As an IT professional, you probably think you have a leg up on the competition when it comes to online job searching. After all, the Internet is your playground, right?  But if you’ve been paying attention to the news, you know you’re not the only IT professional vying for the best Dallas job openings.  Texas has been in the news quite a bit lately because it is one of the only states that have shown consistent job growth.  Residents of the Dallas area may be pleased to find out that their city is experiencing a faster economic recovery, but this also means that people from other parts of the country may be competing for the same jobs.

According to a team of Dallas technical recruiters, most job seekers still think they can manage their own job search. They figure if they send out enough resumes, write enough customized cover letters, and follow up with enough phone calls; eventually this approach will yield them one well-paying IT position at a Fortune 500 company.  Take it from someone who has tried this approach repeatedly; even the most experienced IT people in the country rarely stand out when one job listing gets hundreds of resumes.  It wasn’t until I decided to work with a technical recruiter that I was finally able to break through to the decision makers.

It seems like every year around this time, broadcast news media and magazines like to recap the “best of” the year, whether it was the year’s best movies, worst dressed, sexiest men or person of the year.  It is also a time when the same media outlets start making lists for the coming year.  As someone who specializes in recruiting for IT jobs in Dallas, I do a lot of research on the job market for recent college graduates. Usually, when IT jobs are among the top ten best paying jobs for college graduates, there is good reason for the whole industry to celebrate.

A recent article that appeared on CNN.com focused on the best paying jobs for recent college graduates, and not surprisingly the report proved that IT jobs continue to expand while other industries shrink.  It’s interesting to note that the starting salaries for many of the best paying jobs exceed the current salary of many tenured professionals in other fields

Not long ago, an article was featured about technical jobs in Dallas, inquiring about their availability.  Perhaps this had something to do with Rick Perry’s recent announcement as a presidential candidate, but a lot of people were asking, “Are there really any technical jobs in Dallas, or are they just a lot of minimum wage positions?”  Since then, there has been a lot more debate about which sectors of the economy in Texas had experienced the most robust job growth.  Some went as far as to argue that at least 40 percent of the job growth in major cities was due to companies’ hiring illegal aliens.  But the author proved the opposite is true, at least in Dallas, which has recently become a “magnet city” for technical and IT jobs.

You say you haven’t heard about all this so-called job growth in the Dallas IT sector?  Well, one reason for that may be the lack of “posted” job opportunities on the Internet.  You see, the competition in Dallas became so fierce over the past two years that many companies resorted to using a technical recruiting firm instead of posting to the general public.  Not only has this saved time for their overstretched hiring manager, it has also generated a higher percentage of qualified candidates.

As a technical aviation expert, your skills may very well be transferrable to another area of the IT industry.  In fact, your skills make you a more “well rounded” candidate than you think.  Some people listen to the news so often that they have become pessimistic about Dallas job openings, thinking that they may never actually land one. But the truth is there are plenty of opportunities in the Dallas IT industry, so try to avoid using high unemployment rates as an excuse not to try.

Regardless of the kind of business you’re in, it’s likely you have already dealt with some kind of setback because of the economy.  Whether it was a layoff, a hiring freeze, or issues with accounts receivable, or even the shutdown of a facility, the economic downturn has impacted virtually every business in America.  Even expert franchisees have had to make some unpleasant decisions about whether they can keep their operations going.  So why would someone want to start a search for “businesses for sale?”  The answer is “because of the economy.”  Believe it or not, a bad economy can make business investing one of the safest ways to grow your investment portfolio.

It’s true; a poor economy can expand your entrepreneurial opportunities.  In fact, some of the smartest business owners are using current economic conditions to their benefit.  This may include acquiring competing businesses in your industry and expanding service offerings to a wider audience.  In the case of an auto dealer, for example, acquiring a parts and service business may be a lot easier than starting your own in-house service department, and much more affordable too.  .  Now may be the ideal time to purchase complementary businesses in the area at a bargain price.

Buying and selling a business has become quite a challenge in this economy, which has caused even the diehard “do-it-yourself” entrepreneurs to seek professional advice.   A professional business broker can make the process of finding a buyer or finding a business much faster.  But how do you go about finding the best business broker?  It’s not as if they place ads in newspapers or send out email blasts to promote themselves.

It may seem like a tall order – finding a green business for sale by owner.  After all, most green businesses haven’t been around that long, and finding one would usually require the assistance of a business broker.  But with so businesses running a leaner and “greener” operation with slim margins, it makes sense to avoid paying a broker’s commission. If you’re passionate about the environment, then you may have always dreamed of starting your own business.  But it is much harder to get a small business loan today than it was just five years ago.

If you want to know which IT jobs are the most coveted ones in the industry, all you need to do is ask a Dallas technical recruiter.  Most would agree that working at companies like LinkedIn, Google or Facebook rank high on their list of “dream jobs”.  But just being on the cutting edge of technology is no guarantee of happiness on the job.

If you speak with a group of Colorado business owners who are listing their businesses for sale, you might think that they were trying to sell a home instead. It may be a buyer’s market for real estate in almost any American city, but the recession often brings anxious investors to the doorstep of business brokers in Colorado.  Instead of buying stocks or investing in real estate, investors are looking to small businesses as one of the safest ways to turn a profit.

Whether you recently lost your job or you’re still looking for that first “real job” after college, one Dallas technical recruiter makes a good case for working with him.  If you tell friends and family that you have an IT degree and you’re seeking a job, they may not have much sympathy for you. This is only because the perception is that IT jobs are plentiful.  While they may not be quite as scarce as manufacturing jobs, IT has taken a major hit over the past few years.

No longer can a recent grad from MIT just name his or her price.  As profits shrink, large IT departments are a thing of the past, and much of the entry level work is being outsourced to other countries.  So what is a tech job hunter supposed to do?  According to GTN Technical Staffing, their first step should be to hire a Dallas technical recruiter.