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Hi, I am an 18yo college freshman next fall i wanted to take time off to pursue witting ( currently i am a bio major). Its always been my dream to live in NYC and if went there during the fall semester of next year i will have $5000 to start with. I plan on staying at the YMCA for a week or two while try to find a job. Do you think it will be easy enough for someone w/o much work experience to get a job?
If you're looking for a huge challenge, do it. If not, don't. My advice is: Get more work experience, save more money and only move to NYC if you already have a job lined up. Even people with proper education and (lots of) work experience can't find a job in the Big Apple.
I have 5 years of work experience, and 2 college degrees. I have been applying for a (new) job for a year and half already and haven't gotten a single interview. That seems to be the standard here nowadays...so yeah, it's not so easy to just get a job just b/c you want a job.
Secondly, I don't mean to be rude, but you want to pursue writing and yet everything you wrote was spelled wrong or incorrectly punctuated. Maybe you were just hurried when you were typing, if that's how you normally write, I would also think twice.
Thirdly, if you are going to be a college freshman next fall, how are you already a bio major? Wouldn't you still be in high school?
It takes more than a week or two to actually get started, even if you are hired by someone in the first week. Any family to stay with? I stayed with an uncle for about 6 months and saved up a little bit, and I have already plowed through most of that cash by now.
I moved back at one point without a job. But I saved a bundle and was very careful once I arrived. I signed up to temp, but actually found a FT gig within a month.
Scary, but sometimes you have to cowboy it when relocating.
No, there is absolutely NO chance that an 18-year-old with minimal experience would find a job within a week or two. None, not even washing dishes. I'd recommend just using some of your savings to come visit NYC during a break and staying at home/school. Then after school, when you've got even more cash saved up and a degree under your belt, you can do all your homework and make a genuine effort at living in NYC for a while. It's an incredible experience living here, and you'd grow up a lot, even just during the semester, but why not just stay for a few weeks so you can get a good taste and be sure it's for you before blowing all of your savings? It's hard to recommend against NYC, but you'll get a lot more out of it if you feel like you're fully prepared with a real shot at getting a foothold. If your parents or family can pay for you to a sublet a place or something, and help with your expenses as well or something, then I say go for it, but if you come here without any support then you're likely to end up back at home within a few weeks anyway. Just my 2 cents.
If you do make it up here and you're hell-bent on pursuing writing, I'd recommend going to the Rose Reading Room at the NYPL main branch at 5th and 42nd, getting a library card, and reading as much as possible--the classics, criticism, philosophy, whatever, especially consider you're a bio major, and I doubt you've had much of a literary education thusfar. It will keep you from spending money, and you'll get an incredible education while you're at it, which will be an exceptional advantage if you ever try to establish yourself as a writer. There is no point in coming to NYC and writing some poor, flaccid poetry or short stories or something, because you'll just get frustrated and give up. You have to make a serious attempt at improvement, because the greatest writers in the world live in NYC, and if you don't work harder than almost everyone, you're not going to get anywhere. NYC isn't a magical city that will just turn you into an incredible writer, but it will stimulate your mind and senses and provide an incredible amount of cultural fodder. If you want to turn it into something worthwhile, though, that will actually get noticed, you'll have to treat it as a SERIOUS discipline, a full-time job. Ultimately, if you want to be a professional writer, you probably need an MFA, unless you're an exceptional talent--but that's obviously pretty far away for you. Sorry for sounding like a dad, just my opinion!
Last edited by SonicYouth; 11-10-2009 at 09:44 AM..
if you were a professional or already had a degree (for which there is demand) then you could probably pull off finding a job before coming out here (as i did), however, because you're young and inexperienced right now, that might not be possible but i dont know
I will post my question here as well. I posted on the "Need info moving to NYC" and got no replies. I am new to this and I could use as much feedback and help as possibe.
I am a 27 yr old girl planning to move to NYC in Summer of 2010. By then I will have 10k saved and 4 years of professional work experience (2 yrs: Applications Support Analyst (Self Storage Company) 2yrs: Financial Systems Analyst (HSBC Bank )).
I understand that it isn't going to be easy, I plan on having a roommate the first yr living there. I don't have much debt. 18K in student loans where I can go down to paying a min of $160/month until I am more stable. Cell Phone bill of $90/month. Other expenses I will incur for living in NYC when I move I expect like rent, utilities, transportation and food.
Question:
1. How likely will it be for me to get a job? How long do you think it will take me? and how much can I expect in Salary? I am shooting for a minimum of 55k/year because I currently make 42k in Upstate NY where cost of living esp. rent is about 30%-60% lower thanNYC.
2. Should I move first or get a job first? I'm thinking move and crash with some friends for 2 months so I can conserve my cash while looking for a job a job. May be move and live in a hostel while i look for a job and neighborhood since I dont know which neighborhood would be best for me.
3. I would like to apply for jobs from where I am but does it decrease my chances of call back not having a NYC address.
4. I have a Bachelors Degree in Business with concentration in Management Information Systems. However, after being in the field for 4 yrs I am looking to move to a new field. I am flexible between associate project/product manager, marketing analyst, product analyst etc etc Intrinsically I am a very analytical person, with a bubbly personality, strategic planning is something that comes natural for me and organizing and managing is 2nd nature. These are strong traits I have professionally discovered I have. Can I sell these traits for the jobs I want?
I will stop here. Please help! Any advice will be great and much appreciated.
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and much appreciated.
