Advice for Job Search (Pittsburgh: transplants, sales, headhunter)

[Goodjules]

I may be moving to Pittsburgh within the next six months. I have a background in communications and marketing most recently in the construction industry. I also worked in banking for 16 years and have been active in the arts, both as an artist and as a producer of shows, for many years.

Any advice on searching for work in Pittsburgh?

[BrianTH]

So I gather there is no one here who knows much about those job fields. In light of that, here is some generic advice:

You might look to see if there are temp/placement agencies covering jobs in communications/marketing. Particularly now, many Pittsburgh employers like to try someone out before hiring permanently.

There is an active arts scene, but I would imagine you will need to be here and networking for a while to find paid employment.

Hopefully that helps!

[Aqua Teen Carl]

I can give some generic advice as well since I'm in a different field (IT). If you are actively job searching you might want to try a combination of these things:

- Search online job sites, but have less focus on the major sites like Monster or Careerbuilder. Those sites have become filled with scammy jobs and many people who see someone with a marketing background will look to put you in a crappy sales position. Indeed and SimplyHired are a much better bet, and don't forget to look at individual employer websites as well.

- Networking will especially be helpful to transplants. We have plenty of things going on in the arts and there are many non-profit organizations to go around that might fit your background. Check out Craigslist, get to know people, and see what happens from there.

Once again, be very weary of any contracting/temp company who wants to hire you. This area seems to be ripe with that kind of work (low pay, low benefits, no perks of being a real employee, easily laid off). Also, don't buy into the idea that they'll hire you as a full time employee eventually. Believe me, I've been there time and time again (as have my peers) and it's never worked out!

[feanix]

I worked in two of the banks downtown for 20 or so years. The most effective ways to get into the bank that I found is to either know someone, temp, or go onto their job listings and tailor your resume to include certain key words that will keep your resume popping up whenever new listings are added. Also attend the job fairs! If you can leave a lasting impression on a bank HR rep they're more likely to keep you in mind whenever they receive new job openings from their assigned department managers. I know when I was with the bank you could nominate yourself for a position, but I don't know if you can do that as an external. Expect to come in at a possibly crap salary but you should be able to move up fairly quickly, especially if you have a good skill set and degree. I started for minimum wage and within 1 year my salary was double (mind you I'm going back 20 years ).

With all your years of experience I would think you'd be highly desired in one of the banks. When I first got into a bank the way I did it was to temp and apply for internal positions. Doing so gave the bank a feel about my dependability, my work via a bank manager (which I think helps dramatically), and my skill set. I was offered 3 different jobs from that temp position. After that I found it relatively easy to move from position to position. A bonus with Pittsburgh is it is such a large banking city that once you find yourself plateaued in salary at one bank you can hop to the other. Bank hopping is pretty common to get better pay scaling (provided you don't mind giving up vacation, vesting, etc). Hope that helps.

Good luck!

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Also, don't buy into the idea that they'll hire you as a full time employee eventually. Believe me, I've been there time and time again (as have my peers) and it's never worked out!

It worked for me, and other people I know in the legal field. I suspect this very much depends on the industry.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

It worked for me, and other people I know in the legal field. I suspect this very much depends on the industry.

I'd imagine so. Considering my peers are all in IT we've had similar experiences with contracting companies ("temp" is a dirty word now).

[XRiteMA98]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

It worked for me, and other people I know in the legal field. I suspect this very much depends on the industry.

I'm also in IT, but IT domain is so large, I can;t comment for all of its particular fields. Personally I don't know anybody to be stuck in 'temp" positions. Everybody I know was hired after contracting with one company or another.

Even here, where i am now, I had a coworker as a contractor for a year and then we offered him full timp employment. We also hired 3 kids that I know, recently college graduates because they did internships with us and they did a tremendous job and were fun to be with.

I also worked in the banking field for a while and i concur with what it was said. You can apply on the banks - or investements institutions - website, tayloring your resumes out as you were adviced. This is how I got my current job, applying directly on the employer's web site.

In the past I used head hunters. I rememeber one occasion i sent a resume to a company applying for a job and I got a letter of rejection two days later. Now the headhunter sent my resume to the same company and he got me an interview with them.

As far as arts scene goes; you say you are a producer? I assume it's theatre, right? There's plenty of little theatres where you can volunteer to get to know people and the rest will work itself out.

Good luck to you.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Once again, be very weary of any contracting/temp company who wants to hire you. This area seems to be ripe with that kind of work (low pay, low benefits, no perks of being a real employee, easily laid off). Also, don't buy into the idea that they'll hire you as a full time employee eventually. Believe me, I've been there time and time again (as have my peers) and it's never worked out!

A good friend of mine had the same experience in the DC area. She worked for a temp agency, and did a number of long-term jobs, applied for the permanent positions sometimes, and never got them. One time, she even had to train her replacement! Another friend, an engineer, got laid off and took numerous short term jobs that never worked into anything permanent. Finally one of those jobs did, but it took a couple years off short-terming, on again, off again work for that to happen. Just a caveat, I guess.

To the OP: Good luck!

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by Katiana

One time, she even had to train her replacement!

I've been in IT for 5 years now and I've had to do this 3 times. All three of these companies were huge corporations of course, smaller companies seem more likely to keep their interns/contractors. At each of them myself and my peers applied for "employee" positions but the companies liked our low salaries too much to justify the hire. Good times!

[feanix]

It's common practice in banks for many positions (outside of IT, I can't speak from an IT perspective) to bring in a temp and then hire them fulltime if they're a good fit. It was a quick way to fill the position with a qualified candidate. It depends on the department and the reason they're bringing you in. If you're coming into an area that needs overtime help, yes, you likely won't be hired, but most departments I worked in hired temps as interim help and then would hire them if they were a good fit.

I wonder if the IT market there is now flooded. When I worked there, both banks had an incentive program to bring in qualified IT folks. The referring employee would get a bonus if it resulted in an IT lead being hired (nice bonus too, like 500). The positions they were lower paying jobs (though well paying for customer service) so maybe that contributed to things?