help me find a job in austin, tx

December 4, 2006 10:11 AM

after many years in new york, i'm looking for a new home. austin, tx, is on the top of my list (a solid creative class, liberal views, easy winters, good education, good infrastructure, entertaining politics, family in houston). so i need to find a job. i've worked in publishing for many years and am looking for a change. what's the non-tech/non-medical job market like? fwiw: i would love to stay in a creative field, or else work at a fun store. i wouldn't mind working as an assistant to a professor at the university, but i'm sure the work-study kids get all those jobs. if anyone can recommend a good austin job search site (besides the obvious: monster, hotjobs, etc.), that would be awesome. thanks!
posted by thinkingwoman to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Ha. I recently moved from NYC to Austin, working in publishing, etc. From the experience of my wife and myself I think that the non-tech job market here can be pretty slow. I know several people who've taken a year or so to get the kind of job they wanted when they moved. It's a great place to live, though. UT does post jobs that "work-study kids" are not qualified for and many of the bigger departments have multiple support jobs open. Not all of these jobs are full-time or pay well. I could also give you some specific advice about publishing jobs (email's in profile).
posted by mattbucher at 10:30 AM on December 4, 2006

If you want a clerical job at the University, you might want to look into their temp pool. Judging from my experience here at the University of Illinois (another big state school), if you do well as a temp and the department needs a permanent secretary you'll definitely have a leg up on getting a position. Plus, it lets you try out different departments and get a feel for them. The downside, of course, is no health insurance while you're temping.

Also, if you want to put your publishing experience to use, check out Holt, Reinhart, Winston. They usually have quite a few jobs open.
posted by MsMolly at 11:19 AM on December 4, 2006

Sorry, thinkingwoman, we're full up on people right now.

Seriously, we need more of your ilk. Come on down. The American-Statesman is the local paper. It's where I list when I need help.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:02 PM on December 4, 2006

I worked at UT, starting as a UTemp and moving into a full-time position (so, yes, that does actually happen). They do tend to have a wealth of permanent, non-work-study positions listed on the JobSearch website that mattbucher linked to--check a few times a week, because they post new positions fairly often.

And a fun store to work at shouldn't be too hard to find. While the Drag seemed to be dwindling a bit (at least as of this past summer, when I moved away), there's always South Congress, North Loop, etc. for your funky shopping and working needs. You might check the Austin Chronicle classifieds, along with the Statesman.

Happy moving! Austin's great.
posted by paleography at 12:53 PM on December 4, 2006

I work at UT. For our receptionist position we had over 100 applications, and the winner has a Masters degree. To be our receptionist. You need to find an "in" with the university, whether through the temp pool or solid recommendations from people within the university, so it's not an easy place to get a good job with right off the bat.

But I've heard that our job market is booming in the entertainment industry. Any behind the cameras ambitions?
posted by lychee at 4:32 PM on December 4, 2006