College Grad looking for employment and housing in Austin (Houston: high school, to live in)

[MontanaToAustin09]

I visited Austin in early April for the first time to visit and fell in love with it! I am currently in Montana, graduating from college in a week. My degree will be in Communication Studies/Public Relations with a minor in Business Administration.

I am adventurous and am anxious to experience new places. Montana is beautiful, but Austin is the place I want to be!

I plan to be down in Austin within a month and am currently applying for jobs. I am looking for an Event Planning/Coordinating career in non-profit but non-profit is not a must. I spent over 400 hours at a non-profit for my internship in the Development Department and loved every minute of it!

I have 5 years serving/bartending experience.

I grew up in Colorado and moved to Montana about 7 years ago where I graduated high school and now college. I was a 4-H member for 10 years and grew up on a ranch.

I've done the small town thing, now I want to do the big city thing!

I'm a driven female who wants to work hard and find a successful career in Austin. I love to meet new people and work in a social environment.

Any tips or suggestions for a soon-to-be relocating young professional? Also, if anyone knows of reputable resources for a job search or a job opportunity, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[CptnRn]

Check out my profile for links to job resources and a lot of other information about the community. There are a lot of government agencies in the area that all employ public relations people. Beyond that I don't know much about that profession.

[mimimomx3]

I think your enthusiasm for Austin is great, but I would expand my job search to Houston, Dallas and San Antonio as well. Many fo my friends have entered marketing/advertising/event planning in those cities and then once they've got a netwrok and experience, they came to Austin, which is a much smaller market.
Good luck!

[chrisms86]

Thread bump for another person doing the same thing. I just graduated Washington State and will try to find a volunteer technical or grant writing position while I flip burgers/wait tables/whatever and try to find something more permanent. Good luck OP, I'm not one to give advice on the area but expanding your search to the surrounding cities will probably help, for me that is a big advantage in coming to Austin. You get access to three metropolitan areas with relatively low unemployment.

[llkltk]

If you fell in love with Austin then this is where you should be. I wouldn't move to Dallas or San Antonio and then move to Austin. If your heart is set on Austin then put all your resources into finding a job here. It's a great move for you if you are looking to live in a larger city. Dallas and San Antonio are probably too large. There are several advertising firms based in Austin, Harte Hanks being one of them. Good luck in your job search!