Great Jobs for Portland and Beyond: Mac’s List Expands to Seattle

It’s time to share the good news: Portland-based job board Mac’s List is expanding to serve Seattle, Washington and the Puget Sound region! The Mac’s List team is excited to add new jobs and career services for Washington state professionals starting May 2019.

We’re growing, but not going anywhere. Portland will always be our home and we remain committed to giving Portland’s professional community great job listings, job search and hiring resources, and all the other goodies you expect from Mac’s List! In fact, we believe this change will help us serve you better here in the Rose City.

What makes Mac’s List unique

For years, people from around the country have asked: “Is there a job board like Mac’s List in my city?”

The answer, with a few exceptions, is no.

The truth is, Mac’s List is unique in the job board world. Most major cities have a local job site or two, and perhaps a few industry-specific email lists. But our approach (and our mission) at  Mac’s List is different in the following ways:

• We are the world’s first certified B Corp job board, a business with a social mission hard-coded into our business model.
• We are a locally-focused job search site with deep roots in the community.
• We post high-quality job listings and monitor and curate our list daily.
• Our staff knows the employers who post jobs on our site.
• Through articles, books, courses, events, and podcasts, we help people learn job hunting skills and employers improve hiring practices.
• We don’t “buy” job posts from other sites — you won’t find old, expired jobs on our site.
• We don’t sell your information to third-party data farms.
• We’re committed to serving job seekers and employers with honesty and empathy.

Together with you, our readers and customers, we have created something special: a unique community of professionals who care about doing meaningful work and building great workplaces. Thank you!

As modern job searching and hiring gets more complex, we are confident that our local, human-centered job board model can help people beyond Portland and we’re ready to bring value to new communities.

Expanding into Seattle: scaling up the good

When making the decision to expand our business, we were driven by one central question: In what new market can our services do the most good?

After extensive research and discussions with job seekers and employers, the answer became clear: Seattle.

Yes, Seattle is Portland’s “big sister,” and it’s nearly double the size of our hometown. But Portland and Seattle are two peas in the great Pacific Northwest pod. We both have passionate and skilled people, long-standing dedication to social and environmental goals, a commitment to keep things just a bit “weird”, and of course, lots of rain.

The job markets in Portland and Seattle share a growing number of similarities, both good and bad. There are tons of career opportunities but ongoing challenges with job search skills, hiring practices, talent shortages, livable wages, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. (Addressing these challenges drive much of the educational content we provide for job seekers and employers.)

And there’s an increasing regional interconnectedness between these two Pacific Northwest hubs. The   I-5 corridor between Portland and Seattle represents one of the nation’s most productive and fastest growing economic areas. Thousands of people move between Seattle and Portland each year and countless others work remotely in one city for a company based in the other.

Expanding our services into Seattle presents a special opportunity to grow the good we do in a new city and, by supporting our broader regional economy, better serve our audience in Portland. We believe a regional approach is a “win-win” for everyone involved. It means more career opportunities for job seekers in both Seattle and Portland AND more potential candidates for employers in both markets.

Our plans for expansion, and what users can expect

Not much is changing in terms of our services. Mostly, you’ll see more jobs and resources for Seattle! We’re hoping the changes will help inspire new ideas and opportunities for your job search or hiring plans.

If you’re looking for work, you might see more references to Seattle on our website, in our job listings, and in our email newsletters. You can always filter by city on the jobs list using the “Locations” dropdown in the search menu. However, I’d encourage you to keep an eye on some of the opportunities that show up north of the Columbia. A regional approach to your job search can help you benchmark salary and career prospects. Plus, many employers now allow employees to work remotely!

We’ve also launched a dedicated job search page for Seattle and the Puget Sound area. This is just the starting point for job seekers who click to search for Seattle jobs, and will direct to the jobs list when you enter search terms.

Finally, we’re building up a library of Seattle-specific job search articles, starting with networking guides and information about the city from a career-focused lens. Check back often, or subscribe to our weekly Career Resources newsletter to get the latest as they’re published.

And if you’re hiring, a growing audience of candidates in the Pacific Northwest means more exposure for your open jobs, whether your job is based in Portland, Seattle, or any city in between.

As you may know, the Mac’s List team is mighty, but small. Expanding to Seattle is a big step for us. We promise to keep you informed as we go through this next chapter. We’re grateful to you for your attention and for being a part of our community.

And we’re here if you have questions! Email Mac at mac@macslist.org.