Some local companies get over 10,000 resumes a month! These companies use software to filter on keywords. So unless your resume contains the keywords they are looking for, you won’t be found.

If you have a tech/professional background I recommend you join the yahoo group “Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group”. Be warned – get another email address just for this group because you get DOZENS of job opportunities every day. Recruiters/contract firms regularly post openings. People also post their resumes for others to review. This group is how I got my first job here.

The Workforce development center is another valuable tool. Basically it’s the unemployment office without the lines. Companies that do business with the state and local governments are highly encouraged to post jobs. Jobs range from dish washer to high level accounts, to operations managers. The service is free and the counselors are usually helpful in giving you local advice. You can go into their office (several throughout the area) and they will input your credentials, experience etc and when job that match your interest become available they’ll send you an email alert. Do a google search for the workforce development center in whatever town/county you land in and go spend an hour or so in their office.

Housing is diverse here as well. If you watch the local evening news, most violent crime seems to come from Aurora although there are some very nice sections of Aurora. Most other areas offer housing that ranges from affordable to expensive. Most areas you can find a 2 bedroom apartment for $700 (low end) to $1200 and up. You might find a decent place for $600 or so but the area might be a little sketchy. Houses run the price range as well. You can rent a 3 bedroom house in the burbs for as low as $1200 and up to $4000. $1500 will get you a pretty nice place. To buy a decent house look to pay around $200K and $250K will buy something pretty nice. There are lots of places that start in the $300K range and up. There are parts of Denver where you can buy a house for $120K but typically not in an area I would be comfortable in. Townhouses and condos (decent) start around $100K and you can find a nice place for $160K or so.
Craigslist is a great source for housing and jobs. It’s used a lot so it’s a great place to do research.

I would recommend finding a place to stay on a temporary basis then ask your co-workers where they live and what their recommendations are. The place I rented, I found on rent.com and paid around $950 a month for a month the month lease (2 bedroom, 2 bath).

[Nique]

That was a great post with a lot of info. I've been keeping my eye out for jobs in CO because I can't afford to move there without almost immediate employment.

The tricky thing for me is that I don't have a clearly defined field to be looking for work in - I've got experience doing communications, PR, office management, writing, customer service, and a bunch of random areas of expertise.

Any other recommendations for websites or good resources for job postings?

[Caramelboo]

Thanks for the info, movingfromcolorado. I too am looking for a job out in Denver. My field is graphic design and I also have clerical experience, so I am looking for both. I am signing up with a few temporary agencies when I go out to Denver next week. Nique, maybe some temp agencies can be of assistance to you. Be warned though that some may not be willing to work with you if you don't already live there, as I experienced when I contacted a few the other day. But there are some that will. Craigslist is really good, as movingfromcolorado mentioned. I got a few responses from jobs I applied to from there.

MovingfromColorado, I will look into that Rocky Mountain Group and the Workforce Center. Thanks for the tips.

Good luck to everyone!

[Froud]

Originally Posted by Katiana

You might find it easier than you think. There are a lot of medical establishments here. You could try the Kaiser website for starts. They have several installations in the metro area. Where is this job your husband was offered? Is he taking it?

sorry to bump an old post but can i ask you to expand on this? My wife and i are trying to move to Denver and she has been using CL for medical office jobs as that is the position she currently holds here in AZ.Is this a fairly good source of medical office job postings in your opinion?

[krisWI]

I am just skimming through the posts in this section to see what everyone's "take" is on the job market, etc. there! I currently live in a rural suburb of Milwaukee and have a sister already living there for over 4 years in Aurora. She lives in the Turnberry Apartments north of Iliff Ave. and I am possibly looking at taking over her lease this summer if I can't find what I'm looking for here. I'm also wondering how to go about the relocation thing, being that I'm a new 2 year degree graduate in the Health Information Technology arena and am having a hard time with long-distance job hunting (especially in a new field) even in the Midwest. I do appreciate the phone suggestion. I'm wondering about using my sister's address, because someone previously mentioned that you obviously have to be there to interview right away, etc. This seems to be my biggest "hang up"!

Another thing I've been doing is briefly mentioning that I have a sister who lives in the Aurora area (especially if the job is anywhere near there) with a plan to be in the area at a specific time. From what it appears, you really do have to have a plan, not just be open to moving there and that's if they get to your cover letter at all, not just look at resumes for 10 seconds.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, especially related to HIT positions and the Denver area at large.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Froud

sorry to bump an old post but can i ask you to expand on this? My wife and i are trying to move to Denver and she has been using CL for medical office jobs as that is the position she currently holds here in AZ.Is this a fairly good source of medical office job postings in your opinion?

I don't know. That is not how our office hires, but our office is hardly typical. Most employees are hired by word of mouth. Kaiser has a large presence here and maintains a web site. It would be worth a look.

[the_koolkat]

I have been a little nervous about finding a job. I have applied for many jobs that I am quilified for long distance while working out my current job here. I have not gotten a single e-mail, phone call anything. My job is done here in a couple weeks and I am taking the plunge. I just hope I have better luck landing a job once I am there. Excited but scared....I can't wait to be there!!