Moving to anywhere in Arizona, any tips. I don’t have a job lined up but plenty of cash…and Im 40. (Phoenix: cheap apartment, hotel)

[captainwillie]

My wife and I really want to move to Arizona, any part really. I have been looking for over 5 months now and I haven’t had a single hit. Does anyone have a recommendation where I should move in Arizona, preferably an area that has a strong job market? I have over 20 years of web and marketing experience and my MBA. My wife just wants to leave but I am nervous not having a job lined up. Any suggestions on where I should look would be great!

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

Originally Posted by captainwillie

My wife and I really want to move to Arizona, any part really. I have been looking for over 5 months now and I haven’t had a single hit. Does anyone have a recommendation where I should move in Arizona, preferably an area that has a strong job market? I have over 20 years of web and marketing experience and my MBA. My wife just wants to leave but I am nervous not having a job lined up. Any suggestions on where I should look would be great!

In AZ, if you are of working age, and want to make more than minimum wage, all roads lead to Phoenix. If you have to work still, Greater Phoenix is the ONLY place to consider in AZ period

[captainwillie]

Thank you! That narrows down the list!

[keninaz]

I am afraid that your skills may limit you to the larger communities of Tucson or the Phoenix metro area.
Much of AZ is rural with low job availability. I don't know for sure but perhaps telecomutting would work for you? I wish that had been around when I was in the working class.
It's hot in the valleys from June through Sept and I don't know how you will deal with that.
I live at 5200' in the Prescott/Prescott Valley area. 15-25° cooler on any given day as a rule. Many like it here but there are few jobs. I was retired when I moved here from SE AZ. We have around 125K people in these mountains.


Good luck!!

[captainwillie]

Were not opposed to living in Phoenix, Ill probably melt. I currently reside in north Idaho by Canada...My wife is the one who loves the Arizona heat. I have been looking at telecommuting jobs, I would love to land one of those but after all my job searching I think they may be as rare as a Unicorn.

[keninaz]

My wife is a native of Tombstone, but at here age now she no longer likes the heat either.
I have seen the valley go over 100° on it's way up for the day by 8 or 9 AM. Too much for me.

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220

In AZ, if you are of working age, and want to make more than minimum wage, all roads lead to Phoenix. If you have to work still, Greater Phoenix is the ONLY place to consider in AZ period

This.

Finding good-paying jobs in Tucson, the second best job market in Arizona, is like trying to win the lottery. Possible but, the odds are HIGHLY STACKED against you.

Jobs are pretty spread out in the Phoenix metro but if you move down here and get a cheap apartment (which there is plenty of) or an extended-stay hotel room then it should help you get a job. Jobs tend to skew towards the East Valley though there is still plenty in West Valley, so I would try to stick to Phoenix proper so you aren't in a bad position for a job in either side of the valley whereas if you got an apartment in Buckeye you can basically cross off any job in Chandler or Gilbert.

[captainwillie]

This is all great information! Thanks!

[jamies]

Cheapest wsy to do this is just send us your money and stay where you are. It will save moving back after our 150 degree summer.

If you insist. I would wait until you have a job for sure.

[dvxhd]

To be honest, it may be an issue on your end as opposed to the local job market and I don't think people are offering much an "outside the box" approach to this. I'm pretty versatile in my field and have worked in marketing, including moving here after accepting a marketing position. That was easily the worst company I have ever worked for. However, I was able to find gainful employment within a few months (a temp job in less than two) and had a very large number of interviews between that job and my current one.

Does your resume list your Idaho address or an Arizona address? When I landed that first job I used an Arizona address. When it came up, I lied through my teeth and said that was the address I was moving to right after the holidays. I had no intention of moving to that address, nor did I intend to move without a job lined up. They bought it and I got the job in the end. Bluntly put: your Idaho address is going to make it extraordinarily difficult to land a job before moving because an employer may not want to take a chance on you when there are plenty of local candidates.

Have you tried applying for other jobs in Idaho? You don't even have to accept an interview, but it could be a good test to see how your resume appears to employers. If you get bites on it, that means it's standing out and they want you. If not, you may need to work on it.

Are you relying solely on mainstream job boards like Indeed, Career Builder and Monster, or are you also considering niche sites particular to your field? Traditionally I had a degree of success in at least getting interviews through the latter because their postings don't always appear elsewhere.

Still, I'll echo Phoenix and Tucson as being your likeliest candidates because your profession is typically more urban and it's unlikely you'll find it in smaller towns, which is pretty much Arizona outside of these two areas. However, I saw on the news recently that Sedona has had difficulty filling jobs (though the news didn't specify what they were, but most likely are in the general tourism industry... though it wouldn't hurt for you to look anyway), and there are places with major employers that would have jobs like that, such as Prescott and Flagstaff (education in both). You could also check out southern Nevada, such as Laughlin and Vegas if you don't mind the commute from a community on the Arizona side of the river. That wouldn't be any different than people in New Jersey commuting to New York, from the Kansas suburbs to Kansas City, or from Indiana into Illinois.