i am considering a move to austin, texas around the end of march. the only problem is, i don't have a job! i've tried austin360.com which links me to the statesman classifieds. do you guys know any other sites or headhunters in the area that could help me out?

just a little background on me: have a bachelors of science in mechanical engineering. i currently work for a security consultant as an assitant project manager.

what company websites can i check out? i heard Dell is pretty big down there.

thanks in advance for the help. shoot me a pm if you need to get a hold of me

-m

 

Try www.csc.com

You can browse jobs by location.


Hope that helps and happy hunting! Austin is a great town... you will like it.


PeteH

 

Good luck...seems like 1/2 my friends are unemployed. It's an awesome town if you can find a good job and afford to maintain a decent standard of living.

 

What Chris said. I wasn't even going to post anything here because I couldn't think of much positive to say I think Austin is the greatest, and I've been to a lot of various states/cities. I think our weather and scenery is second to none. The fact that you get such a wide variety in such a small area is wonderful. Add in the fact that it's the perfect sized city, not to small, and not to big, and it's just wonderful here. The job market is still really bad here though. I am so negative after getting laid off a month after 9/11. I am making almost double what I was two years ago, and should be happy, but I just can't bring myself to get comfortable because I know that any day I come into work could be the last day, for no apparent reason I keep hoping that for all of us that sweat it out, we are going to be rewarded by a market where we can pick and choose jobs again, because so many have left Austin for other cities. When things do pick up, it should be good for those of us still here.

When are you looking to move down here? Are you and a signifigant other looking for jobs also, or just you? I have a lot of friends in your industry, but most either travel or are in DC. You don't happen to have a TS SCI clearance do you? figured I'd ask, only job I know of in your field requires it.

 

Thanks for the responses. Rob - I don't have those clearances. They are not needed for the type of work we do. (CCTV, Access, etc.)

Actually, my best friend moved down to Austin last year. I've been visiting there almost monthly. He offered to let me stay at his house (off manchaca rd.) for free until i get on my feet. The market in Chicago isn't the greatest either. I'd be happy with any job, even if it's outside my field. No S.O. at the moment so that's no problem. Your weather is the absolute best, minus the ice storm a few weeks ago (i'm used to that though).

My other problem is that i'm fresh out of school, with little industry experience. I graduated in Dec of '01 and have been struggling, much like some of you, for something more fulfilling. I'm thinking of just going down there ***** out, and just search fiercly upon arrival. I'm a little more optimistic then some of you!

What are some of the larger engineering-type companies there? I find monster.com and those search engines of little help. I'd rather search directly on the companies' websites.

Again, thanks for the advice. I hope to meet up with some of you soon.

mike

 

Dell
National Instruments
IBM
Motorola
CSC
Vignette

Note that the of these companies on the bottom half of this list aren’t doing so well, and their workforces are shrinking. I did get a call from a recruiter to interview for a job at Vignette recently, though, but passed b/c I’m not about to leave my current company.

Also, the state government and education (i.e. UT) are some of the larger employers around town.

GOOD LUCK!

 

But the state gov't is most likely to freeze hiring, if they haven't done it already, given the 9.9B budget deficit.

IBM and Microsoft both have big websites that list open jobs in Austin. You can't go wrong with established companies like those, unless you somehow get into an area with no future. Savvy counts.

Vignette - yikes! That would make me nervous.

 

Man, if you've got a buddy here willing to help you out, it's a no brainer IMHO. Go for it. I really wish I had a good friend here like that. My girl and I just split up, and most of my friends (work friends mainly) are all much older than me so we don't share a lot of common interests.

Austin weather is fantastic, gotta comment on that. We are not far from Houston, but people who come here from there can't get over how 2:30-3:00 hours away makes all the difference in the world. We are consistenly cooler and less humid than Dallas and Houston, Houston especially. I have seen more beautiful scenery in Austin than any 10 other cities combined. I don't know what it is, but anyone who lives here will tell you that we have some crazy sunsets. I guess part of it is lack of pollution, and part would be the hilly nature, but it still baffles me each time I drive down the road heading towards Mopac (on Scofield where you can see the skyline, I know you know this view Chris) and it looks like a supernova in the sky. As you can tell, I love it here

Look forward to seeing you around. Good luck.