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Hi, so I moved to New York back in September. I’m currently living in Brooklyn and I work at a bar cooking in the kitchen. This was a job a buddy of mine got me when I moved up here and it was supposed to be temporary until I found something else. I’ve worked in kitchens for some time and I wanted to get out of the field but I can’t really seem to find anything seeing as I lack experience in most of the fields and I don’t have a degree. Somthing I keep aiming across is real estate agencies hiring for new agents. I’m not sure if I should pursue this like if work or if I should try and get back into school and graduate with a degree (would most likely be some form of business or somthing sports related) thing is I’m 26 now and idk how badly most financial firms or other companies would want to hire a 30 year old out of college. Any advice would be awesome thanks in advance.
Congratulations on moving here. Half a decade ago, out of towners who moved here from middle America had an easy time obtaining jobs here. Not for nothing I used to date a woman who put some no name college on her resume and acquired a job that paid above 50k a year. And befriended another transplant who dropped out of high school in some middle American town, but he knew how to do marketing pretty well. Now this city is filled with millions out of towners from middle America, millions immigrants, and millions of locals making the job market even more fierce.
My only advice for you is that if you are humble patience is a virtue. Sadly we live in NYC where everything is on the move, and everyone has to hustle and haggle their way through the job market. This haggle and hustle is known as the rat-race. NYC is well known for its culinary industry. You can probably work your way up from line cook to a possible chef. But you want to leave the cooking industry. You are 26 years old. It would be wise to do some college especially CUNY which is affordable at the moment and wont put you into so much debt like the majority of out of towners who moved here with college degrees. Try doing a 2 year degree and obtain a certificate for a trade. Now a days employers when they look at a resume, they want to see what college you went to. Public positions at most will look at a 2 year degree, while private employers will look at 4 year degree and higher. Fortune 500 will look at 4 year colleges, but it must be top like Harvard, Georgetown, Yale or Stanford. If not top school, than low level 4 year college like a CUNY with some sort of professional degree such as a Masters. Transplants may have hurt the NYC employment market by monkey branching from employer to employer in the past ten years. Employers now strapped their boot straps and are worried of folks monkey branching, so expect a tough time getting a job.
I am heavy on the financial safety factor side and I look at NYC for what it really is: in the case of this OP not having any connections or support, it will become more brutal than most people are willing to admit. It's really brutal here unless you have connections and long term support already in place.
It's not like the old days when you can just roll into Manhattan and take any old entry level job and work your way up. It's more like you need to be in the C-Suite first and then move here. You need a very real safety net because if you are on your own New York City with eat you up alive - faster than you will be able to get out.
Bugs, what stops people from just lying on their resumes and say they have a BA? Why not?
In my opinion I believe having connections and nepotism in NYC still reigns supreme. By a landslide.
Employers do background checks even private employers do. My employer has to call my college to see if I had a 4 year degree. If I lied, my employer reserved the right to fire me. It also depends on the size of the company. Large or medium company's or corporation will do background checks for education. Small companies not so much.
My advice for transplants. Unless if you don't have a degree from a top school, or minor school plus professional degree , or a history of sales and marketing. Don't move to nyc anymore. The tough time locals had to find work had finally caught up to transplants like how I predicted. I see transplants working on department stores now, and retail.
Never give up on education. I was a 34-year-old Freshman and graduated at 42.
With that said, people will always need plumbers and electricians. Take this from someone with an ancient house!
Good luck with whatever you decide!
Amen. My dad got his bachelors of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in his early 30s off of the GI bill and 10 years of school, plus his masters in Computer Science in his mid 40s. My gf is probably going to get her bachelor's in Computer Science at age 38. If my plan works, I won't be getting my masters in Computer Science until I'm late 31. It's never too late and education is invaluable just don't pay too much for it (one of my friends is $125k in debt )
I would go for accounting/finance degree. 65-75k for entry level jobs. Doesn't matter if you are 30yr old when you finish...your resume only shows your graduation date, not your age.
Or RN is another option.
Now that NY State has free college tuition, can you take advantage of that?
It's possible to make a good career as a real estate agent, but there's a few things you need to know up front:
The first two to three years you will make no money, or if you make anything at all it will be very little, on the order of $5k for the entire year.
The most important thing is diligence. You must be very diligent with paperwork, procedure, follow-through.
You must enjoy paperwork. Being successful as a real estate agent is more about your ability and willingness to do paperwork rather than your personality or salesmanship.
You must communicate and coordinate between lawyers, lenders, insurance companies, home inspectors, etc, which means you must educate yourself in these different fields. The more you know about real estate law, construction, and insurance, the better a real estate agent you are.
Regarding #4, you often will need to do other people's work for them, or at the very least be capable of enticing and nudging them to do the work they are supposed to be doing. You will be surrounded by people who are lazy or only partially competent. If you can't get them to do what they're supposed to, you'll lose deals.
It's a lot of work with little payoff the first few years.
just don't pay too much for it (one of my friends is $125k in debt )
Definitely pay as little as you can for your university education, without skimping on the quality of the education. Get as many scholarships, aid and work-through-college jobs as you can. And seek out solid universities that charge less for tuition. I went to New Mexico Tech - an excellent engineering school - and came out with zero debt. The school is cheap because it's in a poor state and it's in the middle of nowhere. It's not for everyone but it goes to show you that there are good universities where you don't have to pay an arm and a leg.
Definitely pay as little as you can for your university education, without skimping on the quality of the education. Get as many scholarships, aid and work-through-college jobs as you can. And seek out solid universities that charge less for tuition. I went to New Mexico Tech - an excellent engineering school - and came out with zero debt. The school is cheap because it's in a poor state and it's in the middle of nowhere. It's not for everyone but it goes to show you that there are good universities where you don't have to pay an arm and a leg.
Well cost of living must be less in AZ compared to NYC!
Surely if you qualify you get free college tuition in NYC but its not paying for housing
You still go into debt no matter what
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just don't pay too much for it (one of my friends is $125k in debt 
)
