Advice About Moving to LA? (Los Angeles, Santa Monica: find a job, transfer, college)

[nbus5]

Hi all -

A friend of mine and I are planning on moving to the Los Angeles area by the end of February/early March. I visited LA in September and I fell in love with the place. I have a bachelor's degree in Economics, and I currently work as a Financial Analyst.

I am turning 23 years old in February, and I am single. I feel that it will be awesome in terms of the cost of living to be able to split rent. I currently live in Rochester, MN (Mayo Clinic anyone?) which is a decent sized town of 100,000. However, I am craving the big city life and weather of LA and SoCal. I lived in London for 4 months, so I don't feel that living in huge city will be a shock to me.

I am currently doing the job search thing, and have posted my resume on Monster, Hot Jobs, and CareerBuilder. I have also applied to various companies in Finance around the LA area. Can anyone give me any other advice about trying to find a job in LA while living in the Midwest? It would be ideal to find a job before moving there if possible...

I would also just love to hear about places people would recommend to live as a young professional in LA. A friend of mine lives in Venice, about 1.5 miles from Venice Beach. I have also looked into the areas of Los Feliz, Santa Monica, WeHo, Westwood, Brentwood, and Echo Park. My friend and I are planning on a budget of 2000/month for a 2 bedroom place.

Any other advice about living in LA is welcome! Thank you so much for your help in advance.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by nbus5

Hi all -

A friend of mine and I are planning on moving to the Los Angeles area by the end of February/early March. I visited LA in September and I fell in love with the place. I have a bachelor's degree in Economics, and I currently work as a Financial Analyst.

I am turning 23 years old in February, and I am single. I feel that it will be awesome in terms of the cost of living to be able to split rent. I currently live in Rochester, MN (Mayo Clinic anyone?) which is a decent sized town of 100,000. However, I am craving the big city life and weather of LA and SoCal. I lived in London for 4 months, so I don't feel that living in huge city will be a shock to me.

I am currently doing the job search thing, and have posted my resume on Monster, Hot Jobs, and CareerBuilder. I have also applied to various companies in Finance around the LA area. Can anyone give me any other advice about trying to find a job in LA while living in the Midwest? It would be ideal to find a job before moving there if possible...

I would also just love to hear about places people would recommend to live as a young professional in LA. A friend of mine lives in Venice, about 1.5 miles from Venice Beach. I have also looked into the areas of Los Feliz, Santa Monica, WeHo, Westwood, Brentwood, and Echo Park. My friend and I are planning on a budget of 2000/month for a 2 bedroom place.

Any other advice about living in LA is welcome! Thank you so much for your help in advance.

You sound like you are doing everything right. Just an outside idea....can you get a job in your hometown and transfer out to LA?

I have heard that you can get a Vonage phone account with a LA prefix, to make it look like you live in LA. Your resume however will still have your MN address...not sure how to deal with that other than if you had an LA friend and used his address.

[nbus5]

I am not sure about using my current job and transferring out to LA. My company had said that they needed people out on the West Coast but I haven't heard anything about it lately.

How about other people from around the country that moved to LA. How did you find your first job out there? Did you wait until you actually moved, or did you find a job before moving?

[TheRealAngelion]

I think companies are less likely to hire and relocate someone for an entry level job. If you are established in your industry and are being recruited it’s a different story. I suggest you move here first and then start applying for jobs. You could temp until something permanent comes along. In fact you should probably call some temp agencies ahead of time to do a phone interview to see if they think they could place you once you got here. Oftentimes if you do well in the temp assignment, the company will hire you for one of their open positions down the line.

It's also important to network. If you went to college, I would begin by calling your Alumni Relations Office to get a list of contacts in the LA area who you could try to introduce yourself to once you get here.

I would also suggest that you have significant cash savings before coming here jobless. LA is expensive. Also a car will be essential, especially if you come here without a job. You will need it to get to job interviews, temp assignments, and to learn your way around town in general.