To those who came without job... (Raleigh, Wilmington: apartment, car insurance, how much)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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To those of you who moved to the Raleigh area without a job, hoping to find one, can you please share your experiences? Were you able to find work and if so, how long did it take you? I work in HR and administration and am planning to move to the area without a job waiting for me. I'm nervous about it, of course, but am having no luck getting a job remotely.
Hello! My husband and I are in the same position. We really want to move to the area, but he is having trouble finding a job remotely. We were considering moving without a job, but we have a baby and are feeling really iffy about it. If you get some good responses/leads, could you please keep us in the loop? We'd really appreciate it!! I just posted a thread about any recommendations for recruiters in the area. If we receive any responses I will let you know. Thanks and good luck!! :-)
Back when I was getting ready to move back to the area, it was extremely hard to get people to interview me. And this was with me putting my Raleigh address on my resume and clearly stating in my cover letter that while I was working overseas, I would be moving back to my Raleigh address and would not need any relocation costs. I think I maybe got one interview out of 50+ applications I put out there and didn't get that job because the timing of my move was not right. Once I was back in the area it took me about a month with some good old fashioned networking to find a position. Had I not already had those networking connections in Raleigh I'm not confident I would have found a job that quickly.
I work in a fairly small, specialized field. Before moving, I researched and cold-called people in positions that might be able to assist in a job search, and made appointments to meet with them during the three separate visits I made prior to finalizing the move. I spent at least 3 days each visit, and spent each visit in a different area (Wilmington area, Triangle, and Mountains (both Boone and Asheville). I used information gathered in those meetings to determine the best location in North Carolina to move (the triangle). THEN I started researching cost of living in the Triangle. During my visits, I picked up several apartment guides, knowing I would start in an apartment. I noted major grocery stores in the areas, and visited their websites to look at weekly ads to see how much food cost. I contacted my car insurance agency to find out about the cost of insurance (and found out they were not authorized to operate in NC, so I learned I had to find a whole new agency!). After this research, I DID NOT move until I has a minimum of 6 months anticipated expenses saved up; this included food, gas, rent, utilities, everything.
When I made the move, I immediately called my contacts from the previous visits, and let them know I was now in-state. I reiterated my experience and abilities in my job field, and provided them with my new, local phone number. One of my contacts had left their position, and the replacement knew a great deal about other areas the company operated in, but little of my specialized field. Because of my previous contacts, he already had a resume on file, asked me to come in, hired me within a week as a subcontractor, and brought me on full time in 6 months. I really believe this worked as smoothly as it did because of an incredible amount of preparation and hard work, and NOT coming to NC without first having contacted people and established network connections. If I had not done that, I honestly believe it would have taken much longer to find work.
Of course, this was all in 2005. Keep in mind that the recession has hit this area hard as well, and that for each job opening, there are likely a hundred applicants unless the field is quite specialized. If you have an area of specialty in your job, make that clear. Find others with the same specialty in this area and find ways to contact them. If you are a generalist in your field, it will probably be tougher.
At the risk of being bashed as too negative, I've got to tell you that HR is a tough job market here. LOTS of locals with experience got laid off during the worst of the recession, so the competition for the few open jobs is fierce.
I can only tell you from our experience and that is that it is MUCH harder to get a job here than I thought. I have a Master's degree and I have been temping for the last 8 months. I apply to at least 10 jobs per week and very rarely even get a "Thanks but no thanks" reply. Most times it's no reply at all. I have a solid work history too with no gaps in employment. Hubby also has not found a job yet and is told that he is either over or underqualified when he does get an interview (which is very rare.) Not to say that you may come here and get a job in a day...I'm just really surprised at just how much competition there is for even very entry-level, low paying jobs. It's fierce! Well I guess that's to be expected in an area where everyone is flocking to and vying for a limited amount of job openings. Good luck in your search.
If I had a dollar for every thread similar to this one that I have read, I would have a nice chunk of change.
The competition here is stiff. Folks from up north know this area is cheaper to live in, so they sell their 600-800k homes to move down here to get a 200-300k comparable home and try to find employment. The pay is much different and it is hard to find a job here that gets the bills paid. I have a second job that is "as needed" and I am more often than not "needed" due to the lack of extra money people have to spend at my job. Like the previous poster, I have a Master's degree and I am considered overqualified for a desk job.
Last edited by redandorangeskittles; 06-26-2012 at 03:45 PM..
Reason: Master's not Master
We were looking for part time when we moved here and that was harder than we expected... With all the retail stores in this area and the traffic coming in and out of these malls etc I thought for sure we would get hired in a heartbeat... Hubby had been at his company for 38 yrs; rarely sick and lots of great references etc.
Nope. It turned out that a year ago he was still looking and good part time jobs were taken by a lot of people looking for FT and not finding it... It was a wake up call for sure.
Eventually last August he found a PT job that was a good fit and he still is there, likes it very much. No benefits though and the pay is pretty low compared to what we left.
It's tough out there. But we came with reserves so to speak.. Those are almost gone but we are getting by anyway!
Off Topic question: How do you subscribe to a thread? I guess I managed to subscribe to this one, but can't figure out how to subscribe to another. Thanks!
And thanks to everyone for their helpful responses!! I appreciate the input.
Yes, the streets are not paved with gold despite all the stupidity being spewed out by ignorant news media.
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