No Jobs In Colorado Springs (Denver, Pueblo: apartment, new home, job market)

[Scrape113]

Recently moved from O.C. California 4 months ago to the springs. Here's my take for those who might be considering relocating.
First and foremost, make sure you have a job or employment set up. There's nothing here and you'll have to commute towards the Denver area. This has to be the biggest dissapointment for me and my wife. Been here for 4 months now and nothing. My wife works in the medical field and everyone told us no problem at finding a job (yeah right) She has the schooling and the experience (in California) but still nothing. I work in the computer field and I've had no luck as well. Had to take a seasonal position with UPS just to get a mere $15.00 an hour. This is poverty level.

Back home in Cali my wife and I made about 80,000 a year and lived comfortably. We moved to colorado and bought a new home (which is the best part because of the cost) and realized that everything is pretty much the same as it is in Cali (groceries, gas, utilities, phone, cable etc. etc.) The only thing that's different is housing. Basically you can buy a $300,000 - $400,00 home and back in Cali the same home would be between $600,000 - $700,000

As for the weather, I enjoy it. But make sure you have a front-wheel drive car or a four-whell drive truck, because your rear-wheel drive car/truck will be absolutely useless when it snows.

As for education, my kids love it. They both have progressed dramatically and I believe it has a lot to do with the other kids. Here they don't care so much about how you dress and so forth. The peer pressure is not as prevalent as it is in Cali. Kids are raised different here (which I'm all for) kids back home are ruthless. The schools are not over crowded and I believe this is a major factor in their pregression.

All in all I like it, but employment is a major factor for me right now. I guess I'm gonna have to commute.

[msflaziggy]

I'm not ditching Colorado, it is a beautiful place to VISIT and I am sure that those that have moved there and found gainful employment will agree. The job market is low unless you want to take a lower paying job with even lower hours available to work....
Everyone who says that there is plenty of jobs available already has a job in that state.
Everyone should dig deep, but that doesn't always help. Good luck to you and your wife.

[Topo]

I would do a "happy dance" if I made that kind of money!

[BenWolfe]

Scrape113,

I am sorry that you have had difficulty finding employment since you moved from California. I hope you find something soon. It also took my wife and I a couple of months to find work after moving here from Washington DC 4 years ago. But now we couldn’t be happier about our move.

The job market in Denver is stronger than Colorado Springs. When we moved here we moved to Larkspur because it is halfway between Denver and CO Springs and it is an easy 45 minute or less commute to either. I initially found work in the springs and Heater got a job in the Denver Tech Center and it worked out great.

I have to disagree with the 4 wheel drive comment. We both drive front wheel drive sedans and we have never had an issue. It just takes a little getting used to driving in the snow. Rear wheel drive cars are useless in the snow. I also ride a motorcycle and I am able to ride it year round because the snow usually melts after a couple of days.

-Ben-

[BabyBoomers2]

We moved here in June '02, also from O.C. California (Costa Mesa). We got an apartment in Englewood. We had no jobs and the only belongings we had is what was in our 4 Runner......had two storage units in Calif., waiting 'til we bought a house to move the stuff here. My wife has a two AA Degree's and a Bachelors Degree in Business/Accounting and got a job within one month of us being here. However, she did take a salary cut of $12,000 from what she was making at a company in Irvine. We did know that some job salaries would be considerably lower here. Now, it took me 9 months to find a job in Purchasing/Materials/Inventory Control, BUT, I my salary went up from what I was making in So. Calif. We were both shocked and happy over this. One thing we found out very, very fast.........the computer industry here isn't at all like it is in Southern Calif.. We went to a Computer Show at the National Western Complex and it was so, so small compared to the BIG one in Pomona, Calif. (only 5 short tables of computer stuff). In fact, there is a guy where I work at that has a Master's Degree in Computer Engineering and can't use it here.
Housing is cheaper here, but food and some other things don't seem to be any cheaper here than in So. Calif. As far as the weather goes, we are originally from Indiana and Michigan. We missed the snow and t-storms. We do have 4-wheel drive on both RAM and Durango. For us, the 4-wheel drive has helped out a lot. We also have a snow blower, so no more shoveling for us. We do like it here, but are making plans on moving to NC due to health reasons.

[bashep]

hey there- Sorry to hear that you guys are having a hard time. I was talking to my husband this morning, he is a software/web developer. He said he was on dice.com last night and was pleasantly suprised as to how many jobs were available. So, you may want to check out that website. I am surpised to hear that your wife has had a hard time finding a job. With the 2 new hospitals opening up soon, I would have expected her to find something pretty quickly, sorry to hear about that. What does she do in the medical field? bashep

[BabyBoomers2]

By the way, I work in just a mile north of downtown Denver and my wife works on the edge of Englewood and Parker. We live in the central part of Parker and neither of us really have any traffic to contend with when going/coming home from work. The reconstructed I-25 is absolutely great for me in the AM/PM.
And, I do know there are people that DO drive from Colorado Springs to DTC/Denver areas each day........my Supervisor use to, until he had a house built in Castlerock a couple of years ago.
For some occupations, finding a job is much easier in Southern Calif. than it is here.

[Dennis P]

Scrape 113,

I'm sorry to hear that you and your wife are having problems finding jobs over there in Colorado Springs. Hopefully, that will turn around for the two of you soon.

I've seen threads on here where people have stated that they are getting ready to move yet they already had a job lined up. I'm just wondering (and I'm sure many others are also), how do these people from out of town manage to land jobs before moving to their destination? I would think that employers want to hire locals FIRST over people from out of the area. The only situation I think this can happen is if the person moving works for a large, Fortune 500 company with a location in their destination city and were able to fill an existing opening. Other than that, moving to another state with no job is, in my humble opinion, taking a HUGE step of faith!

So my question is: how do people from out of state manage to already have jobs waiting for them in Colorado Springs? Did they have to use a Colorado address on their resumes? Inquiring minds want to know!

[CoolAsColorado]

Hi Scrape

I just made the move from Buffalo, NY area to Pueblo, CO where jobs are even harder to come by. I knew before I left that I would not make what I was making at a Fortune 500 company in NY. Make no mistake - the Buffalo area is a depressed market - pay nothing like in Manhattan.

Surprisingly, for the last month I have been consumed with interviews. Some in the Springs, but then I finally decided I am NOT going to drive up there everyday. I ended up with a job taking only a small pay cut - perhaps because I wasn't making huge dollars to begin with. The job I got I started from NY - but definitely needed to be in CO for the interview process which took 3 weeks.

I'm being honest - Californians are not the most welcome people in CO. I think you can be from ANYWHERE else, just not CA. The opinion is that Californians have taken over their state....

So, unless you are very specialized or only looking for the big dollar - you will find a job in CO. It is not California and the pay scale is much, much less.

[COflower]

CAC - I'm being honest - Californians are not the most welcome people in CO. I think you can be from ANYWHERE else, just not CA. The opinion is that Californians have taken over their state....

It's much different in Colorado Springs and even most of Denver Metro. Especially in C Springs with the amount of military here we have people from all over the world here. As for Denver Metro, most who live there have been from other states.