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Heres my situation:
-I am 22 and Just graduated college with 4 yr degree in finance
-Dont have a lot of money
-Dont have a job lined up
-Dont have a place to stay
-*Want to move to NC and make it happen*
Most would look at this and say... your crazy,stupid, or should go home and live free for awhile and make some money then apply for a job then go to NC. I have heard this way to many times, enough to give me motivation to prove everyone wrong. Im a risk taker and always have been so i have decided that a week from today i am going to move to Charlotte, NC.
My plan:
1-Drive from Buffalo, NY down to Charlotte, NC with my college roommate (possibly stay with a friend of his for a week or two until we find a place)
2-Get a whatever job(landscaping, restaurant server, dog walker... whatever i gotta do to pay the bills(will not clean toilets though)
3-while working the whatever job, get an internship/send out my application and attempt to get a real job that is related to my field
After reading a few posts i understand that there is crazy traffic.... Not a big fan of traffic and would not be willing to endure a 1 hour commute time... therfore i am willing to live right in the city or take public transportation to avoid long commute.
So like the post title states im a complete newb and would greatly appreciate any help/advice you guys could give. Things like suggested places to live?(hopefully cheap but wouldnt mind paying rent up to $500 a month)...what you think of my plan... how i should better go about executing my plan... Anything!!
My main question is where you would suggest a person in my situation should start off living?i am thinkin it must have a decent renting price, and doesnt invlove an hour commute...20 mins is about the max im looking for... Thank you all and hope you can help.
Heres my situation:
-I am 22 and Just graduated college with 4 yr degree in finance
-Dont have a lot of money
-Dont have a job lined up
-Dont have a place to stay
-*Want to move to NC and make it happen*
Most would look at this and say... your crazy,stupid, or should go home and live free for awhile and make some money then apply for a job then go to NC. I have heard this way to many times, enough to give me motivation to prove everyone wrong. Im a risk taker and always have been so i have decided that a week from today i am going to move to Charlotte, NC.
My plan:
1-Drive from Buffalo, NY down to Charlotte, NC with my college roommate (possibly stay with a friend of his for a week or two until we find a place)
2-Get a whatever job(landscaping, restaurant server, dog walker... whatever i gotta do to pay the bills(will not clean toilets though)
3-while working the whatever job, get an internship/send out my application and attempt to get a real job that is related to my field
After reading a few posts i understand that there is crazy traffic.... Not a big fan of traffic and would not be willing to endure a 1 hour commute time... therfore i am willing to live right in the city or take public transportation to avoid long commute.
So like the post title states im a complete newb and would greatly appreciate any help/advice you guys could give. Things like suggested places to live?(hopefully cheap but wouldnt mind paying rent up to $500 a month)...what you think of my plan... how i should better go about executing my plan... Anything!!
My main question is where you would suggest a person in my situation should start off living?i am thinkin it must have a decent renting price, and doesnt invlove an hour commute...20 mins is about the max im looking for... Thank you all and hope you can help.
-Cole
Cole, since you have already been told how crazy this is and apparently don't care I will stick to just giving you some information.
First of all, uptown Charlotte is very pricey, you cannot live "right in the middle of the city" on $500.00. There are some rougher areas where you can rent for that amount about 10-15 minutes out of the uptown area, but you want to be VERY careful doing that. I will send you a pm with some links to the best of the worst cheap places to get you started.
Do try to understand this, our job market in Charlotte is VERY tight. There are many qualified applicants for jobs. Also, with this being a city with several universities in it, internships will most likely be very tough to come by - consider yourself warned, okay?
I can't give you much advice on where to get a $500 a month apartment, but I can give you life experience and advice on your plan. Good for you young man! You don't need to live off your parents anymore, you have that piece of paper that will open doors for you. You will bea member of the working poor for awhile, but if you work hard you will get to where you want to be. Charlotte is a good place to have a finance degree with the banking industry being so big. Yes, there will be alot of competition for those entry level positions, but from what you just wrote, I think you have the right stuff, be persistant. I am excited for you man! Nothing put opportunity awaits you. Check out RENTCLICKS.com to look for apartments. Good Luck!
I used to live on UT just next to UNCC and share a 4 bedroom condo for 200$s/month including utilities. It is not good but not too bad for the money. You can cook food at home and uptown is around 20 min from here, or if you want to even save on gas and parking get a CATS monthly bus pass for 50$s, but it takes 45 mins.
I don't think you'd need to intern unless you want to. There are quite a few jobs in finance, since this is the 2nd biggest banking city next to NYC.
I applaud your decision to move south, I did it and never looked back. Your family will have a nice place to escape to during a blizzard and they can golf in January.
If you have good credit, leasing an apartment should be too hard, you might need to pay $500 each though with a roommate. ALso, you probably won't be able to tolerate public transportation, it might take you a week to cross mecklenburg county (total exageration, but still), this is a driving city, must have wheels.
