Thinking about moving to Pittsburgh from Ft. Lauderdale in Dec. (Greensburg: appointed, sales)

[retinoid]

I am going to graduate from college in december and am thinking of moving to Pittsburgh...I chose Pittsburgh because 1) It is very different from florida, 2)Isn't an expensive place to live, 3)It is around the same size as Fort Lauderdale (not including South Florida's metropolitan area), 4)There are a lot of gay places/clubs/bars...

However I would need to find a job of course...I want to find something that is overnight and is like 30hrs a week...something like a manager at a walgreens or what not. Anyway, how likely is it that I would I find such an accommodation? Is the employment situation impossible in Pittsburgh right now?

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by retinoid

Is the employment situation impossible in Pittsburgh right now?

I wouldn't necessarily call it "impossible". However, while our unemployment rate is a respectable level below the state and national average (and has consistently been as such throughout the recession) I'd hazard a guess to say our UNDERemployment rate is sky-high. I can only name a handful of college-educated friends here who are gainfully employed within their fields. I moved here in November and am still grossly underemployed in retail customer service, even though I possess what I was led to believe was a "hot" degree---Accounting. My partner has degrees in Mathematics and Statistics and earns the same wage I do as a mailroom clerk. His one roommate is an underglorified legal secretary and the other is a server at a restaurant. Pittsburgh churns out thousands of brilliant young minds annually, but, alas, many must leave to find employment options commensurate with their skill set.

For what it's worth as I'm now living in poverty I've been trying to snag a second job on the night-shift. I just received a rejection e-mail from Giant Eagle for a stock associate position, even though I had two years prior experience as a grocery store stock associate and several more years of customer service and specialty sales expertise. If competition is this fierce for such menial jobs, let alone those requiring degrees, in what is supposedly a city with a "ton" of job openings, then the rest of the nation must be doing deplorably economically right now. Double-dip recession, anyone?

[cry_havoc]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I wouldn't necessarily call it "impossible". However, while our unemployment rate is a respectable level below the state and national average (and has consistently been as such throughout the recession) I'd hazard a guess to say our UNDERemployment rate is sky-high. I can only name a handful of college-educated friends here who are gainfully employed within their fields. I moved here in November and am still grossly underemployed in retail customer service, even though I possess what I was led to believe was a "hot" degree---Accounting. My partner has degrees in Mathematics and Statistics and earns the same wage I do as a mailroom clerk. His one roommate is an underglorified legal secretary and the other is a server at a restaurant. Pittsburgh churns out thousands of brilliant young minds annually, but, alas, many must leave to find employment options commensurate with their skill set.

For what it's worth as I'm now living in poverty I've been trying to snag a second job on the night-shift. I just received a rejection e-mail from Giant Eagle for a stock associate position, even though I had two years prior experience as a grocery store stock associate and several more years of customer service and specialty sales expertise. If competition is this fierce for such menial jobs, let alone those requiring degrees, in what is supposedly a city with a "ton" of job openings, then the rest of the nation must be doing deplorably economically right now. Double-dip recession, anyone?

I hope you are wrong. Currently in Morgantown with an accounting degree and trying to move to Pittsburgh.

[Citypoot]

Retinoid,

Moving to Pittsburgh, is a good idea.

Moving to Pittburgh from Florida, in December, is a bad idea.

Here's why...

The deal with Pittsburgh is it's a really nice place to live about 9 months out of the year. But from mid December to mid March, it can be a pretty harsh, cold, gray landscape.

...and you'll be coming from tropical Florida, and you're introduction to Pittsburgh will be 3 solid months of weather about 60 degrees colder that you're use to, days shorter and dark that you're use to, etc. And I'm just worried that it'll totally spoil the city for you....just like it would spoil someone's opinion of Orlando if they moved there in early July when it's 100 with 90% humidity and stagnant air, and stayed until a hurricane chased them away in mid September....it's not doing Florida justice during those months, and its not doing Pittsburgh justice to introduce yourself to it in the depths of winter from sunny Florida.

Are there communities that are very gay friendly? Sure...Bloomfield is probably the friendliest to gay and lesbian Pittsburghers, with Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, and Point Breeze being pretty accepting also.

Here's the shame of it...if you moved to Pittsburgh in May, just as everything was blooming and color was everywhere, and stayed all summer, experienced our beautiful autumn foliage, etc...by the time December rolls around, you'd realize "wow...this is a great city with really friendly people....it's worth sticking out these rough winters"....but if you show up in the bleakest, grayest 3 or 4 month period, when everyone's inside and the sense of community is less, I'm worried you'll be left with a really shortchanged sense of how great this city is.

So I'll leave it up to you....but if you found something to do in Florida for a few months, came here in April or May when the temperatures are more moderate, spent your first 7 or 8 months in Pittsburgh experiencing the city in fair weather with a lot of friendly outdoor bustle, and EASED your body into the coldness of winter, you'd realize you've made a great decision.

But going from Florida to Pittsburgh in December is like taking a sleddog off the Iditarod trail, and releasing him into Death Valley....i'm just worried how its body will adjust lol.

