How to get a Job in Texas living in other State....... (Dallas: home, employment) - (TX) - City-Data Forum

greenlinux · 04-20-2011, 08:29 AM

Any advice in how to get a job in Texas (Information Technology area) living in NJ .................

Thanks

hal2814 · 04-20-2011, 09:03 AM

I'm about a month into a software engineer job in Ft Worth I got while living in Georgia. In the summer of 2010 I searched for three months and didn't find anything. This time around, it took a month and a half from posting my resume to signing an employment agreement. There are a lot of companies that simply won't consider you. Out of the ones that will consider you, it'll still be tough. Here are the things I did that I think helped me:

-Under my address on my resume, I put (relocating to Dallas, TX in February 2011) . I'd keep moving the month out if necessary.
-I went to Google Voice and set up a 214 (Dallas) area code phone number that forwards to my cell phone. This makes it look like you've at least set up a phone in your new area.
-I briefly explained in my cover letter that I was moving to be closer to family (which is half-true, but really we just loved the area) and made sure to point out that I'd be available to start two weeks after accepting a written offer.
-I talked to recruiters but all of my interviews came from companies I applied directly to. Out of about 30 resumes submitted directly to companies, I heard back from 10 and got interviews with 2. Out of about 10 resumes I sent to recruiters, I heard back from 9 of them, worked closely with 2, and landed 0 interviews. YMMV.
-When you get your first interview, immediately alter your cover letter to point out that you will be in town on X date. I was lucky and landed a morning and an afternoon interview on my only interview trip to Texas. Don't expect to be able to do more than 2 interviews in a day. And make sure you time them so you can make it from one to the other.
-Don't expect relocation expenses to be covered. It's probably not going to happen. But don't say anything about relocation expenses one way or another unless asked.
-By the time you get to the interview, you should have your move planned out as completely as possible. They will ask you about it.

Good luck.

greenlinux · 04-20-2011, 09:59 AM

Thanks hal2814 for this great information. I seems to be a better option to apply directly to the companies than sending resume to recruiters. The Google Voice trick is good idea.

Thanks

TurtleCreek80 · 04-20-2011, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenlinux

Any advice in how to get a job in Texas (Information Technology area) living in NJ .................

Thanks

Assuming you're already into a career and not a recent graduate.....use your network! Contact every former boss, client, coworker, etc and tell them you want to move to Texas and ask for help with introductions/ networking with their Texas contacts. You'd be surprised how many contacts you probably have in Texas by expanding your network ring out a few circles.

gcrissman · 04-20-2011, 10:38 AM

We were in the same situation (wife is an IT/Network techie and I am a Cyber Security guy) but I got a break and found a job here in DC that will let me work from home anywhere in the country.

We were going to use a address in Dallas or Austin depending on where the jobs were located, we have a friend in Dallas and a family member in Austin. As for the Google voice number, I don't think that is as big of deal as it use to be. People have cell phone numbers for different parts of the country and we plan on keeping our VA cell phone numbers when we get to Texas. Plus the last I looked at Google voice they did not have any Austin or Dallas area code numbers available.

Definitely use your network, reach out to any Professional Association you belong to, College Alumni chapter, and if you are on Linkedin put it out there assuming your current boss is not on it or knows. My bosses have been supportive and have know for 6 months that I am leaving, they are the ones that got me the job I am going to.

Since I have a job and since its located in DC (and paid as such) we decided to wait till we are in Austin before my wife looks for a job. We can get by for a while on my salary, she can get a feel for the city, and look then without worrying about being ignored because she has a VA address.

Good luck!

gcrissman · 04-20-2011, 11:40 AM

I was wrong, there are now Google Voice number for Austin, I just got one

greenlinux · 04-20-2011, 12:20 PM

Thanks, I just configured a Google Voice number from Austin.

hal2814 · 04-20-2011, 01:13 PM

Even if you didn't get it for the area you're applying to, Google Voice is a great thing to have when looking for a job for a few reasons:

-It screens calls so you can find out who's calling before you accept. If you decide to send them to voicemail, you can listen to them leave a message as they're leaving it and even jump into the call if you want to by pressing *.
-If someone leaves a voicemail, you can sort of read it as a transcript (transcription is a little dodgy).
-It lets you set a filter by number to either send the caller to voicemail or not even take a message. I had to do this when I was getting calls from some fake recruiters.
-You can set it to not forward any calls to your cell phone for a while. I got bombarded by recruiters my first few days. I had it take messages for everyone and I got back to the ones I was interested in. I was also occasionally in the situation where I was working my current job and couldn't take those calls but still wanted to leave my phone on in case my wife or kids had some sort of emergency.
-My Google Voice number doesn't forward to my cell phone at all anymore so I don't keep getting calls after I've already found a job.

If I had it to do over again, I'd have a job-search-specific Gmail and Google Voice account I could use while looking and discard after I've found my job.

gcrissman · 04-20-2011, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hal2814

If I had it to do over again, I'd have a job-search-specific Gmail and Google Voice account I could use while looking and discard after I've found my job.

I have my personal domain sitting on Gmail and do this for many things besides job searches.

kaymcl · 11-03-2013, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Assuming you're already into a career and not a recent graduate.....use your network! Contact every former boss, client, coworker, etc and tell them you want to move to Texas and ask for help with introductions/ networking with their Texas contacts. You'd be surprised how many contacts you probably have in Texas by expanding your network ring out a few circles.

Silly advice. He has never worked in TX