Moving cross-country for grad school - finding job for significant other?

[boblet]

I'll be moving from the West Coast to the Boston/Cambridge area for grad school this fall. (Wheeeeeeeee!)

 

I'm quite excited. My boyfriend will most likely be moving with me, and obviously is a bit leery of just following me across the country with nothing lined up. Does anyone have any suggestions for finding him a job, either before we leave or after we arrive?

 

He's got a BS in math with a couple hard-science minors and is hoping for a research-related job. I was planning to look at the jobs site for my university and ask current grads in the lab for ideas, but am curious how you guys handled similar situations.

[stephchristine0]

what area?

[Jumat]

If he has contacts in the Boston area, have him reach out to them about opportunities they may know about. They could at least point him in the right direction. If he doesn't know anyone near Boston/Cambridge, have him ask his coworkers or colleagues whether they know anyone in the area working in his field (and might be able to make an introduction).

[boblet]

I think we'll probably be living in Somerville or nearby, so anything within reasonable commuting distance is fine.

 

Jumat, those are good ideas - thanks!

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

For your boyfriend:

 

Once you find out where you'll be living, use that local address on your job applications. Like other cities which may be pricey/which may have a ton of applicants (I'm thinking of New York City), applying with a Boston address may help.

 

However, if applying for a job from where you are now, perhaps make a note in your application that you'll be planning to move into Boston and be available by "X" date. 

 

Primarily, I make these suggestions because I have seen proof of residency required for some jobs in Boston. Albeit in the humanities (Boston Public Library), but I imagine it couldn't hurt your candidacy to be upfront. 

[JungWild&Free]

Somerville gives you a ton of access to tech companies and schools in Cambridge that would probably have a lot of use for someone with that background.  I would suggest looking at the HR pages at Harvard, MIT, and Lesley to see if he can find any skilled administrative work (lab manager, research assistant, statistician) and then expanding the search to HR pages at companies with outfits in Cambridge.  I had a friend that moved with her husband who had a Civil Engineering degree but had to be a valet for about 5 months before he found a good job (which is really not that long in the current market if you think about it).  He didn't love it but everything worked out in the end.  I think it will probably be hard to find a job before moving here if it isn't something you can apply to online.  Networking never hurts either.

[biscuits]

I'll be moving from the West Coast to the Boston/Cambridge area for grad school this fall. (Wheeeeeeeee!)   I'm quite excited. My boyfriend will most likely be moving with me, and obviously is a bit leery of just following me across the country with nothing lined up. Does anyone have any suggestions for finding him a job, either before we leave or after we arrive?   He's got a BS in math with a couple hard-science minors and is hoping for a research-related job. I was planning to look at the jobs site for my university and ask current grads in the lab for ideas, but am curious how you guys handled similar situations.

Does he want to continue in the hard-science vein? Keep in mind that many university-related positions will be gobbled up by current students and/or summer interns. Check the government agencies as well!

[gatsby8724]

Thanks for starting this topic!

 

My husband and I are likely in the same boat, but going the other direction (Washington, D.C. to the San Francisco Bay area).  I'll be the student and he'll be looking for full time employment.  He doesn't have a strong network out there, but a lot of interest in the scene.

 

My question is, what advice would folks have for spouses of full-time students?  For example, how does he get involved with university life and my social scene but also find his own identity out there?  Is living in university housing a good/bad idea?  Etc.