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My husband and I moved here about a month ago from Seattle. The high cost of living, being 3,000 miles from family, less than desirable weather with 2 very young kids, skyrocketing childcare costs, and all that jazz, sent us looking in other directions after selling our house out there. We were lucky that his company was willing to let him relocate and work remotely, but he still wanted to test the Raleigh job market just in case. (He is a software developer, for reference)
Posted his resume and had an insane response. I was incredibly nervous given the unemployment stats and hearing so many less than stellar comments on the employment situation, so it was a huge surprise for the both of us. VERY few companies were willing to pay for relo, however. There also were several recruiters who completely ignored him after he let them know we were in the Seattle area, but moving to Raleigh. (He had an out of state area code for his contact number, and simply listed Raleigh, NC on the address line for his resume while we were in Seattle)
He ended up coming out here with his company, but was intrigued by the interest, so he interviewed at a few of the companies. 3 out of the first 4 he interviewed for made him offers, all but 1 being for more pay than we made in Seattle. Keep in mind, we were fully preparing ourselves for the potential of way less pay, and living off of our savings for weeks/months. I know that had he not attempted to test the waters out here, there is a very strong chance we would still be in Seattle, comfortably numb, paying an insane amount for rent while looking at buying homes for insane numbers and running the same rat race year after a year.
I would encourage you to at least put your resume out there and try. (If you would like any LinkedIn connections, feel free to DM me) If it's still on your mind, it is worth it. I would never encourage someone however, to move without a job, even though that is exactly what I myself did when I moved from Florida to Seattle. (No kids at the time, and maybe a little young/dumb too. Worked itself out, though.)
My husband and I moved here about a month ago from Seattle. The high cost of living, being 3,000 miles from family, less than desirable weather with 2 very young kids, skyrocketing childcare costs, and all that jazz, sent us looking in other directions after selling our house out there. We were lucky that his company was willing to let him relocate and work remotely, but he still wanted to test the Raleigh job market just in case. (He is a software developer, for reference)
Posted his resume and had an insane response. I was incredibly nervous given the unemployment stats and hearing so many less than stellar comments on the employment situation, so it was a huge surprise for the both of us. VERY few companies were willing to pay for relo, however. There also were several recruiters who completely ignored him after he let them know we were in the Seattle area, but moving to Raleigh. (He had an out of state area code for his contact number, and simply listed Raleigh, NC on the address line for his resume while we were in Seattle)
He ended up coming out here with his company, but was intrigued by the interest, so he interviewed at a few of the companies. 3 out of the first 4 he interviewed for made him offers, all but 1 being for more pay than we made in Seattle. Keep in mind, we were fully preparing ourselves for the potential of way less pay, and living off of our savings for weeks/months. I know that had he not attempted to test the waters out here, there is a very strong chance we would still be in Seattle, comfortably numb, paying an insane amount for rent while looking at buying homes for insane numbers and running the same rat race year after a year.
I would encourage you to at least put your resume out there and try. (If you would like any LinkedIn connections, feel free to DM me) If it's still on your mind, it is worth it. I would never encourage someone however, to move without a job, even though that is exactly what I myself did when I moved from Florida to Seattle. (No kids at the time, and maybe a little young/dumb too. Worked itself out, though.)
I am glad things worked out because it is certainly scary when you have no income coming in.
There are a lot of job postings, but bear in mind that many of them are "required" postings where they may already have an internal candidate lined up but are required to list the job and sometimes even to interview X number of people (horrible practice, gets people's hopes up, wastes the employer's time, etc. But it happens).
And, since NC, especially Raleigh, is such a "hot spot" to move right now, you can beleive that any job posted will get dozens of responses from all over. That's one reason a lot of places are saying "local only"--just to cut down on having to go through sometimes HUNDREDS of applications.
The "native" employment rate in NC is very high; less so in the Raleigh area but still not great, but that doesn't take into account the "phantom unemployment" of out-of-staters seeking jobs, in competition with all of that population who do show up in the job-huntiing statistics (remember, Unemployment rate only counts those who LOOKED for a job, not all of those without one, and it doesn't count those who have a job but are job-hunting for something more).
With your husband having no experience, he will have a really tough time getting anything and you might need to focus on where he can find something, since his career will be the one with less leeway. As far as TW jobs, I know a lot of TWs but they are all contractors and seem to be getting constantly let go when a project ends.
I was reading the replies to this post and sharing some with my husband last night and we are both so very impressed and happy with all of the fantastic responses we have gotten from everyone. This board is such a great resource! I really appreciate you all sharing your experiences and helping us look at things from a variety of different perspectives.
As noted in the original post, we are considering Raleigh and will be visiting soon to check it out. We are just starting to really look into this moving idea and we are also planning on looking into Richmond, Charlotte and some other areas in NC and SC.
Again, thank you all for the help, advice and encouragement.
I've changed my mind when it comes to this. If you have a big nest egg and you can afford this for quite a while I think yes but otherwise I would vote no.
I also was surprised by relocation benefits for a Technical Writer. But I guess if TW are in such great demand, who knows?
