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Southbound 47--Congrats on your promotion! And CKHThankGod thanks for the helpful info--having good Polish food and a community is something I miss very much in Buffalo and that I do not really see here in the DC area.
Finance in Buffalo would be easier if you considered banking, since HSBC, Key Bank, and M&T are both big employers in the area for corporate jobs. Bank of America has a decent footprint here too.
Beyond that, I suppose you can look into any of the other companies that are here. Unfortunately, there are not a ton of large corporate headquarters which to give you better chances.
If your willing to live in Syracuse, you certainly will want to include Rochester in your searches for jobs too. By searching all three upstate cities, it should greatly increase your chances. going the other way down the thruway, you may also want to include Erie, and maybe even Cleveland in your search. Cleveland is about a 3 hour drive, still doable in a day for a visit (although, I would consider that on the very edge of a day trip). Still, 3 hours is not too bad.
Healthcare is a growing area in Buffalo however. The downtown medical cooridor has been growing a lot, with Roswell as well as a lot of work in bioinformatics.
I work in banking right now and its not as good as you would think. I think that First Niagara and HSBC both offer great job, and Key Bank fewer, but it ends there, and there is way too much competition. My company laid off hundreds of professionals in the banking field (you an guess which it is) and many that I talk to have looked outside of the area and are actually getting called in. There are just too few openings for the number of banking jobs.
If you want branch operations that is starting to free up, but many want to avoid those positions... I personally have experience. I have been applying to banking positions in Buffalo, only gotten 1 interview. I broadened to Columbus, Cincinatti, and Pittsburgh and have gotten about 7 or 8 interviews and 5 offers from those cities.
I was so desperate to stay in Buffalo that I applied to be a call center supervisor. I was actually declined! Ha!
It's all OK though because I am staying here, but not in banking. I got offered a really good job with a company that employs about 400 locally... I'll actually be just below the director level, and I'm pretty young. So I done gone good!
I work in Amherst for an engineering firm next to Buffalo University. I am a Landscape Architect and was VERY VERY LUCKY to find this job, this spring. My wife and I relocated from Washington D.C. and are thrilled to be in this area. Combined, the two of us make 100k and we are laughing.
I work in Amherst for an engineering firm next to Buffalo University. I am a Landscape Architect and was VERY VERY LUCKY to find this job, this spring. My wife and I relocated from Washington D.C. and are thrilled to be in this area. Combined, the two of us make 100k and we are laughing.
It's amazing that the family income doesn't have to be too high to live fine in the area, isn't it?
It's amazing that the family income doesn't have to be too high to live fine in the area, isn't it?
Its also amazing that when you talk to many of the former natives you always get the everyone had to leave town to get a job story yet many companies here have to recruit people from outside of WNY because there isnt enough qualified individuals to fill the positions. It makes me wonder what kind of degrees the youth of WNY are getting ...... or if the majority of them aren't even bothering with college because they think they should get a $60K job right out of high school, and when they dont they head out for whatever place is currently a boomtown. My wife is in medical & was recruited to come here. All of our moving expenses were paid for & she received a very nice bonus after 90 days. Since we have been here she has regularly been recruited to take a similar position with several different offices. I'd bet that 70% of the doctors & technicians she works with are from some other state. With her latest raise she makes a little over $20K/year more than she did in Austin & her benefits are unbelievable. She has a no deductible family health insurance plan + reimbursement for gym memberships for the whole family.
I have a business degree & had a position within a few weeks. Here in the Southtowns I'm always meeting people from Maryland/DC that were recruited to come here (seems to be a popular place among Buffalo companies), I even know a few families from Texas. I just dont understand? Why wouldn't companies hire locally if the area had so many qualified people & save themselves the money they are paying most of these families for relocation?
Its also amazing that when you talk to many of the former natives you always get the everyone had to leave town to get a job story yet many companies here have to recruit people from outside of WNY because there isnt enough qualified individuals to fill the positions. It makes me wonder what kind of degrees the youth of WNY are getting ...... or if the majority of them aren't even bothering with college because they think they should get a $60K job right out of high school, and when they dont they head out for whatever place is currently a boomtown. My wife is in medical & was recruited to come here. All of our moving expenses were paid for & she received a very nice bonus after 90 days. Since we have been here she has regularly been recruited to take a similar position with several different offices. I'd bet that 70% of the doctors & technicians she works with are from some other state. With her latest raise she makes a little over $20K/year more than she did in Austin & her benefits are unbelievable. She has a no deductible family health insurance plan + reimbursement for gym memberships for the whole family.
I have a business degree & had a position within a few weeks. Here in the Southtowns I'm always meeting people from Maryland/DC that were recruited to come here (seems to be a popular place among Buffalo companies), I even know a few families from Texas. I just dont understand? Why wouldn't companies hire locally if the area had so many qualified people & save themselves the money they are paying most of these families for relocation?
Great post, as you hit on things I think a lot of people don't think about. It does seem like many of the good jobs in Upstate NY are filled by out of staters. It could be a thing of what you go to school for or even thinking about what is in demand locally. I add that a stigma towards getting a trade could also be a part of that equation.
Also, I notice that people only think about the bigger companies, when medium and smaller businesses employ most of the people in this country. So, for those say GM jobs that are gone, there are some jobs available with a few smaller or medium companies available that people aren't thinking about. I see this in the Syracuse area where a person might think about the GE plant that closed, but doesn't realize that Lockheed Martin and a few smaller companies are in the same space.
Great post, as you hit on things I think a lot of people don't think about. It does seem like many of the good jobs in Upstate NY are filled by out of staters. It could be a thing of what you go to school for or even thinking about what is in demand locally. I add that a stigma towards getting a trade could also be a part of that equation.
Also, I notice that people only think about the bigger companies, when medium and smaller businesses employ most of the people in this country. So, for those say GM jobs that are gone, there are some jobs available with a few smaller or medium companies available that people aren't thinking about. I see this in the Syracuse area where a person might think about the GE plant that closed, but doesn't realize that Lockheed Martin and a few smaller companies are in the same space.
There's UB and then there is Buffalo - apples n oranges..talk to the peeps in Lockport about jobs.
There's UB and then there is Buffalo - apples n oranges..talk to the peeps in Lockport about jobs.
Point?
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