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Ask HN: How far in advance should I look for a job in the SF Bay Area?

4 points by evandavid ↗ HN
I'm moving halfway across the world to the San Francisco area on March 13th. Very excited.

I will be hoping to start work as quickly as possible, but realistically I can hang in there for a few months without one if need be. A natural progression for me would be to look in either the User Research or Product Management fields. Preferably for a startup.

Question is, when do I start approaching companies? It's over three months away, so I don't want to be forgotten about after making my initial approach, but I also don't want to leave it too late. It's really hard to judge the state of the job market without being there (mixed messages), which further confuses the process.

Any advice would be awesome.

7 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 31.6 ms ] thread
dlsspy
If you're good, you can get a job in a matter of days. There's plenty of hiring out here all the time. We can't hire good programmers fast enough.

I moved out here over ten years ago with pretty much no place to live and a small contracting job. My only regret was waiting so long.

udfalkso
He said he wants to do UX or PM work, not programming. This will be a bit tougher to find.
Mamady
I would say start applying 2 to 3 weeks before you move to SF. Most companies want their employees to start immediately - but realise that most have a 2 to 4 week "notice period" for their previous employer.

Apply more than 4 weeks in advance will just be a waste of time, most companies wont wait that long (unless your REALLY something special).

evandavid
Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. Like I mentioned in my original post - it's so hard to keep a clear head looking in from the outside and seeing all the media reports etc.
tierone
I can speak from my experience, coming to SF from Europe and finding a design job at a corporation: As long as you are not here, or about to come here, you are exponentially less interesting to companies. If they like your email, resume, portfolio, whatever, they want to invite you, talk to you, see whether you are a cool person. And they want to do it fast. This must especially be true to small companies. Also: You will be able to make so many new PERSONAL connections here, which will make the job search much easier. It's not unlikely to fire off 100 emails to every potential employer and not get much back. But meet one person that you get along with well on a personal level, and you might get your interview right there. Everybody here knows someone who knows someone who wants to hire somebody like you.

(if you need someone to sponsor a visa though, it's a completely different story)

Good luck!

evandavid
Yeah I had thought about that fact - I wouldn't want to get into a lesser position by applying for a job remotely than what I could achieve applying in person. I think I will follow some of the other advice mentioned here and do a sort of email/Skype blitz in the 3-4 week period before I arrive, and just make sure that I use any responses to schedule in-person contact for as soon as I get there. Thanks for your advice.
dennmart
About a week before my contract for my job in New York City was up, I decided to take the plunge and try my hand in landing some work in the Bay Area. In less than a week, I had been contacted by four companies here, and was offered a position by one of them, which I accepted. I asked them to give me three weeks to be able to move - This meant selling whatever I couldn't afford to move, flying out here to find an apartment and preparing to start a totally new life by myself. They had no problem with that, and let me know that if I needed more time, that I could let them know.

I'd say you should start approaching companies about a solid month before you're going to move here. That should give you enough time to find a good fit, enough time for your new employer to prepare for you, and enough time to for you to begin preparing for the long move. Best of luck!