[retinoid]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I wouldn't necessarily call it "impossible". However, while our unemployment rate is a respectable level below the state and national average (and has consistently been as such throughout the recession) I'd hazard a guess to say our UNDERemployment rate is sky-high. I can only name a handful of college-educated friends here who are gainfully employed within their fields. I moved here in November and am still grossly underemployed in retail customer service, even though I possess what I was led to believe was a "hot" degree---Accounting. My partner has degrees in Mathematics and Statistics and earns the same wage I do as a mailroom clerk. His one roommate is an underglorified legal secretary and the other is a server at a restaurant. Pittsburgh churns out thousands of brilliant young minds annually, but, alas, many must leave to find employment options commensurate with their skill set.

For what it's worth as I'm now living in poverty I've been trying to snag a second job on the night-shift. I just received a rejection e-mail from Giant Eagle for a stock associate position, even though I had two years prior experience as a grocery store stock associate and several more years of customer service and specialty sales expertise. If competition is this fierce for such menial jobs, let alone those requiring degrees, in what is supposedly a city with a "ton" of job openings, then the rest of the nation must be doing deplorably economically right now. Double-dip recession, anyone?

That's very depressing...maybe Pittsburgh isn't the best place to move? I am just looking for a part time job basically (30hrs a week). Not a career right now.

I also was considering staying where I am now for a while, New Hampshire (parents live here), Seattle and Minneapolis. Those are the 4 other places...

[Love2Golf09]

Originally Posted by retinoid

That's very depressing...maybe Pittsburgh isn't the best place to move? I am just looking for a part time job basically (30hrs a week). Not a career right now.

I also was considering staying where I am now for a while, New Hampshire (parents live here), Seattle and Minneapolis. Those are the 4 other places...

Not sure where you heard that Pittsburgh has a ton of gay bars and clubs, but I think someone might have overexaggerated thst quite a bit. If that's what you're into, try Seattle or Minneapolis. No sense in moving here only to be disappointed in the lack of overt homosexuality.

[HillsHollow]

Just a heads up...

Anyone looking for an accounting job-- Look in the Greensburg/Ligonier area. They've had quite a few entry level accounting jobs pop in and out of the paper recently.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

Not sure where you heard that Pittsburgh has a ton of gay bars and clubs, but I think someone might have overexaggerated thst quite a bit. If that's what you're into, try Seattle or Minneapolis. No sense in moving here only to be disappointed in the lack of overt homosexuality.

There are two LGBT-oriented establishments in Shadyside (5801 and Spin), one Downtown (Club Pittsburgh), and two new ones in the Strip District (Cruze is set to open this weekend, and I don't recall the name of the second one that will also be opening soon). Pittsburgh is the nation's 5th-gayest city. I see same-sex couples walking hand-in-hand quite frequently here in the "liberal East End" that you love to bash. Perhaps they'd be tarred and feathered in a place like Springdale or Monessen if they did that, but overall a large majority of the people in the city proper and its nearby suburbs have moved beyond thinking they are "superior" due to their heterosexuality.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by HillsHollow

Just a heads up...

Anyone looking for an accounting job-- Look in the Greensburg/Ligonier area. They've had quite a few entry level accounting jobs pop in and out of the paper recently.

Thank you for the tip. My issue has been that there ARE a lot of accounting positions in the metro area right now, but the vast majority have been businesses looking for "senior level" sorts of positions that require 3-5 years of experience, at the bare minimum, with a CPA preferred. Entry-level accounting positions are scarce as hen's teeth here, and, alas, since I have just under two years of experience in the field I'm still "entry-level". I had admittedly been picky about trying to limit my job search to the city exclusively, but I'm now expanding my horizons to include Cranberry Township, Robinson Township, Canonsburg, and, (thanks to your tip) Greensburg/Ligonier.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by retinoid

That's very depressing...maybe Pittsburgh isn't the best place to move? I am just looking for a part time job basically (30hrs a week). Not a career right now.

I also was considering staying where I am now for a while, New Hampshire (parents live here), Seattle and Minneapolis. Those are the 4 other places...

Pittsburgh is indeed an exciting city in which to reside right now. It seems like BrianTH, alleghenyangel, or nuwaver88 are posting major positive economic development-related news on this sub-forum weekly. I moved here from Northern Virginia because I wanted to be a part of a place that I foresaw needing fresh blood to help it on its impending renaissance. Even though I'm living below the poverty line and am struggling to find a second job to work 80 hours per week to pay my bills I still wouldn't have chose a different city prior to moving here.

With that being said, though, you WILL likely have a difficult time finding work. I was admittedly a bit arrogant in thinking I'd have found something more commensurate with my skill set and education by now, given the "hype" I had heard about the city's "strong job market", and I've been eating humble pie when I'm being rejected just to be a night shift stock boy at a Giant Eagle when I already had years of direct experience (making me think there are even MORE experienced people for that sort of position applying as well).

I had two job offers within two weeks of moving here. The job I have now is the most fun I've ever had at work, but it simply doesn't pay enough. My plan is to keep my chin up as I pursue full employment while retaining my current position for weekends, holidays, and evenings.