[deb68]

Hi funny farm,
I'm in the same boat as you- have you contacted as many recruiting agencys as you can? even some temp jobs at the moment will help and you might find something you really like. I know the job market sucks I have sent out well over 100 resumes for different kinds of positions. I agree with the one who said send to anyone even if it states a certain degree, you never know what will happen. Have you tried a community college job board?

I wish you the best of luck and hope you find something soon as well as myself! Both my Husband and myself lost jobs.

I'm trying to stay positive-we all need to! If we all stick together maybe we can come up with a better way to get MI going again!!!!!

[Rapunzll]

Originally Posted by Andre5140

wintergrl: Battle Creek is a s***hole, when is the last time you've been there?

I totally agree! I worked in Battle Creek a month or so ago and was surprised at what an unattractive town it was. I didn't see a single thing to recommend it.

[wintergrl]

So much negativity in here! Has Battle Creek really changed that much? Ok the North side, Never went there! Post addition, Dump. Downtown, some parts not so good. But last I was home to Michigan, Lakeview, Springfield, the mall area and Harper Creek were still good. Face it folks, There Is No Perfect Place to Live!!! The reality of it is no matter where you go you are going to have good and bad parts to a town with few exceptions like Marshall and even that place has changed over the years. Things suck back home right now. I'll give you that, but it could be worse. Odds are thanks to so many companys letting people go and closing down it will get worse. Unless someone in office starts doing something and quick. From what I hear crime in Kalamazoo has gone up thanks to a major job cuts.

[funnyfarm1995]

I'm not in a position to relocate for work, with hubby's job being here, my 80 yr old father being here nearby and needing regular check-ins, our kids being in this area, and us raising a grandchild who is a ward of the state for the time-being at least. I appreciate the thoughts about applying even to ads that want Assoc or Bachelors degrees though, that was a good thought. I have applied to several "temp" agencies even though I really need full time work at about 12.00 an hour to do what I have to do. May have to take 2 part time jobs for a bit and see what happens, I am thinking, just not sure how to approach that thought either and find some who will allow that and whose hours will mesh. Just been too long since I've had to deal with any of this. I've worked since I was 16 yrs old...over 26 years...without problems finding jobs, until now. Sent out 16 more resumes last week, and 4 yesterday. Hopefully something will pan out soon. Have a couple months cushion with my house payment or I would really be in deep sh*t right now. Thinking of those of you who are in a similiar situation......and wishing the best for all of us. I love the area I live in....have no desire to go anywhere else....so help us out, politicians, before Michigan does fold!!!

[funnyfarm1995]

The parts of Battle Creek I have seen, I would not care to live in either. I live in an area where I am about equal distance to Lansing as to Battle Creek, so am looking in both directions, but would much prefer to be commuting in and out of Lansing given the choice! I do love Marshall though...it's a great small town, clean, decent. So is Olivet. Charlotte. Eaton Rapids. They just need some jobs within a 30 mile or so driving distance!

[Frank the Tank]

As a Chicagoan observing this from outside of Michigan (please don't hold that against me here), I can tell you that pound-for-pound, the western coast of Michigan along Lake Michigan and the U.P. are the most naturally beautiful areas in Midwest. There's been so much demand from the Chicago area for second homes in southwestern Michigan that the real estate prices in that region, for better or for worse, have been skyrocketing.

Unfortunately, despite that tourism draw, it's pretty well known that Michigan has been in the economic doldrums for decades. As some people have mentioned before, the inordinate strength of the labor unions in Michigan gives off the perception, even if it's not a reality, that the state is hostile to businesses. Everytime that the labor union rail against free trade pacts, businesses by extension are going to avoid places where they have a strong presence.

This is particularly discouraging since Michigan is home to one of the top public universities in the nation with the University of Michigan, which I'll begrudgingly give props to as an Illinois grad, and another huge Big Ten research institution with Michigan State. If there were a culture of embracing business growth in the state, you could be keeping all of those talented college graduates instead of exporting them to Chicago, New York, or even Minneapolis. The thing is getting an infrastructure that fosters economic development into place, which will take a lot of time even if the resources and true grassroots support (which means the unions understanding that this is no longer the 1950s) are there.

Also, I've seen plenty of comments saying that inexpensive real estate (with the exception of the second home market in southwest Michigan) ought to be a draw from people priced out from the coasts or Chicago. However, if affordable housing becomes the main pitch for Michigan (and for that matter, Ohio and western Pennsylania), the state will lose nearly everytime in the end. That's because places such as Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Texas offer housing that is just as inexpensive with economies that are booming along with better weather (as a Midwesterner, I know that we take pride in handling our winters, but the majority of people would much rather have a warmer winter even if it means that the summers are stifling). You'll of course find exceptions, but if the average person is given a choice between a job in the Sun Belt and a job in the Rust Belt with the housing costs being about the same, the Sun Belt wins out the vast majority of the time. I'm sure there will be some home state denial about this, but anyone who looks at census and population figures knows that this is absolutely true.

