Career prospects in the South Bay or Long Beach? (Huntington Beach: house, neighborhoods)

[vegaspilgrim]

This is more of a "what if" scenario. I'm not planning on staying here in LA past next May, but I want to at least know in the back of my mind what it would be like, best case scenario, if I stay after graduation and take a job here. After all, you can never say never.

I intensely dislike downtown LA and central LA. The notion of having to work in downtown LA sounds absolutely depressing. I don't find west LA to be all that and a bag of chips either. To me living in socal/greater LA would be more appealing if I didn't even have to touch anything north of LAX for work related purposes.

I've done quite a bit of exploring over the last few months here. My two favorite areas in LA county are the South Bay (specifically south Redondo Beach/ south Torrance area) and Long Beach (specifically Belmont Shores, Naples, and all the 1950s/60s suburban areas around Cal State Long Beach). I don't like brand new suburbs but I also intensely dislike highly urban areas; I like old (1950s/60s), mature, interesting "inner" suburbs. I like these two areas because you can live in a nice, quiet, suburban area that's off the radar screen of the center of action but only a short drive to the beach and (normal) beach towns for nightlife and entertainment whenever you want it. In theory you'd think I'd be more of an OC kind of guy, although for some reason I don't find myself liking OC as much as I expected. One of my favorite parts of Orange County is Costa Mesa, also sharing some of these characteristics (that's another forum I realize).

As an accounting student graduating next year (audit/ financial side, not tax-- beyond that flexible as to the specifics of the job), do you think the South Bay, Harbor area, Long Beach, or other nearby areas would have enough career opportunities where I could live and work in those areas, having a short commute, or if I lived there would I realistically end up having a nightmarish commute sooner or later to downtown/central/west LA (or even into the SF Valley)--- or clear on the other end of the megalopolis to OC?

[SandyCo]

In my opinion, there is always a need for accountants. I'm not sure how many accounting firms are in that area, but you could always go to Monster.com and scope out how many jobs are available that might fit your degree. That would at least give you an idea of companies that are hiring, possible pay scale (though many companies don't list a salary), etc.

[NaplesRes]

There are lots of companies in all of those areas that need private accountants. If you're looking at public accounting, Deloitte has an office in costa mesa which is a short drive from East Long Beach. Particularly from Naples / Belmont Shore you can do the PCH route and it will take 30 minutes or less.

[bhcompy]

Long Beach has it's own economy(of big, small, and medium business) of sorts, so you're fine there.

The South Bay(and Long Beach in some regard) area is heavy in industry(manufacturing, oil/fuel refineries, aerospace, port related import/export, etc) which always requires financial types in the office.

El Segundo is full of business(aerospace and otherwise), but may be a bit of a commute from south Torrance/Redondo.

Santa Fe Springs/northeast Cerritos/southeast Norwalk and Cypress/western Huntington Beach/western Garden Grove also have a lot of business. Some manufacturing, a lot of distribution centers, and a lot of regional headquarters and such for major businesses(such as Vons, UPS, Isuzu, Hyundai, Boeing, Pacificare, Bandai/Namco, Vans, Yamaha, Roush, Prosound, etc).

And that's not mentioning the small business located all around.

Honestly, I don't see why you couldn't survive in the areas you desire with your career of choice.

Also, I would consider adding the bulk of Lakewood to your areas for living if you haven't checked it out. Most of Lakewood is very similar to the housing stock and neighborhoods in the CSULB area of Long Beach. Mostly 50's Levittown type homes with neighborhoods that tend to be built around a local park or school.

[JTGJR]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

The South Bay(and Long Beach in some regard) area is heavy in industry(manufacturing, oil/fuel refineries, aerospace, port related import/export, etc) which always requires financial types in the office.

El Segundo is full of business(aerospace and otherwise), but may be a bit of a commute from south Torrance/Redondo.

To name a few in El Segundo: Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, The Aerospace Corporation, Mattel, DirecTV, Computer Sciences Corporation, International Rectifier, Fresh and Easy, Chevron, Japan Airlines, DaVita. The commute isn't too bad from Torrance/Redondo. At worst, about 1/2-hr at peak. But it's an easy drive.

CNN ran a very short segment back in April about El Segundo being the smallest town in the country with the most Fortune 500 companies. And El Segundo has been named the "Most Business Friendly City in California."

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by JTGJR

To name a few in El Segundo: Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, The Aerospace Corporation, Mattel, DirecTV, Computer Sciences Corporation, International Rectifier, Fresh and Easy, Chevron, Japan Airlines, DaVita. The commute isn't too bad from Torrance/Redondo. At worst, about 1/2-hr at peak. But it's an easy drive.

CNN ran a very short segment back in April about El Segundo being the smallest town in the country with the most Fortune 500 companies. And El Segundo has been named the "Most Business Friendly City in California."

That's quite an impressive list. I didn't realize El Segundo had so many employers. El Segundo is technically the south bay, right? It looks like in terms of the Big Four public accounting firms who likely audit most of those companies, I'm already getting shut out. If I were to expand my career search to in house accounting jobs though I'm sure I've have a much greater probability of something coming up.

[bhcompy]

yes, el segundo would be the north end of the south bay region