HELP!!! Boston Advice and I'm Confused (apartment, lease, hotels)

[DBarron187]

HELP!!!!

I just graduated from an Ivy League school and have six months to kill before grad school..... No one will hire me for that short of a time and a friend just invited me to live with her in Boston.

Can I:

a.) move to boston and find a retail/waitering job fairly easily? i.e. move there and sign a lease and not have an impossible time finding a job?

b.) Survive in Boston Boston proper (not sure exactly where yet but somewhere close to the city) on 25,000 per year? (roughly 2k per month, with around 700 per month rent).

Those are pretty subjective questions I know, but I need some hard answers since I'm about to make a big (and SCARY) comittment.... This will be me moving out on my own for the first time, so any advice you can offer up would be awesome! I love Boston and would love to make this work! Not afraid to live grungy and eat lots of Ramen!


ADVISE ME!!!!!

-Scared Boston hopeful

[CityGirl52]

I personally think what you should do is go to Boston first for a few days or even a good solid week OR two, see if you can stay with this friend that's offering you a room in her apartment so that you can get out there & get the job first, whether it's waitressing, retailing or whatever you find. This way you'll have a better idea of your $$$ you're going to have to bring in each month. Going there without the job first already in place and committing to the lease with your friend doesn't make sense. This way too, you've got the job and you can hopefully keep it for a year at least, if you like it stay there, if you don't, then you'll have to figure out another job, but usually once you get hired & you've got to come up with rent money, the 1st of the month comes around awfully quick, so while you're going to school in Boston any way soon you'll be on your way to independence, once you get on a roll with this game plan up your sleeve!

I waitressed in Boston at the various hotels, it was a blast back then. Now you have to just go to the various hotels individually, that's how they hire their catering staff evidently. It used to be like a "roll call" where you called their particular number and you'd find out where the 'lunch' or 'dinner' was around Boston whether it was a wedding, a Christmas party and you'd go there, just show up and serve the food and leave, it was awesome $$$ at that time too, BUT now they put an end to that way of 'catering', you have to put an application in at the various hotels.

I know that there's 'chains' of restaurants that you wouldn't even think even was a "chain" BUT they are. For instance if you go to the Max & Dylan's restaurant & bar, you'll notice there's one in City Square and there's also one in downtown Boston on West Street. Well these guys also own "Tavern On The Water" which is always crowded with people, especially this time of year, yet also in the winter months, trust me! Also the "Scollay Square" restaurant up near the State House would be great if you could do some lunches there, it gets crowded with lunch hour business people at that one. So if you go to their website you could put an application in. To me they're always busy at any of their establishments. Those are the type of places you want to get hired in, to make good, decent $$ for what you have up your sleeve, especially good at these type of places around lunch time & dinner. Just to give you an idea of the type of jobs IF you are actually going to be waitressing in Boston? Then these are the type of places you should be trying to get hired at, busy, in and out places that bring in the people & the crowds, especially on weekends, so get ready to work nights and weekends, that's part of that lifestyle, but just think, you can study during the day after your classes!

It's word of mouth too, so keep your eyes and ears open when you're here visiting and pounding that sidewalk, just network with your age group of friends to find out exactly where to work too....

A lot of it is the economy too now, it's hitting every one of us these days, no matter where you live, it's pretty bad, also no matter what age you are. There seems to be quite a lot of college aged people unemployed, more now than ever before unfortunately. So like I keep saying here, you just have to look for the job, THEN sign the lease once you know you're hired.

I'll tell you, take it from me, do this in little "baby steps" at first! You've got to, as once you get the job, you're golden! That will really be the key to this big move & it IS a big move! I was there! (been there done that, I remember it well!) THEN you can pack your bags, you'll be on your own kid....good luck with this, you'll love living in Boston once you get situated!

[Urban Peasant]

Man, I don't know what people will say if you mention you graduated from an Ivy League and are now doing temporary menial jobs like waitering just to get by. Still, a job is a job and one has to eat. Jobs are quite tight in this area as of late and with school out and a whole bunch of college and high school kids looking for similar jobs, things will be quite competitive. I would do as CityGirl 52 had said, come and visit the city first, see if you like it, and if you do then visit as many retail stores and restaurants that posted openings as possible. You might also want to look for temp work in other sectors as well.