Some pointers
Best of luck with the move!
Some free advice (so if you don't take it, you don't get your money back!). Most of it is geared towards job hunting, not so much looking for contracts, but I think it's applicable to both.
Bring enough money to live for a few months without working. That way you won't be desperate to take the first job that comes along.
Write a resume and find someplace to print a proper cover letter for each job you apply for. No one does this and it will make you stand out from the crowd. Trust me. The number of foreigners I've had saunter into my place in flipflops expecting a job just because they're foreigners is mind-boggling. If you can't make the extra effort to be professional when applying for a job, that tells me everything I need to know about how you'll perform the job.
Always send your resume to the GM or owner -- not the personel department. Exec level positions are very rarely vacant, but rather vacated if a better candidate comes along and are often very friendly with the person who's jb you want. Often the personel manager has no idea that management is not happy with an exec. Your resume in the right hands might be what makes them make room for you.
Research the place you're applying for. Seriously -- if you can't be bothered learning a little about a place, you're obviously not that interested in working there. On the flip side, a passing knowledge of the history of a business will go a long way in an interview.
Enrol in Spanish classes. I picked up my spanish on the fly and now speak like a motoconcho
. Seriously though, a few classes a week will do wonders for you in learning the language, as will reading the paper (or comics if that's the best you can do). Besides, then you can say you're taking classes when your potential employer asks you about your language abilities -- makes you look pro-active.
Don't mention that you're moving here for your boyfriend. As different as your relationship may be from all the others, most employers are going to be hesitant about someone who's moving here for their boyfriend because they don't want to hire someone and train them only to lose them once they and their special guy break up. As I said, you and your boyfriend might be different, but there's a sterotype for a reason.
Bring some half-decent office clothing with you. You'd be surprised...
Get out there and meet as many people as you can and tell all of them you're looking for work. Post flyers at the supermarket, at the local mail forwarding centre, anywhere you can. Get the word out however you can. Business owners here are always complaining about not being able to find good execs, but there's no mechanism in place to find them. Make yourself easy to find.
Also: Remember that in an expat community everyone knows everyone. That can help or hinder you. Get to know as many people as you can, but try to stay out of the local pissing contests -- you can't win and can only hurt your reputation (and by extension your employability and ability to get clients)
Get a cell phone right away. Not one shared with your man, but your own. That way, when people call you they get you. Also, get a hotmail/yahoo/whatever account and check it daily.
If/when you get an offer, ask around some more about the business. If you keep hearing the same complaint, ask yourself if you really want to work there. Where there's smoke there's fire.
Do some research on salaries and cost of living. If you're thinking in US salary terms, you're in the wrong country. If you want to make the kind of money you'll need to live like a tourist all year and still affort to travel to the US a few times a year, you'd best either open your own business or sell time share. More to the point, employers hate having to educate job applicants on salaries in the DR. Know your value in Dominican Terms.
A lot of this stuff seems pretty obvious, but you'd be surprised at how many people forget it the minute they step off the plane. Remember that the person who owns the business you're applying to is generally not someone who came here to windsurf, but someone who built a business and is there to make $. You have to show how you can help him do that.
Best of luck, and I hope some of this comes in handy.