Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

Hi,

This is my first post on here.

Just wondering if any of you can offer some advice / information / opinions on my situation.

I'm 24, a dual US/UK citizen, but I've lived in London since I was 7. I have a degree from UCL and have been working for 3 years for a large American firm in London. I've wanted to live & work in the US since I started, but my company are now saying they won't move me for a few more years.

I haven't been able to get another company to hire me from London, although I have applied to some. I've been rejected from most on the basis that it's easier for them to hire someone local.

So I have quit and will be moving to San Francisco in September. I have about $20k saved so that's not a big problem, plus I own a flat in London I will be letting out.

I am still a bit nervous it's all a huge mistake, but I am doing it anyway :) Things I am still worried about are:
- finding a place to live (where in SF is good for someone like me?),
- getting a job (will anyone hire me for a well paid job? I am on £45k here, also is temping easy to come by in SF?),
- making friends (assume this will be easy if I get a flatshare and a job, but still nervous),

Anyway just thought I'd post this on here and see if anyone has any advice, thoughts, as it seems like a friendly community from the other posts. Are there any common mistakes people make, things I won't have thought of that could go wrong? :)

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

Welcome to BE.

Tell us a little more...are you single...what sort of work are you looking for?

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

Hey, well, since you ask yes I'm single. I don't really know anyone in San Francisco either, apart from a few people I met travelling there in March.

My work experience is in e-retail, and I would like to continue to work in the high-tech realm. My ideal would be to work for Google, I have some contacts there who have referred me for jobs. Otherwise I'm keen to work at another successful internet company, or if it gets desperate, any small company I can use my experience in sales/business development. If it gets even more desperate (this is where I am worried), I'd do some temping in any sort of capacity so I can earn some $ whilst getting a "proper" job.

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

LOL I only asked because dependants would factor into whether SF is financially viable.

I can't help you on the job front...but there may be someone here who can answer your questions. Good luck.

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

It sounds like a wonderful adventure. SF is a great place. I'm sure everything with fall into place. Good luck!

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

Welcome.

For the apartment share, craigslist is the place to go.

For the job, networking is the way to go. Find out where they hang out and network, network, network. Join any clubs/communities where you find like-kind around. If you have nothing to do, hang out at the nearest coffee shop to a chosen employer and speak to all and sundry.

$20k is not a lot a lot for SF. But you should be good for a while providing you take it easy on the spending.

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

Best of luck in your quest to move! I can't help on the job front, I'm afraid. I got made redundant from my IT job at the end of May. :lol:

I hear jobs at Google can sometimes require up to 15 interviews. :eek: But for a single person, they sound like a fantastic employer from what I know of them.

At least you have your flat in London, which is great, as something to fall back on as well as a possible source of income.

Good luck karma sent! :thumbup:

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

Welcome to BE.

Competition for Google jobs is fierce. Google were ranked number 1 as the best company to work for in 2007.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...apshots/1.html

Apparently they get 1300 resumes a day.

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

Yeah - I know, I've been keen on them for quite a while now.

They picked my resume out and said they wanted to interview me, which was nice given how many they receive. Then I passed the interview, and then they said I should work in a different part of Google from where I applied. But I haven't got around to applying to that other part yet... it seems very disorganized to me.

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

hiya and welcome to BE :)

i think surly lives in SF and you can always check out http://www.frappr.com/beusa

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

You'll find recruitment is very bureaucratic and slow over here. Don't be surprised to get a phone call for an application you sent in six months ago.

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

That's really helpful to know, thank you. I got my call from Google 2 months after I applied. Who knows what has happened to the rest of the applications I sent to other companies!

What do Americans call Recruitment Consultants? There are absolutely hundreds of them in London, I get lots of calls from them, and there are lots of websites to chose from when I search the net. Can't find anything similar when I search for san francisco recruitment consultants.

All I have found is "executive search" which seems to be mostly headhunting for high ranking jobs, and temping agencies. What are the agencies who can place you in mid-level jobs called? There must be some keyword I am missing as I can't imagine there's no recruitment consultants in the US?!

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

Just pop your CV (*cough* sorry, "resume") out on monster.com and you'll soon be besieged with e-mails and phone calls from consultants wanting to represent you and put you forward for jobs. :)

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

Living in SF and working at Google in SJC is kind of like living in London and working in Cambridge, but with no real trains running between the two.

If you are really looking for a tech job, you'll find far richer pickings 30 miles south of San Fran in Silicon Valley. Granted there are more and more that are in SF, but the cost of housing nearly EVERYWHERE out there is an absolute killer.

My advice would be to comb craigslist. If you aren't adverse to the idea, see if you can find a group house with 3 or 4 other guys who split the rent. It's not only a way to save money, it's also a really good way to start networking. Craigslist and meetup.com are great entry points for someone new to a town and looking to connect.

There are professional recruiters and headhunters out there, but they tend to be very specific. Software sales. Software engineering, and then LAMP or .NET for example. In some of the tech areas, people are getting hired incredibly fast (days) but those are generally for experienced techies.

Re: Moving to San Francisco without a job
 

welcome to BE :)

And try and line something up, at least interviews, mentioning your a US citizen, and do all those social networking sites like www.linkedin.com etc because $20K won't last you long after you've put a deposit on an apartment, gotten a car, insurance.