Is anyone in the Seattle/Redmond area looking for a new hire?

I'm moving there next Wednesday with just my cats, my clothes and a little bit of money, trying to start anew and whatnot. I have years of experience in Public Relations, QA and sales, but aside form applying to places through monster.com and Gamasutra I don't really know the area, so I'm not too savvy on where to go for employment/agencies/etc.

If anyone lives in the area, do you know any good places of business that are hiring, or could at least point me toward a reputable temp agency? I need to find a job that earns at the very minimum $11 an hour, $14 or so to be semi-comfortable. I have tons of retail experience as well, and I'm not above retail work if it pays well enough.

Thanks in advance, I've never lived up North, I'm really excited and happy to be leaving California.

There are many good employeers in the area. Microsoft and Google on the East side of Lake Washington (of course) are solid employeers with outstanding compensation and benefits.

Amazon.com is also a well-regarded employeer West of Lake Washington. The City of Seattle is a good choice. (Seattle is hiring police and fire personnel. The tunnel is also expanding for light rail.) Weyerhaueser has offices downtown as do many larger companies.

I recommend you go to the downtown branch of the Seattle library to compile a list of employeers in the area with executive names and telephone numbers. A research librarian can point you in the right direction. Send out letters to executives and follow-up with phone calls to the offices.

Good luck on your search. I suspect that you will not need to hire an employment agency. Sometimes they are ineffectual and often they take unreasonable cuts when they do place individuals.