Moved to Charlotte from LI one year ago (job openings, salary)

[somersmom]

We're coming from Westchester, not LI, but can I get in on this party, too?

Like so many others, we're sick of how expensive it is in New York -- taxes are outrageous & the quality of life is eroding. We have friends who moved to the Charlotte area years ago & they've been bugging us to come check it out for years. We took a long weekend last April to head south & hooked up with an awesome Realtor who showed us around Union County. She sends us listings several times a week; we are looking specifically at Waxhaw area.

DH is in finance & Wall Street is heading for the skids, so once his job goes bye-bye, we're out of here. I'm in media, but finishing my masters in education so I plan to look for a teaching job in NC. I understand the schools are growing so rapidly they can't keep up. Any info people could pass along about the teaching job market would be appreciated. My certification will be English, grades 5-12 & I will be going for special ed certification as well.

DH has lived his whole life in NY so he's a little more unsure of making such a big move. But at this point, NY is the albatross dragging us down & I'm ready to get out.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Kaligal

What do the taxes run on a home in about the 150-175k range?

In Charlotte about $1800 a year.

[EX LI'r]

somersmom,yeah wall street is killing my mutual funds badly right now, very sorry to hear about the hubby on losing his job soon...From what I've heard a new teacher starts somewhere in the mid 30's and up depending on experience and what county..I hear union county schools are better to teach in then mecklenburg for assorted reasons,,i know there are lots of positions available and hear of a job fair coming real soon in april sometime, you should look into the "job fair" asap if your real serious on moving,,here is a good website to check out on teaching..

ooo, lookie here, bingo just found it, here is that job fair info.....''''"annual job fair will be held on April 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Charlotte Convention Center (501 South College Street)"''''......

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/index.asp - broken link)

[somersmom]

ooo, lookie here, bingo just found it, here is that job fair info.....''''"annual job fair will be held on April 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Charlotte Convention Center (501 South College Street)"''''......

Thanks for the link. I saw the notices in the paper when we were down last year, but I will definitely check it out.

It's funny, when we last visited, three of the first 4 people we met were ex-NYers; all of them loved Charlotte & none would go back to NY. I joke with DH that if we moved, we should do a NY-style deli w/"imported" bread, mozz & cannollis to go with all that awesome bbq we had.

[EX LI'r]

lol,,there are NY style deli's here, but believe me when i tell you, there nothing like NY style deli's, there is one like your describing up in cornelius and he's killing it,,but one in charlotte would do great! hey we are Italian, just let us know and we will be there buying all your goodies!

[Jamerican]

Originally Posted by MikeyKid

I think it's going to depend on what you do in IT - at the PM level, it's pretty much all try n buy. You'll need to get your foot in the door as a contractor. If you're in one of the technical disciplines (Networking, AppDev, etc) your best bet is to work with a local headhunter. Hell, your best bet period is working with some local headhunters. The sites like Monster, and even the pay sites like the Ladder, won't get you anything better then working with local headhunters. Work with several and keep looking for more - work it.

Lowe's is basically relocating it's entire IT to a brand spanking new campus in Mooresville... cruise their web site as well as the other big employers here. If you match up perfectly to the qualifications, you will get calls - it's worth a shot. Sadly, none of the major employers in the area are having stellar years. It makes it very competitive for the jobs.

MikeyKid,

Thanks for the 411. Monster, Dice, and Careerbuilders.com are my only source of obtaining any recruiters .... local or otherwise. I received two referrals from LovesMountain which was very thoughtful of him as usual. One of them said that some of her clients included Bank of America, but nothing for a Network Engineer at the moment, the other referral did not answer my e-mail yet. Anyway, I am still scouring the internet for anything that I can find and I am always open to any good referrals or information that can help.

[jp03]

Originally Posted by somersmom

We're coming from Westchester, not LI, but can I get in on this party, too?

Like so many others, we're sick of how expensive it is in New York -- taxes are outrageous & the quality of life is eroding. We have friends who moved to the Charlotte area years ago & they've been bugging us to come check it out for years. We took a long weekend last April to head south & hooked up with an awesome Realtor who showed us around Union County. She sends us listings several times a week; we are looking specifically at Waxhaw area.

DH is in finance & Wall Street is heading for the skids, so once his job goes bye-bye, we're out of here. I'm in media, but finishing my masters in education so I plan to look for a teaching job in NC. I understand the schools are growing so rapidly they can't keep up. Any info people could pass along about the teaching job market would be appreciated. My certification will be English, grades 5-12 & I will be going for special ed certification as well.

DH has lived his whole life in NY so he's a little more unsure of making such a big move. But at this point, NY is the albatross dragging us down & I'm ready to get out.

Just make SURE you know why you are leaving. We left for many of the smae reasons you want to..after a year here, guess what...we miss New England...ALOT

[Miker2069]

Originally Posted by Jamerican

MikeyKid,

Thanks for the 411. Monster, Dice, and Careerbuilders.com are my only source of obtaining any recruiters .... local or otherwise. I received two referrals from LovesMountain which was very thoughtful of him as usual. One of them said that some of her clients included Bank of America, but nothing for a Network Engineer at the moment, the other referral did not answer my e-mail yet. Anyway, I am still scouring the internet for anything that I can find and I am always open to any good referrals or information that can help.

Just a small correction...LoveMountain's is a she

[staywarm2]

Originally Posted by EX LI'r

I can only say that me, my wife and our 2 little ones moved to Matthews/Charlotte a little over a year ago from Merrick LI and simply love it!

People are friendly, many, many folks from up north and basically from all cities from around the country, sure the original southerners arent crazy about all of us moving here, but so what!
Mike

Mike,

Please be aware that we Southerners (and I'm not in or from Charlotte) are sometimes put off by the aggressive manner in which Northerners act. I know all of you are not aware of it but it does grate on those of us who were raised with "Southern" manners. Since those very same southerners are the people who made Charlotte such a nice place to live in the first place, it would be good if you made more of an effort to treat them and everyone else more kindly. Gracious manners are what makes Charlotte, and many other southern cities, a great place to live. Just a word to the wise....

[EX LI'r]

Yes and I am always aware of being honest, friendly and generally respecting the people of charlotte and of the south,,but i do notice the 1 year that I'm here, it's becoming more and more metropolitan every day. I'ts just not northerners moving here, its a full mix of the country, ive met pople from many, many different states here,,i think thats pretty cool, actually