Re: Florida jobs

[Daniel P Read <danielread -at- JUNO -dot- COM>]

>>due to uncontrollable circumstances, i soon may find myself out of a
job (merry
>>christmas!). i am considering relocating to central florida--orlando or
the
>>surrounding area.

I live in Jacksonville, FL and am currently searching for a job.  To
start with, avoid Jacksonville (and North FL in general) if you can.  The
market has very few technical writing positions available.  Most of the
IT jobs here are with banks, insurance companies, etc. so the market is
pretty good for programmers, systems admins, etc.  I am focusing my job
search on Atlanta and hope to be moving there for a position soon.

The good news for you, however, is that Orlando is a good market.  If I
had to rank the markets in Florida, I would put the Tampa market first,
Orlando second, South Florida third,  North Florida fourth, and the
panhandle last.  There's a lot of activity in Tampa and Orlando.  You
might check out www.careerpath.com, which has a search engine of the
classified ads of a bunch of major papers.  It saves me from having to
pay seven bucks for the Atlanta _Journal-Constitution_ every week.  I
think I remember seeing the Orlando _Sentinel_ on there.

My strategy has been to look for specific TW ads first, then start
looking for ads taken out by technology companies and contracting firms,
no matter what kind of jobs they're advertising.  Then I just send a
letter of introduction and resume (usually via fax or e-mail).   If I
have a phone number, I follow up the call in a few days.  Sometimes, if I
have any way to make a "warm" call, I'll call first and just ask for a
recruiter.

I'm sure there are a lot of these recruiting/contracting/consulting
agencies in Orlando.  They have worked well for me so far (although the
verdict won't be in until I have a job).

For instance, I placed a "warm" call to a place in Atlanta yesterday.  I
caught the recruiter in the middle of ten things and got a very lukewarm
response.  "I hardly ever see technical writing positions," she said,
"but you can send me your resume anyway and I'll put it in the database."
 I worked up a variation on my standard fax letter-resume template and
faxed it to her.  She called me today.  A great TW position just popped
up on her desk today.  She said a couple of times how fortunate it was I
just sent her my resume.  We talked and she is putting me in for the
position.  This is now one of my hottest prospects.

I would advise you to get as many resumes and letters as possible out
there, but beware of duplicate positions.  Last week, I had three
different recruiters I have been working with call me about the same
position.  Of course, I worked with the first recruiter on the position,
but informed the other two that a different recruiter had already
submitted me for that position and that I did not want to create any
conflicts between the recruiters.  The second and third recruiters seemed
to appreciate this and hopefully will continue to look out for me.  The
following Sunday, I saw this same position in the paper, listed by a
fourth company.  Be careful.  You don't want to be locked out of a job
because two agencies are fighting over the commission.

Finally, use the web.  I have made more job contacts through the web than
I ever dreamed possible.

Good luck,
Daniel Read