Tips for remotely job hunting in a new city.

Question

If you decided to look for a job in a new city where you have no professional contacts, how would you start?

I'm looking to move from New York to Las Vegas, but don't know any professional developers there. I started out trolling DICE for recruiters, but have no idea how to judge the quality of those recruiters or how well-connected they are, since many seem to cover the Los Angeles, Bay Area, and Las Vegas areas, which suggests that Vegas may be an afterthought.

It also occurred to me to contact the head of the local PC user's group's Windows developers' SIG.

Can anyone think of other avenues of exploration?

Answer 1

Contact head hunters like Kforce or Tek Systems (nationally recognized firms). They know the market in the area and will gladly help you.....for a small cut of course :D

Answer 2

If you can put together a list of companies in Las Vegas that interest you, then you can do some cold calling.

Another route to go would be see if there are any local conferences in Vegas and attend those for some networking.

You can also try reaching out to Las vegas developers on LinkedIn.

Answer 3

My suggestion would be to see if there are some companies that seem to have a lot of open positions in Las Vegas that also have an office in New York. I'm not sure how well this quasi-networked approach would work but I would consider exploring it. For example, is there a Robert Half or Volt or Harvey Nash that may have a way to get you in easier.

Answer 4

I suppose I'd start with Monster, Dice, and other boards looking for jobs in that area.

Another approach is to review tech companies in the area and see if any are headquartered there or have significant footprints; you can then contact them directly.

LinkedIn or other social networking sites could also be helpful: you can search for contacts-of-contacts in the area in your industry.

Answer 5

There may be some geographical-area groups on LinkedIn.com - also, look out for usergroups for the technologies that you use in the area. Php-London for example, has a mailing list and a page for jobs to be posted.

Answer 6

Craigs. List.

Answer 7

Don't sweat the Las Vegas - LA connection. They're huge cities just 4 hours drive away from each other. NYC and Boston come to mind as an analogy. You have to grow from somewhere. Since LA is so huge, that's the base for expansion to Las Vegas.

[I've got a kid in each city. If the space between them wasn't desert, it would be an east-coast-style megalopolis there.]

Recruiters are what they are. Since they're just going to use you up and throw you away, treat them with the same respect. If they put you to work, that's what you wanted. If they don't put you to work there are two possible disconnects.

1. You. You may not have the experience or skills required. These things happen. Talk to the recruiters; invest in education.

2. Them. They may not be very good at placing you. These things happen. Use multiple agencies. They're adults, they know they're competing for your skills.

[I work for a use-em-up-and-throw-em-away firm, and have for 30 years.]

Answer 8

Find a company you are interested in and then hire an investigator to follow the CEO around until he digs up some dirt on them (like a visit to the Bunny Ranch) then drop the photos in his inbox - you will be CTO in no time. Seriously - I do it all the time.

Answer 9

Do a Twitter search for the Las Vegas area and keywords matching the type of work you're seeking. Follow programmers in the area so you can start building your network.

Answer 10

I'd agree most recruiters don't know what they are doing, unless they are located in the Las Vegas. I'm a recruiter, but not in Vegas. Connecting with recruiters will only help if they have something for you now. If they don't have a fit for you there isn't really much they can do for you. As much as they say they will try to "keep an eye out for you" it's next to impossible to do that. But if you feel you must connect with recruiters I'd use LinkedIn to search Las Vegas and verify what they work on and how successful they are. Other ideas:

You may want to try http://www.indeed.com and http://www.linkup.com do a search for who is hiring What user groups are in town? They have sites and communities to connect with The local Microsoft office will have some networking groups, user group, forums you can attend, sign up. Have you created a Twitter account and are you connected to people in Las Vegas in Twitter. I find my Twitter network very helpful.

Someone (Mr. Will) pointed this out... the best idea is to make a list of type of companies you would want to work for and start connecting with them. Could be names or could be the type of work environment. Go for what you are best at, don't let some recruiter define a client for you. Unless that is what you want. :) Best of luck!

Answer 11

Be relentless! Use as many different avenues as possible:

• Use job sites (Monster, CareerBuilder, etc) to see who is hiring in the area. Research the companies and tailor a resume / cover letter to each position. Or try cold calling them - it will be helpful to show initiative especially if a recruiter posted the job.
• See if you can find any local job fairs. Even if you can't attend maybe you can at least get a list of companies attending to see who is hiring.
• Many colleges maintain lists of alumni by state and job description; you could use such a list to find alumni in the area.
• Try to figure out what industries are big in the new city and see if it works to your advantage. This may or may not help you. For example when I moved to Maryland several years ago the defense industry was looking for people like crazy, so you could practically name your price if you had a security clearance...
• Linkedin is a great resource.
• As you said, try to find any local user's groups, etc.

Answer 12

You could also see if there are any user groups for your areas of expertise.

I know here in Calgary there is a .net users group which was useful both for gaining knowledge and contacts after i moved here from England.

Answer 13

There are a couple of thinks I would do to go about this, first I'd hit the job sites to see what's available, (Monster, etc); Next, I'd hit the social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc) and see if I either know someone or can find a friend-of-a-friend for referrals, finally, I'd go to the local newspapers website browse the jobs and also try to get my hands on a print Sunday edition just in case it's different.

Answer 14

Long term wise, I would suggest networking with other developers and contacts alike by starting your blog about anything professional (e.g. your opinions and feelings about certain design regulations/foundations, tips for other developers, etc.). You can also promote your blog among your friends and contacts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and a new site called Brazen Careerist. Also, maintaining a blog not only helps you network with other people in other geographical areas (may lead to opportunities in the future), but also improves the chances of recruiters missing out on finding the details that you may want to keep private on Facebook. Just my two cents.