Job Hunting: Wrath of the Economic Downturn

Incenjucar

I want a job in or near Seattle that will allow me to work towards a career in writing and/or editing, even if it's one of those "day job" situations.

Problem 1: I live in California. Job recruiters are refusing to consider my resume on these grounds.

Problem 2: I can only really get experience in writing and/or editing AFTER getting to Seattle (don't ask).

Problem 3: The economy has gone to absolute hell. Monster.com can't even be bothered sending me crappy or random jobs anymore.

Problem 4: While I am highly skilled and talented, I am not especially certified, and what experience I do have is fairly specialized -- I work in a construction office which is still trying to transition to the current century.

Note: I have a BA in English but am not a people person. This makes "lol be a teacher" not an especially good option. Same with food service or retail or sales. I'm a words and numbers and ideas person.

Special: I will be in Seattle, in person, for two weeks at the end of this month, with a spiffy new suit, even. I will be running around looking for work, but it's unlikely that I'll be able to do this kind of thing ever again, so I need to make it count.


I'm having a really, really hard time figuring out how to do this right. The positions I've been finding that fall under "Administrative Assistant" seem to have terrible pay, or be linked to those friggin' job recruiters, or are attached to receptionist work, which I'm dubious about -- I tend to come off a bit cold and unpleasant.

I'm going to be poring through the usual things like Career Builder and newspapers and specific companies that I can look up, but any sort of direction you guys could offer would be great. I honestly don't even know what kind of jobs to be looking for because my job title doesn't really cover what I actually do, because my department is basically "everything that nobody else in the company can do."

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Derrick

If your heart is really set on Seattle, I think you need to formulate a plan to move to Seattle.

Chances you're going to bag the job you're looking for in your window? Extremely low. Even if a company is interested, they might not be interested in a while, or they want to hire right now.

Here I think is a better plan- move to Seattle, and then start job searching.

What you need to figure out is what resources you have at your disposal to make a plan.

A) If you know someone in Seattle who can help you out, GREAT! That's pretty golden.

Save money, possibly by taking up a part time job until you can move outright, preferably with 2 months or so rent in the bag. Then proceed to go to the Seattle unemployment office and see what they can do for you. You'll be looking for A JOB at this point to pay the bills. While working your survival job, start applying for the job you want.

Incenjucar

My emergency plan is to just save up enough money to survive for a year and move there. I've already moved into a much less posh apartment towards that effort and so forth. Thanks to my surprise giant bonus at my current job, I've got a few K in the bank already. I'm just trying to get there early, and on decent footing.

TexiKen

Why Seattle? In your post, you never explained why. Microsoft? Boeing? Nintendo? Starbucks?

If you want a job writing, they can be everywhere. You could gain experience in another city. New York, Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, all these places have areas where being a writer/copywriter can help. California's got a crap load of publishing arms. Sure, the economy isn't the best in a lot of states, but there can still be opportunities.

I'm reading the post of someone who wants to gain experience in a field they want to do, but are limiting themselves on purpose to a place where they cannot even get their foot in because they don't really have experience. You're setting up these excuses for not getting what you want right away.

My advice would be to build up a money fund, 6-8 months of rent/utilities/etc. and in the meantime just look at someplace you can get your foot in the door. Yes, that means changing your attitude about dealing with people. Yes, that means you may have to look at something that may pay bad, but that's where your savings will help out. This way, you get experience, the potential to move up in the company, and if not you get something to add to your resume, which you could then spice up to be something really catchy for the work you want to do (because you're a writer).

If you're a new grad, it's tough. I'm not really doing something I want to a year after college but I'm putting away money, sending out resumes every night, and building my skills so that I can get to where I want to. It will come eventually, just don't expect to find that dream job right out of college.

Incenjucar

Seattle because I want to live in Seattle. I like it there. I want to move as a matter of psychological health. I already have a really good job here, and I'm very important on a state-wide scale. But I am not happy living here. I have a pathological hatred of this region.

supabeast

Take what you can get, pay your bills, and do freelance writing, blogging, personal projects, etc. on the side. Save when you can, hold on, and remember that this recession won’t last forever. And keep networking whenever you can, because you never know when a job might turn up.