Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Lumping Taos with Abiquiu is like comparing New York City to Buffalo IMO. The city proper of Taos might be very small, but all of the surrounding communities and unincorporated areas that are immediately attached to or are separated by only very small distances (Ranchos de Taos, Arroyo Seco, El Prado, Arroyo Hondo, etc.) allow for a pretty reasonable variety in employment and housing options.
And yet you STILL need "connections." It's New Mexico. What would seem to be "merit-based" jobs everywhere else, requires "knowing someone" in New Mexico. Especially in the more rural areas: they don't seem to want "outsiders" coming in and "taking" "their" jobs.
You speak of what you do not know. I'd respond further but your posting history proves you have very little knowledge of anything in NM.
You speak of what you do not know. I'd respond further but your posting history proves you have very little knowledge of anything in NM.
You know, I retract what I said. After thinking about it, most acquire jobs via 'job networking', for the majority of jobs in this country, you need 'connections' to land a job. There are studies out there that show that 70% of jobs are never published. My last 3 jobs over 16 years have all resulted because of someone I know in the organization. All 3 are with some of NM's largest employers.
Job networking is essential to landing a good paying and lucrative employment. According to the following 41% (the majority ) of jobs are acquired via knowing someone. I've read where those numbers are much higher now.
So, yes you do need 'connections' to successfully navigate an employment search. That is across the country, not just in NM and especially rural ares of NM.
Though, the above is not what you are trying to convey. We all know you are trying express negative connotations on NM.
You know, I retract what I said. After thinking about it, most acquire jobs via 'job networking', for the majority of jobs in this country, you need 'connections' to land a job. There are studies out there that show that 70% of jobs are never published. My last 3 jobs over 16 years have all resulted because of someone I know in the organization. All 3 are with some of NM's largest employers.
This largely depends on the market. I have almost never needed a connection to get a job - just applied, got interviewed and that was that. A place like Austin, for example, is buzzing with jobs - you can land one within days of applying. You can have your pick, you can even force the employer's hand to allow you to work from home - there are just not enough people.
A place like Albuquerque on the other hand - I am not so sure the situation is similar. There are many subfields that just do not exist - I was looking at the amount and size of the Meetups in the ABQ area - it is fairly small.
Then there is the culture. I do not know ABQ's so I cannot comment. I have worked in New York City, for example, and i can honestly say that vast majority of the jobs are merit/resume based.
Can you get good jobs via friends anywhere? Sure. Are these the only jobs available? That depends on the place. I have applied for jobs in NM for 5+ years and even though I have a thick resume, education and everything else (and I am in a senior position and have been for years), I got exactly one single interview in New Mexico - a phone interview that never resulted in anything. On the other hand, I could send my resume to 20 different companies across the country and I would get at least 15 callbacks tomorrow.
My experience is similar to NMHacker's. I've had jobs with three organizations in my 40+ year professional life. One public sector employer for 16 years, a private company for another 16 and my current private employer for almost 10 years. I have held multiple positions in each organization. All of my private sector jobs were offered to me without them being published for open competition, because the employers knew me from past interaction and work experience, and reached out to offer me a job because they were impressed with my skills. past performance and work ethic.
I work in a relatively small industry - air quality control with a focus on vehicle emissions - so know all of the industry players. It's pretty amazing (actually very funny at times) how many of the same people move from company to company or state to state on the government side. New blood comes in through entry level hires, but for higher level positions, everybody wants people with proven track records and established industry connections. Especially when they are hiring for upper management positions. As one of the top people in my industry, I could call 3 or 4 companies tomorrow and get a job with them.
Like NMHacker, I don't view this with the negative lens that penny chooses to use. It's more about companies not being interested in taking a chance on a total unknown vs someone with a known track record when making a hiring decision.
To get over this hurdle, a newcomer needs to really focus on demonstrating to a potential employer that there's a low risk level in hiring them and on distinguishing themselves from other applicants. Things like having truly astounding references from past employers, learning all you can about a company and the industry it inhabits before any face-to-face contact with the company, demonstrating your commitment and work ethic from the first contact onward (e.g., maybe offer to work for free for a couple of months to show them how good you are), etc.
I work in a relatively small industry - air quality control with a focus on vehicle emissions - so know all of the industry players. It's pretty amazing (actually very funny at times) how many of the same people move from company to company or state to state on the government side. New blood comes in through entry level hires, but for higher level positions, everybody wants people with proven track records and established industry connections. Especially when they are hiring for upper management positions. As one of the top people in my industry, I could call 3 or 4 companies tomorrow and get a job with them.
This has not been my experience at all . However, I have held jobs only in large markets like NYC, South Florida, Austin, Atlanta etc. In these markets you get jobs through connections but you also get jobs without anyone knowing you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rwjoyak
Like NMHacker, I don't view this with the negative lens that penny chooses to use. It's more about companies not being interested in taking a chance on a total unknown vs someone with a known track record when making a hiring decision.