I wish I could tell you what the solution would be. It's one thing to say that knowledge workers need to be attracted, but it's a whole different matter in terms of actually getting that to happen. Strong political leadership certainly helps - Mayor Daley in Chicago, for all of his crazy power trips, knew in the 1980s that the industrial sector was going to be winding down and made it his number one priority to make the city attractive to the financial and services sectors. Plenty of other Chicago politicians at the time (and even today) were in denial that those industrial jobs were history and if any of those people ended up in the mayor's office, the Windy City would have ended up looking a lot more like Detroit instead of New York City. That being said, Chicago has always had a much more diversied economy that isn't dependent on one sector, so that's yet another problem in Michigan with its disproportionate reliance on the auto industry. Anyway, I hope Michigan is able to rebound since I'm sick how the Midwest as a whole continues to be considered flyover country, but I think it has to be acknowledged that there are a ton of significant impediments in this case.

[Wabbit]

Congratulations Frank the Tank,
You receive the "Perfect Post" award.

[ellswo33]

Hats off to Frank for an exceptional post. I don't really have anything negative to say about Michigan (other than I am tired of snow right about now). The scenery is gorgeous here but I also need a job so that I can afford my housing. I am looking for a place/state that fits what I want -- nice colleges/universities, warmer weather, jobs, not a horrific amount of crime, etc. I made a list of my priorities, what was most important to me and least important to me, and started with that. I also know my priorities will probably shift (to even warmer weather!) in a few more years. Newbies to the area shouldn't be scared off by negative posts. A lot of people are feeling frustrated with the job situation, etc., here right now. Michigan does have a lot of things to offer, you just have to weigh the pros and cons for your own individual situation.

[scottmi]

In response to those saying Chicago is far better off than Michigan, I' d have to whole heartedly disagree with you.

I recently moved back to northern Michigan after living in Chicago for a year and a half after graduating college in late '04 and I feel like Chicago is worse than Michigan because so many people are flocking there from Michigan and suffering states.

I say that because Chicago's payscale for anything but medical, law and excutive business people does not even come close to matching the ridiculously high cost of living. If you could find a nice house in a fairly safe neighborhood in Chicago for less than a million $$$, I'd be surprised!

As a graphic designer, I was floored by how crummy the market was - in Michigan jobs for entry level / moderately experienced designers was 25k to 35k. In Chicago, the average pay for the same kind of worker was 25k to 35k even though the cost of living was easily hundreds of dollars more expensive every month for things like rent and commuting.

Say what you will about Michigan but running to another big city won't help you either. Places like Chicago may have 10x as many jobs available but keep in mind that there are 10x as many qualified people to compete with because Chicago has so many college students and young people who work for cheap there. I can only assume Los Angeles and New York is the same way.

When it came down to it, I chose Michigan's low crime level and natural beauty over concrete landscapes and a comparably fierce job market (in a different way from Michigan's, as described earlier). I don't want to live in Northern Michigan my whole life and plan on moving out west if in the next few years I can't set up a permanent job/living situation in Grand Rapids, the only place in Michigan that is prospering.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by scottmi

In response to those saying Chicago is far better off than Michigan, I' d have to whole heartedly disagree with you.

I recently moved back to northern Michigan after living in Chicago for a year and a half after graduating college in late '04 and I feel like Chicago is worse than Michigan because so many people are flocking there from Michigan and suffering states.

I say that because Chicago's payscale for anything but medical, law and excutive business people does not even come close to matching the ridiculously high cost of living. If you could find a nice house in a fairly safe neighborhood in Chicago for less than a million $$$, I'd be surprised!

As a graphic designer, I was floored by how crummy the market was - in Michigan jobs for entry level / moderately experienced designers was 25k to 35k. In Chicago, the average pay for the same kind of worker was 25k to 35k even though the cost of living was easily hundreds of dollars more expensive every month for things like rent and commuting.

Say what you will about Michigan but running to another big city won't help you either. Places like Chicago may have 10x as many jobs available but keep in mind that there are 10x as many qualified people to compete with because Chicago has so many college students and young people who work for cheap there. I can only assume Los Angeles and New York is the same way.

When it came down to it, I chose Michigan's low crime level and natural beauty over concrete landscapes and a comparably fierce job market (in a different way from Michigan's, as described earlier). I don't want to live in Northern Michigan my whole life and plan on moving out west if in the next few years I can't set up a permanent job/living situation in Grand Rapids, the only place in Michigan that is prospering.

Interesting perspective. You may certainly be right in your particular industry and with the creative arts in general, where it's tough to live on the starting salary in a place such as Chicago. However, when you look at it from a macro point of view, the general income vs. housing costs ratio in the Chicago area is actually pretty good for most professions in the sense that you'll get a top-of-the-market rate in line with New York and L.A. yet have much lower real estate costs than those cities. As pricey as Chicago can get, the average middle class family can still afford to own a home in a nice (not ritzy) neighborhood, which can't be said about the coasts. Sure, you'll have to drop huge bucks to buy in places such as the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park, but that's like saying Grosse Pointe is indicative of the entire Detroit area.

I know that this doesn't give you much comfort as a fresh college grad, but the competitive Chicago employment market that you referred to is exactly why companies continually set up shop in Chicago and other high cost cities as opposed to lower cost locales. Businesses want to be in places that are magnets that draw the best talent from not just that metro area or state, but from everywhere across the country. By the same token, talented people are going to go where the businesses are. We might as well call this the Economic Circle of Life. It's also the very presence of a high number of talented individuals in a competitive market that spur economic development in the form of new businesses. If you're only drawing local residents to your job market, it's going to be much more difficult to find those innovators simply because you're looking at a much shallower pool of talent. A place like Chicago might be tough on the pocketbook in the short term, but there are also a lot more long term opportunties available there.