jlola21 wrote:
Thanks for the input River.
A few questions-
-Did your wife utilize head hunters? If not, why?
My wife did go through one for two of her job offers. One of which was the one she accepted. My wife works in a field that actually had a pretty large number of jobs, so they allow recruiters to place and those people also know of other opportunities. A few of her friends used them too and some went the websearch way. I think companies these days, at least for positions that arent hard to fill, prefer not to use professionals since that can cost them a pretty large fee. It doesnt hurt to use them but personally I wouldnt rely on them completely.
jlola21 wrote:
-My husband is approaching employers by stating in his intro email that he will be relocating to Chicago this summer, and when asked will say I will be starting school, plan is to stay in Chicago long-term (which is a potential plan). I'm thinking this is a good approach - considering companies haven't been paying relocation fees for awhile now, but what do you think? If he can't get a job, we'll be living apart until he can - in hopes that it won't be more than 6 months or so. But I was wondering, did your wife look very actively before moving?
My wife looked but if you cant get a human being and are just dropping a resume or applying online its hard to get it across you are looking. With the job current market for some industries I am sure that people are looking all over. If locally its a tough market then it may be difficult elsewhere. She knew there were a lot of opportunities for her here, so we decided just to go for it. I would say she looked from back home from mid to late May but other than a few phone interviews made little headway. Talking with a friend's wife who works in HR its pretty common no matter what to have a radius from the location they are willing to hire, if you aren't applying while living in that place then its difficult. So if he hasnt found a job, he definitely should use your Chicago address on his resume and applications.
jlola21 wrote:
-How useful did she find Kellogg's resources?
She didnt really use them, she wasn't very proactive with getting in touch well in advance and by the time we moved here and her friends talked about it she was well on her way to getting offers so didnt bother. I know several of her friends got a lot of very valuable contacts. They have the advantage of knowing alums in different industries, headhunters that have done very well for them in the past, and contacts at various companies...here at Kellogg it also seems that jobs within the university are pretty open to significant others. Like the ones that may only be open to internal hires and I think in someways they give priorities to JV's, I know of several spouses working for the university. Depending on the significant others community there might be some valuable people there to help, a few spouses of 2nd years gave job leads and pass resumes along for people
jlola21 wrote:
-What are the most active suburbs around Chicago in regards to employment?
I think that most people work downtown, some in Evanston and this area, and then some do longer commutes. I think that people focus on this area and downtown because of the easy commute.