Job Search
Well my wife accepted the job offer in Knoxville and we will be moving in July. So that means it is time for me to find a new job in Knoxville, TN. This will be our fourth move since we have been married: Philly 1999-2000, Charlottesville apt. 2000-2001, Charlottesville house 2001-2004 and now Knoxville 2004-?, and I have a feeling that this will be it for awhile. The problem is that I don't know anyone in Knoxville yet and my traditional means of finding a job are unlikely to work there.
The last 2 jobs that I got were all through networking. After I got married and had to move to Philly, one of the VPs at the large P/C Insurance Company I worked for in Chicago knew a guy in Philly who worked for a defense contractor that was interested in someone like me. I wasn't too thrilled about them, but I was interested in a job because we had about $10 grand in debt from our wedding and it was the only offer I had. So I took it and figured I would do it for a year and then find something better. As it turns out after a year, my wife wanted to change specialties, so we moved again, this time to Charlottesville. The company actually let me work from home, which unusual for them, because they wanted me to stay. But it was the type of thing where I would be doing the same job, which was boring and wouldn't be able to advance until we moved to the DC area.
So through a friend from college, I found out about a job in Charlottesville with a Pleasanton, CA, based B2B e-commerce company that had a consulting office in Charlottesville. She knew the guy who was running the office, and I ended up interviewing and getting the offer. I was so psyched...they gave me options and I felt like I finally made it. But it was the worst thing that could have happened in retrospect. The job turned out to be nothing like I was promised, and in the past 3 years have had to deal with a 4 month layoff, a loss of matching 401K, reduction in vacation, reduction in pay and worst of all, no more free diet cokes.
But this time, networking might be tough since I don't know anyone, and there are a total of 8 Michigan alumni in the area, so that is probably a dead end too. So I end up looking on Monster, which is a waste of time except that it gives me some idea of what companies are in the area. I suppose I will try the headhunter route, but I am not really at a level where headhunters care about me and I am trying to switch careers, which they care about even less.
Well my wife accepted the job offer in Knoxville and we will be moving in July. So that means it is time for me to find a new job in Knoxville, TN. This will be our fourth move since we have been married: Philly 1999-2000, Charlottesville apt. 2000-2001, Charlottesville house 2001-2004 and now Knoxville 2004-?, and I have a feeling that this will be it for awhile. The problem is that I don't know anyone in Knoxville yet and my traditional means of finding a job are unlikely to work there.
The last 2 jobs that I got were all through networking. After I got married and had to move to Philly, one of the VPs at the large P/C Insurance Company I worked for in Chicago knew a guy in Philly who worked for a defense contractor that was interested in someone like me. I wasn't too thrilled about them, but I was interested in a job because we had about $10 grand in debt from our wedding and it was the only offer I had. So I took it and figured I would do it for a year and then find something better. As it turns out after a year, my wife wanted to change specialties, so we moved again, this time to Charlottesville. The company actually let me work from home, which unusual for them, because they wanted me to stay. But it was the type of thing where I would be doing the same job, which was boring and wouldn't be able to advance until we moved to the DC area.
So through a friend from college, I found out about a job in Charlottesville with a Pleasanton, CA, based B2B e-commerce company that had a consulting office in Charlottesville. She knew the guy who was running the office, and I ended up interviewing and getting the offer. I was so psyched...they gave me options and I felt like I finally made it. But it was the worst thing that could have happened in retrospect. The job turned out to be nothing like I was promised, and in the past 3 years have had to deal with a 4 month layoff, a loss of matching 401K, reduction in vacation, reduction in pay and worst of all, no more free diet cokes.
But this time, networking might be tough since I don't know anyone, and there are a total of 8 Michigan alumni in the area, so that is probably a dead end too. So I end up looking on Monster, which is a waste of time except that it gives me some idea of what companies are in the area. I suppose I will try the headhunter route, but I am not really at a level where headhunters care about me and I am trying to switch careers, which they care about even less.
