Seattle Metro Jobs - Dried up, or just me? (Tacoma: 2013, student loans)

[slomodan]

Recent college graduate here... and have been unemployed for 8 months now. I have a CompSci B.S and an internship experience with the University I graduated (Approx 3 years in length- multiple projects). I moved here and now I can't even seem to get a Janitorial job or a temp warehouse/factory job anymore. I don't know if the market is flooded or I just am stuck in a massive catch-22; Not enough experience for a tech job (I've even applied for entry level jobs requiring nothing more than a H.S diploma, probably phone support), and "overqualified" for anything else, so my resume goes on the bottom of the pile.

Thankfully my wife makes enough money (though we struggle because of my student loans). I have done some minor 'pro-bono' work as well as some small jobs doing web development, but this hardly keeps my skills up, nor pays well.

Are jobs hurting this much in the Seattle area? I live in N. Tacoma, but have applied everywhere in a 30 mile or more radius (as far south as Olympia, as far north as Kirkland and Bremerton. Maybe IT is hurting more? I don't know. It is freaking me out. The end of April this year will mark 1 year of no jobs, and trying to explain away a 1 year gap in employment may hurt my chances of getting hired, even if the economy is better off then.

[motor80]

When I graduated from college with a BS in CIS and moved to Seattle, I had a very similar experience. I worked for several years for the university as well (as a student worker for the IT department). That was in 2003. It took me 2 years to finally land a job that used my degree. To be fair though, I took a job as a parking valet right away to just have some sort of income and I was not very diligent in looking for better employment. But, eventually, I did land the career job. Competition is pretty fierce right now with the way our nation's economy is looking. There are many experienced and well qualified unemployed people in the IT sector in this area. Just be patient and it'll happen. Best of luck!

[jenlion]

I think it's just the way things are right now. I have found that getting IT work is still WHO you know and that many non-IT professionals still feel like it's impossible to find good IT people. Doing ANY work for ANYone can lead to a "real" job.

If you have practical skills, then why not hang up a shingle? You could do legit work if it comes your way and build up a little portfolio, then close it when you get FT work. By "practical", I mean the ability to go in by-yourself to someone-who-needs-something and do-it-yourself -- not the case if your only experience is in managing group projects, really. More the case if you have been playing with computers from before you could write your own name and know how to make everything work and make it work better than they ever thought it could. There are probably people who would be happy to get a free consultation if you go out there wanting to "build a portfolio and get letters of recommendation" -- if you have that practical experience, you could probably find in your own network some small businesses that have SOME kind of problem that they'd like to have solid, free advice on. If you find that you're able to identify and fix a source of pain for people, then you can write up your recommendations and either perform it for free (emphasize that you're looking to document for your portfolio and want a letter of recommendation when they're happy with your work) or for a fee.

I once showed up at a customer site to literally replace a printer ribbon. (oops, just dated myself!). While working I found out that they were only using THAT printer because the OTHER printer was so slow, and the OTHER OTHER printer didn't always work, etc. They actually had like a dozen printers scattered throughout the office and they were all on the blink at random times and nobody knew how to make them work. They had a fancy giant print/scan/fax/copy machine that they were using only to make copies because they never did figure out how to hook the thing up. Once I uttered the words "print server?" the business owner sat me down and said "explain to me how that works and what it would cost to make that happen?" I wound up doing a LOT of work for that customer -- once I reset all those printers to spool off one machine (that was always on, hahaha, unlike the random PCs the others were hooked to and shared from!) and got the fancy one running, they were convinced I could do anything at all. And THAT opened the door to their database questions, which was FAR more up my alley than stupid printer ribbons. And then they recommended me to their friends. It can only take one ecstatic person who wasn't able to figure out what to do to propel you forward.

In my career, I've found that focusing on the PEOPLE that I'm able to HELP has gotten me a whole lot further than focusing on the next job. This economy SUCKS and the only thing getting me through it is happy customers (and a spouse with a job with bennies). I know it doesn't work for everyone -- the world needs Cisco experts, for example, that wouldn't be good at generalizing any more than a generalizer would be qualified to hook up a cisco network. But after this long, maybe doing something is worth a try??

[seattlenextyear]

I'm going to assume you've done the obvious things:

You have your resume online so a recruiter can type, say, "Seattle resume ASP.NET" into Google and your name will come up.
You have exhausted any local contacts you have
You've hooked up with your local alumni group
You've sent resumes directly to heads of departments, regardless of whether they're looking for a position.
You've been participating in online and real-life programming groups and are making connections that way.
You're working on pro-bono side projects and getting your name out there.

