Calling all IT workers - Can you answer some questions? (Tampa: new house, job market)

[EDIGuy]

I'm currently living in Mobile, AL, long story short, I moved here from Michigan but originally from Fort Lauderdale (left in 1993). I've missed FLA ever since and really want to move back. I've been looking on sites such as Monster, Dice and Indeed and see many jobs in my field (EDI). I have submitted resumes for weeks now with no callbacks.

How is the IT situation in Tampa currently?

Is my out-of-town status hurting my chances at employment in Tampa? I realize in this economy that companies do not want to add the expense of moving someone from out of state, I'd be willing to move myself.

I have been out of the job market (been employed) for 15 years, can anyone provide any tips that would me stand out in a hiring manager's eye?

Out of desperation, I was considering taking 10K out of the 401k and moving to Tampa to find work. I know Tampa is where I want to live, I just am not sure I want to take that hit on the 401k.

The job situation in Mobile, AL is bleak for my field, I haven't been working in a few months, I have even been trying to get a retail job to suffice for now but no one is hiring! Fortunately I am living with family right now so I have a roof over my head but I need to find work.

If you can think of anything helpful, tips, ideas, please let me know.

Thank you.

[annaegel]

Why don't you call a recruiter? They can give you a good idea of how the market is right now. My husband is a mainframe programmer that was laid off in February. He is currently working a contract job that is due to end soon. It took him 6 months to find this one. They hired 10 very bright people. They were all VERY grateful for this job, even though it was only going to be for 3 to 5 months and they were told they were going to be working 50 hours a week, but only get paid for 40. I don't know about EDI field. I would suggest calling a recruiter.

Good luck.

[Keeper]

If you have been out of the IT job market you are going to be competing with IT professionals who have more up to date job skills. Call a headhunter.. there are jobs out there but they are few and far between.

Annagel is right.. I know 3 IT ppl who live in Tampa and have been looking for a job since April/June.

I would never recommend you take money out of your 401K. You will have to pay taxes plus a penalty for doing that.

Take a trip to Tampa.. get a local # cell phone and maybe a post office box for a local address.

[tilli]

How is the IT situation in Tampa currently?

It is tight, to say the least. There are very few jobs available, and many qualified, experienced workers have been laid off and are unable to find new jobs. Companies are receiving hundreds of responses on the first day they put up an ad - competition is fierce and they are not willing to try out candidates who do not have the exact skillset they are looking for. I doubt that your out-of-town status is helping, but even with a Tampa address it is likely that you would have the same experience of submitting resumes but not getting any calls.

Taking money out of your 401K to move here wiithout a job in this economic climate would be a huge gamble, I would strongly advise against it.

[kamorra2]

I'm in the IT field. And I assist in the hiring decisions of my dept. I can tell you that in my company, we don't even consider out of town applicants. There's way too many local people that need jobs. Its just not worth the extra hassle of interviewing out of town people.

I have said this in other posts. If you have a job, stay put for a while. The job market everywhere is horrible. Wait for the economy to turn around a bit before making any unnecessary moves.

Plus no one hires during the holidays so you're going to have at least 4 months before any companies open their recs again.

[EDIGuy]

Thanks to all those who replied... I figured it was pretty bleak there as well and kamorra2 has verified my fears.

I am not working at the moment so I suppose I have no other choice than to "sit tight".

I have been trying head hunters but to no avail.

My thoughts on the 401k issues were that I could have about 4 -6 months of living expenses and I could get a job slinging burgers, anything really, but at least I would be there when things opened up and be local.

I have a Google Voice account and procured a Tampa 813 area code however as far as the PO box address is concerned, I fear that may come off as being deceitful to a prospective employer. Would you hire someone who has a PO Box for an address on their resume?

[kamorra2]

Ahh the old P.O box conundrum. Tell ya a little secret. Get a UPS box instead. They have a real street address with a number so it just looks like you have an apt somewhere. They will also hold your mail until you call them. Then they'll go through it with you over the phone and throw away what you don't want and forward what you do want. I had one for 6 months and it was awesome.

Secure mailbox services with a real street address at The UPS Store

No one will ever know you're not local. And I think that would help you tremendously. Good luck!

[tjax1000]

Originally Posted by kamorra2

No one will ever know you're not local. And I think that would help you tremendously. Good luck!

Well, until they pull you up on Google Maps When we moved, my dad put in our address and was somewhat concerned that we were living in a strip mall. Ha!

The only real "gotcha" to UPS store boxes, which many will not tell you outright, is that you can't get mail forwarded from that box to your new house when you finally settle down. USPS treats it as a commercial address, which it is, and apparently you can't forward from a commercial address to a residential one. The safest thing is to not have your critical stuff sent to the USPS box, or to retain it for a month or two longer than you really need it, just to make sure all your important change of address requests have went though.

[thekub]

We have been looking to move to FL from MI for about 2 years. Last summer I got a few phone interviews without too much trouble, one of which went really well but ultimately I lost to an internal candidate. Some time around winter I stopped getting replys\call backs. I continued to put in apps for positions that I was thoroughly qualified for, and made it a point to state in each cover letter that I was looking to relocate to the area with 2 weeks notice and was not seeking moving expenses. It was a complete black hole about 20% of the time I would at least get a rejection letter.

I continued to pack away money, we had about a years worth of expenses saved up and decided to take the plunge and move down. We moved around the end of September and got settled in for the first 10 days or so. Then we started applying again. In a span of about a week I applied for 7 jobs. 2 were black holes, 2 were rejected, 1 had me do some personality type test and haven’t heard back from (must have failed lol) 2 requested interviews. I accepted the first offer (didn’t get a chance to interview for the other) which was a substantial bump in pay from my position in MI, which I will admit I was under employed.

So here I am in FL for less than a month and I have a job offer for a job I really find interesting and for a decent amount more than Ive made in the past. To put this into perspective I have been in serious job hunting mode 3 different times in my life and each time took 6+ months to get an offer. The hilariously tragic thing of it is, I was looking forward to a few months off.

Will you have the same success I had if you take the plunge? I cannot say. I can say that you odds will substantially improve if you relocate. I would also recommend not using the mega job posting sites. I think for hiring managers they generate too much noise. Look at the area you want to move to and start making a list of the major employers and hit their sites directly, and anywhere possible send your resume\application via snail mail. In my experience it seemed to increase my odds of hearing SOMETHING back from the employer.

[seain dublin]

To OP I really wouldn't touch your 401K(can't believe no one touched on that). You get "dinged" big time on taxes for doing that.

Sorry IMO the only reason you should be dipping into a 401K is an absolute dire emergency. Wanting to move to Tampa doesn't fall into that category.