moving to Ohio (Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo: insurance, homes, job market)

[NuEnglandgirl]

Hey ALL!!! im sure this isnt a new topic on this site. however, I havent found any threads that are specific to what im asking. Well, I'm from the New England area of the east coast and I have met someone in Ohio. I am thinking of moving because my love interest has a more stable situation then i do at the moment. I am in my late 20's with no children. I have a college degree and most of my career has been in case management, Pharmacy (retail and hospital) as well as in community organizing. I however, went back to school and got a degree in Paralegal.

some of my questions are:

What are the job markets like in Ohio?
what is the industries that are easier to get a job?
how accepting is Ohio, especially the Findlay and its near by cities/towns, to outsiders?

i would appreciate any type of feedback. Perhaps, job websites, city/state websites,so I can get a little more familiar with the state.

thanks ahead of time for taking time out to help me out!

[mrspink]

I live around the Findlay area and I would say it is fairly accepting. I mean...you're not going to make really close friends right away of course. It will take time. Since you already know someone here though you may have an easier time networking with this person's help. But Findlay is a good location. You're not too far from Toledo, which has MUCH better shopping and dining options as well as a nice art museum and zoo. Findlay has some nice things though too. It's not too big and relatively safe. There is a nice movie theater and some good chain restaurants. The mall is nothing to brag about...if you want real options you'll have to hit Toledo or Columbus isn't too far either. Findlay also has a University and has easy access to I75.

The job market here in Ohio isn't fabulous...but it really isn't anywhere right now. Here is a website I found.
City of Findlay : Welcome to the City of Findlay website

Findlay also has a pretty decent school system and Liberty Benton (which is outside Findlay) has a good school system as well. Other communities in the area have good school systems as well. (I figure if you are going to live somewhere that may be a good way to network and meet people in the area, plus if you're going to be voting on levys and such...it may be good info to consider).

Hope this helps some!

[NuEnglandgirl]

THANK YOU!!! it was very helpful. i hear that Findlay is a small, easy going town. I appreciate your help!

[LewLew]

I am not that familiar with Findlay. However, Ohioans are accepting people. I am from NEOH (Shaker Heights) and I've lived in NY, Chicago, CA, FL and haven't found a better group of people anywhere. We are actually moving back up.

NEOH is a great market for medical jobs. The Cleveland Clinic and the whole University Medical system is exploding. Cleveland also has the largest concentration of corporate headquarters in the state, and one of the largest concentrations of insurance companies in the country. I'm biased, but think that you'd have a great chance of landing a fabulous job there. There are a lot of towns to choose from depending on your tastes.

Shopping is fabulous in Cleveland, and the Iron Chef, Michael Symon, and others have fantastic restaurants. The malls are fantastic, and the arts/museum/music scene are fantastic. Check out Chagrin Falls and Shaker heights at these websites.
www.chagrin-falls.org and www.shakeronline.com Shaker is very close to medical industry jobs.
The schools are ranked very high, and they have excellent private schools as well. The plethora of housing options and price ranges in the suburbs of Cleveland are great as well. There is also the West Side market on the West side www.westsidemarket.org Bay Village, Rocky River are very nice walkable towns on the Lake. Mentor Headlands is a great beach mentor headlands beach - Google Video#
Hopefully that opens, but it's You Tube videos of the beach.
Anyway, good luck wherever you choose, but my vote would be for the Cleveland area.

[chance2jump]

It would be really helpful to know what area of Ohio you're looking to get into so we can address your questions more specifically.

The job market in Toledo area is very different than Columbus / Cinci, and even Cleveland. The areas are extremely different in make up for type of homes, industries and even types of people. Overall, the job market is a little better in the larger cities, NW Ohio is not doing well at all. Cleveland isn't doing great but there are some jobs here and there.

Overall, the midwest, in general, is very accomodating to outsiders. Very welcoming. I have not met anyone in Ohio yet that hasn't been great. (Moved to OH from MI).

[VideoEngineerAJS]

Originally Posted by chance2jump

It would be really helpful to know what area of Ohio you're looking to get into so we can address your questions more specifically.

The job market in Toledo area is very different than Columbus / Cinci, and even Cleveland. The areas are extremely different in make up for type of homes, industries and even types of people. Overall, the job market is a little better in the larger cities, NW Ohio is not doing well at all. Cleveland isn't doing great but there are some jobs here and there.

Overall, the midwest, in general, is very accomodating to outsiders. Very welcoming. I have not met anyone in Ohio yet that hasn't been great. (Moved to OH from MI).

This is a very good point. Findlay is kind of an odd area in terms of location. If you don't mind a bit of a commute then the medical field is very big in Dayton and Columbus. There are 4 very large health networks in Dayton and Columbus. Central Ohio is also a pretty good area for the legal field. Central Ohio in general is better off than the rest of Ohio because the area wasn't really built because of manufacturing jobs. Central Ohio was never really big in manufacturing like Dayton, Toledo, and Cleveland were. Also while the rest of Ohio is losing population, Central Ohio is still growing.

To give you an idea of my situation, I'm 26 and I lived in Nashua, NH from September of 2007 to September of 2008 and moved back to Central Ohio.