This is true. I have hired people and you take a chance every time you hire someone, I agree. Sometimes you win big but sometimes you lose big. However, if everyone took the above attitude there would be no labor market
It is interesting that you said a few keywords in your post: "small field", "know all the players".
Quote:
Originally Posted by rwjoyak
To get over this hurdle, a newcomer needs to really focus on demonstrating to a potential employer that there's a low risk level in hiring them and on distinguishing themselves from other applicants. Things like having truly astounding references from past employers, learning all you can about a company and the industry it inhabits before any face-to-face contact with the company, demonstrating your commitment and work ethic from the first contact onward (e.g., maybe offer to work for free for a couple of months to show them how good you are), etc.
I have not even come close to demonstrating anything - it feels like all my resumes went to the bin as soon as they were received. The first portion of your post contradicts the last paragraph, in my opinion.
Here is my perception of what is going on: the job market is small, local culture favors relationships, it is somewhat of a close circle difficult to penetrate for outsiders. High migration, flowing places like New York or Atlanta or Portland or Austin do not operate this way. Slower moving places do. Just reality, anyone wnting to "get in" should be aware of this and act accordingly (and not whine)
The first portion of your post contradicts the last paragraph, in my opinion
I don't disagree. It's a tough tough job market right now and even doing what I said in the last paragraph may not be a winner. And as you said, you may not be able to try any of these things if you can't get anyone to even look at your resume. But if you can...that's what my suggestions were aimed at.
I'm glad I'm on this end of my career now, not just starting out.
I don't disagree. It's a tough tough job market right now and even doing what I said in the last paragraph may not be a winner. And as you said, you may not be able to try any of these things if you can't get anyone to even look at your resume. But if you can...that's what my suggestions were aimed at.
I'm glad I'm on this end of my career now, not just starting out.
Likewise
When I was a foreign student back in Canada the laws of the land were that foreign students could only work on campus. What I did was walk into a professor's office and offer to do research for free, just to learn. Invariably after a week or two of work I was offered money - I ended up being gainfully employed throughout my whole college education. You have to pursue your own success. These days I am senior enough to be able to demand to work from home so we can live wherever we want.
Still can't even get a phone cal back from any company/employer in NM though but I have quit whining about it since I solved the problem in a roundabout way that actually worked out better than having to drive into an office every day...
This largely depends on the market. I have almost never needed a connection to get a job - just applied, got interviewed and that was that. A place like Austin, for example, is buzzing with jobs - you can land one within days of applying. You can have your pick, you can even force the employer's hand to allow you to work from home - there are just not enough people.
A place like Albuquerque on the other hand - I am not so sure the situation is similar. There are many subfields that just do not exist - I was looking at the amount and size of the Meetups in the ABQ area - it is fairly small.
Then there is the culture. I do not know ABQ's so I cannot comment. I have worked in New York City, for example, and i can honestly say that vast majority of the jobs are merit/resume based.
Can you get good jobs via friends anywhere? Sure. Are these the only jobs available? That depends on the place. I have applied for jobs in NM for 5+ years and even though I have a thick resume, education and everything else (and I am in a senior position and have been for years), I got exactly one single interview in New Mexico - a phone interview that never resulted in anything. On the other hand, I could send my resume to 20 different companies across the country and I would get at least 15 callbacks tomorrow.
Study after study shows many, meaning a large percentage of jobs are acquired via 'connections'. I've worked in 4 different places. LA, Chicago, St. Paul and Albuquerque. IIRC, I've only applied for 2 of my 8 jobs in 25 years of work history. I'm not sure what your profession is or your situation but over the last 5 years here in NM it has been a very tough job market. If your skills are easily attainable locally then I can see employers just glancing over your resume. Much cheaper and easier to hire locally then someone coming from out of state. Now of course there are positions that a very hard to find, no mater what part of the country you are from. The company I work for spends about $1MM per year on relocation expenses bringing in hard to find employees.
Hey,
I've been reading a lot on this forum about Rural and Small Town Living, and I'm curious as to how would a person go about setting that up for themselves? Like me for instance, I would love to scurry off into one of these towns right now, but how would I find work? Where would I work? I would need a car for sure. I'm in I.T right now so being as they are smaller towns I wouldn't think they would attract I.T workers. Man it would be swell if I could move to one of these small towns and live a life of freedom from this mess.
Thank you
Have you ever visited either place?
I would expect that it would be easier to find something in/around Taos as it is an actual town with infrastructure, a WalMart, quite a few hotels/motels, art galleries and other stuff.
If you are talking about being completely self-sufficient, I suppose it could be done, but, it is a difficult landscape. VERY different from the mid-west.
If you haven't visited, you really should.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. However, I have held jobs only in large markets like NYC, South Florida, Austin, Atlanta etc. In these markets you get jobs through connections but you also get jobs without anyone knowing you.