If not, you could always write the hottest new iPhone app

[Wingfoot]

Originally Posted by slomodan

Recent college graduate here... and have been unemployed for 8 months now. I have a CompSci B.S and an internship experience with the University I graduated (Approx 3 years in length- multiple projects). I moved here and now I can't even seem to get a Janitorial job or a temp warehouse/factory job anymore. I don't know if the market is flooded or I just am stuck in a massive catch-22; Not enough experience for a tech job (I've even applied for entry level jobs requiring nothing more than a H.S diploma, probably phone support), and "overqualified" for anything else, so my resume goes on the bottom of the pile.

Thankfully my wife makes enough money (though we struggle because of my student loans). I have done some minor 'pro-bono' work as well as some small jobs doing web development, but this hardly keeps my skills up, nor pays well.

Are jobs hurting this much in the Seattle area? I live in N. Tacoma, but have applied everywhere in a 30 mile or more radius (as far south as Olympia, as far north as Kirkland and Bremerton. Maybe IT is hurting more? I don't know. It is freaking me out. The end of April this year will mark 1 year of no jobs, and trying to explain away a 1 year gap in employment may hurt my chances of getting hired, even if the economy is better off then.

Don't make it so complicated, if you have no "connections" you're pretty well screwed anywhere in most jobs outside health field.

[slomodan]

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

I'm going to assume you've done the obvious things:

You have your resume online so a recruiter can type, say, "Seattle resume ASP.NET" into Google and your name will come up.

Something similar. I'm working on a more detailed portfolio right now.

You have exhausted any local contacts you have
You've hooked up with your local alumni group

I don't have any local contacts other than the ones I mention at the bottom of this post. My "local" alumn group is in Missouri, so that doesn't do me any good, unfortunately.

You've sent resumes directly to heads of departments, regardless of whether they're looking for a position.

Not sure this strategy works for somebody with minimal (read: part time) experience.

You've been participating in online and real-life programming groups and are
making connections that way.

I'm not familiar with any of these, do you mean like Meetup? I joined a local job club on meetup and have attended. The only problem is that they talk about strategies that would only work if you have experience. Nothing they discuss seems like it would work for an entry level position.

Like sending resumes to department heads? What am I going to say? You should create a position for me? You should get rid of your 5 year+ experienced PHP programmer and hire me, somebody with 3 years part time experience only?

You're working on pro-bono side projects and getting your name out there.

Yes, this I am doing.

Originally Posted by Wingfoot

Don't make it so complicated, if you have no "connections" you're pretty well screwed anywhere in most jobs outside health field.

Yeah... Having just recently moved to the Seattle area, we only have only met two couples we regularly hang out with. Both of those people had friends and tried to hook me up with a job. One I got an interview. It was a government job with a 8 person panel interview (shudder). I might have done ok, but they hired somebody that already had clearance. The other position was an "entry level" position doing video editing, but they said they wanted me to have some video experience...

I know I'm probably screwed. My wife loves the company she works for though (Apple Physical Therapy), and we don't(read: she doesn't) want to relocate again... another nail in the coffin that is my career.

[seattlenextyear]

". My "local" alumn group is in Missouri, so that doesn't do me any good, unfortunately."

I mean like this:

Mizzou Alumni Association, Puget Sound Chapter

If that's the wrong school, I apologize.

"Not sure this strategy works for somebody with minimal (read: part time) experience. "

Yeah, unfortunately, its how a lot of people get jobs. Cold sending resumes, saying that you're available and interested in a position with the company. I'm sure you've heard that most positions never get advertised. Managers either just pick people they already know or rifle through resumes they've gotten randomly. Send a bunch of resumes: most places you'll never hear back from, but then 8 months later someone will call you out of the blue.

[Wingfoot]

I know I'm probably screwed. My wife loves the company she works for though (Apple Physical Therapy), and we don't(read: she doesn't) want to relocate again... another nail in the coffin that is my career.[/quote]


Could always just man up and say a PT can get a job anywhere babe, we're moving !
I would, nothing worse than a wife who won't pull together with you, if she won't- consider if you might not be better off without her.

[jenlion]

Originally Posted by wingfoot

i know i'm probably screwed. My wife loves the company she works for though (apple physical therapy), and we don't(read: She doesn't) want to relocate again... Another nail in the coffin that is my career.

Could always just man up and say a pt can get a job anywhere babe, we're moving !
I would, nothing worse than a wife who won't pull together with you, if she won't- consider if you might not be better off without her.

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[Patron of Wrath]

If you need a new wife, I hear Jenny Sanford is about to hit the market.