If I was planning to move within the year, one of the first things I would do is get my house on the market. Interest rates are in the 3% range now and houses are selling like hotcakes in our neighborhood. Five houses sold this summer. Not a one was on the market for more than a week. Who knows what the situation will be next spring.
When our home sold, I would move into a small apartment and start saving like crazy. Goal would be to sell or otherwise rid myself of all but essential belongings and to get as much in the bank as possible.
Then start checking out the job market, focusing on positions with telecommuting possibilities.
Good luck with your adventure.
I don't know about this. I have to agree with the PPs that you should really spend more time checking out the job market before you start uprooting the life you have. You can't do a few phone interviews just to see what's out there?
Quick bit of advice to anyone who is thinking of moving here (Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill) without a job lined up AND not a lot of money saved up...
Think very carefully about it. Very, very carefully, that is. Don't do what I did--that is: say to yourself "Oh, it looks like a lot of jobs are there because of the high-tech industry" (me, being an electronics technician of 20+ years).
I have been looking for work since April and have yet to land one single interview. Only a couple emails asking additional questions with no follow ups or any communication. I apply to jobs immediately after I find them (usually within days or hours, because my fulltime job right now is to "look for work constantly").
As for savings. I had a few thousand put away, but I am draining it very fast.
The irony: this is a "must have car" for transportation town. (I'm already missing Portland, Oregon for that reason alone). I sold my car before I left the west coast. However, if I keep using my saved money to live on, then I will have no automobile to *get to any job* because everything is so sprawled here and the public transportation system is very lackluster. And therefore, will be homeless (here), rather than have kept the job I had in Oregon that paid me well over $50k/year.
What a fool I was to ignore some of the city-data advice.
Best to pass on this unfortunate and bitter, yet important life lesson.
Be wise people--it's a terrible job market and the U.S.A. is a big sinking ship with many holes in it that no one is willing to 1. take responsibility for and 2. do anything about.
I know someone here who is a technical writer for Robert Half. There are so many technology companies here that contract their writing out. I'd suggest having as much continuity of employment as you can - it'll reflect better for any leases or loans you might need in the near future.
Quick bit of advice to anyone who is thinking of moving here (Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill) without a job lined up AND not a lot of money saved up...
Think very carefully about it. Very, very carefully, that is. Don't do what I did--that is: say to yourself "Oh, it looks like a lot of jobs are there because of the high-tech industry" (me, being an electronics technician of 20+ years).
I have been looking for work since April and have yet to land one single interview. Only a couple emails asking additional questions with no follow ups or any communication. I apply to jobs immediately after I find them (usually within days or hours, because my fulltime job right now is to "look for work constantly").
As for savings. I had a few thousand put away, but I am draining it very fast.
The irony: this is a "must have car" for transportation town. (I'm already missing Portland, Oregon for that reason alone). I sold my car before I left the west coast. However, if I keep using my saved money to live on, then I will have no automobile to *get to any job* because everything is so sprawled here and the public transportation system is very lackluster. And therefore, will be homeless (here), rather than have kept the job I had in Oregon that paid me well over $50k/year.
What a fool I was to ignore some of the city-data advice.
Best to pass on this unfortunate and bitter, yet important life lesson.
Be wise people--it's a terrible job market and the U.S.A. is a big sinking ship with many holes in it that no one is willing to 1. take responsibility for and 2. do anything about.
Yikes! What a pickle.
I've heard variations on this story so many times that it's heartbreaking. I wish those folks who write the magazine articles on what an up and coming area this is would actually come here and try to get a job. It is not as easy as it looks.
I've been told that many of those job openings listed on Indeed and such don't actually exist any longer.
The job market here is not great and I believe unemployment is still above the national average (don't quote me, but I read an article a couple weeks ago saying something of the sort).
Actually, the Raleigh-Cary MSA unemployment rate is below the national average at 7.3% (nationally at 7.7%) with Wake County's rate a bit lower at 7.2%.
While I understand the real concern about moving without a job, the sky isn't falling in Raleigh and its future is among the brightest in the country. All the building blocks are in place for Raleigh and the Triangle to not only succeed but lead into the future. Its populace is educated. Its unemployment rate is the lowest of NC's large counties. Its crime rate is low and its public school children perform well. All the while, it's adding more new residents a year than any county in the state.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that anyone at all should quit their current job and then move without a job but I do think that things are better in Raleigh and the Triangle than many presume it is. The entire country was hit hard by the last recession and it was particularly psychologically painful for Raleigh because it was a cold wet slap in the face to a city that hadn't felt that sort of wrath in most of our lifetimes. However, that psychological malaise doesn't need to be perpetuated ad infinitum as the city and metro recovers along with the rest of the country. It just seems to me that the malaise is perpetuated here on C-D way too much (oh...BTW, this is not a reference to goodbyesnow's post at all). As Andy Dufresne says in The Shawshank Redemption: "Get busy living or get busy dying".
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I would never encourage someone however, to move without a job, even though that is exactly what I myself did when I moved from Florida to Seattle. (No kids at the time, and maybe a little young/dumb too. Worked itself out, though.) 
