Finding work in New Jersey is tough (Jersey City, Hoboken: renter, job market)

[EEEPNJ]

Public sector jobs are also a mixed bag... if you are in a UNIONIZED public sector job, you have some sort of job security, but the NON-unionized public sector jobs are on the chopping block when we have budget problems. And we certainly have that.

[Badfish740]

Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN

I agree with Badfish. One of the few areas that adds jobs most of the time are govt. agencies. It's not a glamorous job field but you can pay the rent and it's fairly secure. You don't get the limos to drive you home and the unlimited credit card expenses for your clients, but you can put dinner on the table. I took a govt. job over 30 years ago and no one wanted to, it wasn't good enough for them. Now they trip over each other to get one and ***** and moan daily on message boards that we are overpaid and underworked.

LOL...trust me. I'm still overworked and underpaid. Yesterday I had to go to DC for work which meant I needed to be on a 5:39 AM train from Trenton which in turn meant I had to be up at 3:15 Now granted, my office doesn't control where I live, but still... After arriving in DC and running around Capitol Hill like the proverbial headless chicken, I hopped back on Amtrak almost exactly 12 hours after I had left New Jersey and walked through my front door sometime around 9:30 PM...Glamorous? Nope. However, it does pay the bills and the benefits/pension are decent (you have to pay for all of them). If you have a poli-sci background there is a lot you can do in the public sector at the entry level. Once your foot is in the door and you find some specialty area you'd like to work towards, THEN go to grad school. I worked for two years before deciding to go back. I'm working towards a Masters in Public Policy at Rutgers, but my concentration will be in transportation. I hadn't really figured out that I would want to work in that area until I had been out in the work world for a while. Who knows? Maybe I can snag one of those Port Authority jobs

Originally Posted by EEEPNJ

Public sector jobs are also a mixed bag... if you are in a UNIONIZED public sector job, you have some sort of job security, but the NON-unionized public sector jobs are on the chopping block when we have budget problems. And we certainly have that.

Not necessarily. Sure, New Jersey is having budget problems, but there's also the federal government. Plus, if you're young, inexperienced, and just out of school you can get a good solid entry level job that will pay the bills. At the same time, as I mentioned before, you can begin to figure out what you really want to do.

[EEEPNJ]

Good points BadFish...and after time, public sector jobs are the way to go. Hard to transition to when you have high bills, but you have a point. Good time to do it for OP.

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by Badfish740

After arriving in DC and running around Capitol Hill like the proverbial headless chicken, I hopped back on Amtrak almost exactly 12 hours after I had left New Jersey and walked through my front door sometime around 9:30 PM...Glamorous?

Welcome to the club - same in the private sector.... but I hope you took the Accela, I won't do that trip on regular Amtrak anymore...

Originally Posted by Badfish740

I'm working towards a Masters in Public Policy at Rutgers, but my concentration will be in transportation. I hadn't really figured out that I would want to work in that area until I had been out in the work world for a while. Who knows? Maybe I can snag one of those Port Authority jobs

Btw, you do know a bunch of people on our train line (they are from Washington, HB, and Hampton mostly) are NJT employees right? (And not engineers/conductors either, I mean office)

[RobRiguez]

From what I have found, finding a job is not the hard part. Finding a job you A) want, B) pays enough and C) offers benefits (health, 401k, etc)..THATS the hard part.

As someone else said, IT is flooded. Dont even think about making money in IT any more.

[Badfish740]

Originally Posted by CuCullin

Welcome to the club - same in the private sector.... but I hope you took the Accela, I won't do that trip on regular Amtrak anymore...

I wish...office policy is no Accela if there's a regular train that can get you there at the time you need to be. Who says the government is always wasteful?

Originally Posted by CuCullin

Btw, you do know a bunch of people on our train line (they are from Washington, HB, and Hampton mostly) are NJT employees right? (And not engineers/conductors either, I mean office)

I had no idea-maybe I should come and chat some folks up on the platform one of these days.

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by RobRiguez

From what I have found, finding a job is not the hard part. Finding a job you A) want, B) pays enough and C) offers benefits (health, 401k, etc)..THATS the hard part.

As someone else said, IT is flooded. Dont even think about making money in IT any more.

You should revise that statement.

IT Help Desk, or standard windows guy jobs? Sure.

IS design, unix admins, linux admins, etc. are all still desired. IT knowledgeable staff working with specialized hardware manufacturers (coders doing c and assembly) for embedded devices, streaming media solutions, etc, are still very much desired.

Building web sites? notsomuch.

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by Badfish740

I wish...office policy is no Accela if there's a regular train that can get you there at the time you need to be. Who says the government is always wasteful?

Only when it lines pockets :P

I do get the benefit of billing clients directly for my travel, so I get away with it. Even though I'm doing government work.

Hell, it gets you there quicker, more time for work

Originally Posted by Badfish740

I had no idea-maybe I should come and chat some folks up on the platform one of these days.

Cafe Hola in the morning works too, but you'll mostly run into the engineers/maintenance/conductors. Theres a few NJT people getting on in HB, others in Annandale, and I believe one more hopping on in Lebanon working out of Newark.

[Andre98]

I have a degree in Art, Photography emphasis. I haven't worked that field since i graduated in 1981.

[DowntownJerseyCity]

I have an interview tomorrow in Reading, PA and one next week on Long Island. Where are the Jersey businesses?????