Keep Austin Weird: Top Places To Work In Austin
by Jay Markunas, Career Consultant
With over 115 sunny days per year and an average temperature of 69 degrees, Austin is a great place to live. The weather is just the icing of a very delicious cake. Austin is clean, safe, and packed with things to do. It’s a great place to listen to live music as well as a great place to raise a family. No wonder 1.7M people (up from 1.2M in 2000) call the Austin, Texas area their home.
Leslie Cochran is an American peace activist, cross-dresser, street person and local celebrity in Austin, Texas. Photo courtesy of http://www.whitehotphoenix.com/
Not Easy
The dot com bust of 2000/2001 wiped many of the small start-ups off the map. Large companies were laying off, and many people chose to leave Austin. As things slowly recovered, Austin like many metropolitan areas faced economic woes when gas got up to $4.00/gallon under the Bush administration - as well as the recession and high unemployment just recently faced.
But, many chose to stay and ride it out. They took “survival jobs” or lower paying jobs that allowed them to stay in the city. One person I spoke to as the dot com bust was happening (while many cities with economies based on oil & gas, telecomm, or other industries was growing) said, “leaving Austin wasn’t even a consideration! Why would I ever want to leave Austin?!?”
Austin has always been linked more with “California” than with “Texas”. Laid back, music loving, and open minded have been associated with Austin while the rest of Texas has been considered conservative, faced-paced, and rigid. Austin is certainly a “blue dot” in a “red state”. This attracts younger and hipper companies with perks like a progressive “mobile” workforce, a “leave early on Friday” corporate attitude, and “summer hours” to enjoy the sun and fun of Austin. Some companies in Austin even close down over the Christmas holidays to allow their employees more time off. Austin’s progressive attitude and nature makes it a very attractive city to live and work.
The List
In the Austin American Statesman’s “2010 Top Workplaces in Austin” with an interactive search, you can find many of those progressive companies. Some employees describe their companies as “valuing employees”, “free”, and “FUN”! Yes…FUN! Six of the companies on the list are over 100 years old. 14 companies on the list opened their doors after 2000. St. David’s Healthcare is the largest employer on the list with 6,600 employees in the Austin area. Four companies have 50 employees. Of the employers on the list, eleven are technology companies, 11 are healthcare, 8 are financial services, 7 are education, 5 are government agencies, and 5 are social/non-profits. If you are looking for a job in Austin or plan to move to Austin, targeting those places you’d like to work and making a connection with someone in the company is very important. This list can help you get started.
Austin is not a culture of “headhunters” - although they can be very helpful in most cities. Austin is about those core-Texas values of “a handshake is your bond”. Most of all Austin is about making connections. Austin is a big city with a small-town mentality. Applying to the HR department won’t get you “in the door” at most companies in Austin. Making a connection with someone with the power to hire you in an Austin company is how you find a FUN job and build a FUN life in Austin!
Work is supposed to be FUN! If you aren’t having fun, then do something else. Great Occupations can help you land the job you love or find the work you love. Visit us at http://www.GreatOccupations.com/pajamalearning to find out more!
