Long-time lurker - first time asker. Seeking a bit of advice wrt helping a significant other find a job.
We recently relocated from Chicago to the Bay Area (around August of 2011). The decision to move was largely my own and I perhaps softened the blow of leaving 'home' a bit by assuring my significant other that she'd have no issue finding something here in the valley. She's got a rock solid resume and wonderful dotcom experience - it seemed like a no-brainer. In fact, I went so far as to convince her to quit a great gig back in Chicago (knowing she could work remotely) because she'd grown a bit tired of it after a number of years - and the West - if nothing else - still holds the romanticism of a fresh start (at least for me.)
So here we are, six months in - and she's still looking for an opportunity. She's had a couple of interviews thanks to some of the folks funding our endeavor who were able to put her in touch with other portfolio companies but the consensus thus far has mostly been: "Your resume is great, anyone would be lucky to have you, but we don't know how we'd use you here." That makes sense, her primary experience for the past several years has been in a hybrid consulting/strategy/sales/marketing role - she essentially traveled around the country helping old media move advertising spend online. It seemed that most of the folks she was being lined up with were largely business to consumer which her experience didn't square with. Fine.
The crux of the problem - it seems - is that we haven't yet built a deep/rich network in the valley. I'm starting to build that network - I'm already leveraging my contacts to get a few referrals but by and large she's resorted to submitting resumes into the great resume firewall of consulting orgs which has yet to yield much.
So - I say all of that to ask this. Anyone have a strategy for helping non-hacking newcomers to the valley find work? One that keeps you from having to blindly submit your resume in a form post and hope that a human can discern what an awesome person you are on the other end?
Is it:
- Find meetups? - Go to networking events? - Live in LinkedIn and ask for introductions? - Volunteer? - Beg, plead? - All of the above?
Let this be a reminder to you all. Build the hell out of your network. Build locally, and build globally.
Thank you HN!!!
PS - This experience has definitely started making the wheels turn. Feeling like I should build something to support folks out of network/relocated. A few ideas have crossed my mind. Now gotta put some fingers to the keyboard.