Engineering/Science Jobs in Huntsville ( trip , company, move)

[Plunkey]

Hello! My husband and I live in Wisconsin now but want to move in the Huntsville, AL direction. It is closer to my family and we really need a change in weather. However, he has applied to several jobs in the area that are aerospace/defense related and has heard nothing. Is there a better way to hear about these jobs rather than applying online through the websites? Do you kind of have to know someone to walk in your resume to someone? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Just to give you an idea of what he was applying to, he got his masters in physical chemistry two years ago with a focus on high powered lasers. He has been working on a computer programming job since then. He found a few jobs that called for in the laser area an applied to those. Thanks for your help!

[33458]

Headhunter.

Did your husband follow up on any of his solicitations?

Helps to know someone who knows someone, but a good resume should get him in the door.

[rnc76]

For smaller companies in the area that seem interesting, write a cover letter and send a resume to the HR department. The larger companies such as Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon... you are pretty much stuck with the online applications. Other than that, find out when the next job fair is and plan a trip down.

Here is the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce job site and a link to the Cummings Research Park. This has a full list of the companies on the Research Park. This isn't all the high tech companies in Huntsville, but a high percentage of them reside there.

A Smart Place - Job Search
Huntsville Alabama USA - Cummings Research Park

[Plunkey]

Thanks for the info. I will give him the site, especially to get the names of the small companies he hasn't found yet. Yes, much of what he applied to are the big companies such as Boeing and BAE. I think we just have to patient, we are just ready to get away from this winter with it being Feb. Thanks again!

[zenjenn]

My husband had people from big companies at a job fair tell him that it's highly unlikely for a random submitted application to be read for months and months. They have a big list of applications, and people who are recommended or previewed by a recruiter/manager/etc are bumped to the top of the list, and all the other resumes aren't even looked at unless all those people bumped to the top are first rejected. He should attend some job fairs or network to talk to people to increase his chances. Usually, big companies do not allow follow-up calls.

For small companies, you can research the company's niche and managing personnel, and then cold call and chat it up with the folks there.

My husband had multiple opportunities for employment that panned out. 100% of them were either A) follow-up calls after talking to managers or recruiters at the Huntsville job fair or B) interest expressed after he made cold calls to small companies for which he had particular skills to offer.

He also submitted online applications to places like Boeing and heard nothing from going that route. Literally nothing.

On top of that, once we lived here, he has managed to meet a lot of people in the field in social contexts who have said "If you're ever looking for a job..." - the opportunities are here big time, but submitting resumes without any networking isn't a very reliable way to get a job.

There are periodically job fairs at the Von Braun center, with the majority of the fair being focused on high tech defense jobs. If you are serious about wanting to move south, I think it's worth taking a trip to attend one. We did, and it was an incredibly productive trip, even though the job he ultimately accepted was from a cold call and not the fair. The companies we saw represented were not only in Huntsville, but for opportunities throughout the southeast.

Does your husband have a security clearance? That helps a lot too.

[flstatenolefan]

There is a job fair on March 11 that you might want to check into if he has a security clearance.

[Charles]

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

http://www.bls.gov/oes/2006/may/table3.pdf