Here's how you compensate for the commute time, books on cd, an ipod in the car, talk radio, but don't spend your commute on the cell phone you really need to focus on driving. It takes a while to get used to the driving style, lack of signals being used, people just pulling in front of you without looking, no use of horns (very frowned upon).
I sent you a PM, let me know if I can help you. Yes, please come and do not limit your self to college type jobs, try the finanical services companies.
Also, there are headhunter companies that could provide leads for you.
And could you bring me some shalens hot dogs?
Heres my situation:
-I am 22 and Just graduated college with 4 yr degree in finance
-Dont have a lot of money
-Dont have a job lined up
-Dont have a place to stay
-*Want to move to NC and make it happen*
Most would look at this and say... your crazy,stupid, or should go home and live free for awhile and make some money then apply for a job then go to NC. I have heard this way to many times, enough to give me motivation to prove everyone wrong. Im a risk taker and always have been so i have decided that a week from today i am going to move to Charlotte, NC.
My plan:
1-Drive from Buffalo, NY down to Charlotte, NC with my college roommate (possibly stay with a friend of his for a week or two until we find a place)
2-Get a whatever job(landscaping, restaurant server, dog walker... whatever i gotta do to pay the bills(will not clean toilets though)
3-while working the whatever job, get an internship/send out my application and attempt to get a real job that is related to my field
After reading a few posts i understand that there is crazy traffic.... Not a big fan of traffic and would not be willing to endure a 1 hour commute time... therfore i am willing to live right in the city or take public transportation to avoid long commute.
So like the post title states im a complete newb and would greatly appreciate any help/advice you guys could give. Things like suggested places to live?(hopefully cheap but wouldnt mind paying rent up to $500 a month)...what you think of my plan... how i should better go about executing my plan... Anything!!
My main question is where you would suggest a person in my situation should start off living?i am thinkin it must have a decent renting price, and doesnt invlove an hour commute...20 mins is about the max im looking for... Thank you all and hope you can help.
-Cole
I understand you wanting to strike out and do your own think completely. I just think you could be better prepared, like coming here with experience in your field, having a year's salary saved in the bank, knowing family or friends here, etc. I moved to NC to be with my boyfriend over 9 years ago but he was my backup plan. It was also a different area and a different time. Now the competiton for jobs is pretty tough in Charlotte so anything you can do to be prepared is a good thing. Also, the locals will be graduating from college and flooding the market with candidates, if they haven't done so already. I think you could work on your timing and try to prepare yourself a little better.
Your local college will help you find a job where you live now. There are job banks and your education is probably in high regard there. The out of state education just is not held in as high regard as local colleges here. I know, I'm a college student from FL. It's doing very little for me here and I've lost $10/hour in my field moving from FL to here, or 45.45% of my income. I'm obviously a different field but my FL college cannot help me obtain a job here. I am on my own with little resources and no network.
Think about what would happen if you are not successful here. You strike out on your own, have problems, and have to move back home for help. That will not help you or your career in the long run. You could very well end up moving back home with absolutely no experience in your field and worse off than you are now. This is a very hard market for the experienced job hunter with an education and experience, let alone an out of state college grad. without experience.
I am not trying to discourage you. Please don't take it that way. I just think you should take a step back, think about your move, and plan it better. Charlotte is not going anywhere, take advantage of your resources while you have them. Find a job at home, save your money, visit here and network, apply for jobs from where you live, etc. You probably won't listen to me and that's understandable, but I wish you luck with whatever you choose.
oh there's gotta be a conspiracy. My entire subdivision (no one knows where it is even if I told you the adress) in populated with people from Buffalo NY, who work for bank or america or wachovia). we are 10 minutes away from Uptown and it is the best kept secret so far. Dirt cheap to get in if you ever get a chance (seldom for sale, more like, oh, i have to sell by the weekend so be it)
Hey New Yorker move to the south side of charlotte, 20 mins from Downtown and fair priced apartments ! Uptown is VERY expensive and $500 is definitely not enough for that area maybe $1200 or more will do. Good idea to strike out on your own but be smart about it. Im job searching and living back at home w/ my parents. I got cousins that live in Buffalo !
It sucks living back at home but Im not ready to waste alot of money on rent and have bills piling up ! You should find a job before you come down here ! Oh and as for BofA ( Bank of America) very competitive and you need an inside connection would be best to land a job with them! Benefits are incredible with them ! Skip the internship idea and just get a full-time job ! Internships can be paid or unpaid and they could even chose not to hire you from there.
Be confident and make sure you know about the company before you do an interview because they will ask you specifically "Well what do you know about this company" and they hate it when you say um I don't know. Do lots of research before moving down theres alot of places to live and alot has changed since the rail system was put in ! The Dilworth area is nice but pricey ! Check that out it's close to up town ! Goodluck in your endeavors !
I did the exact same thing after I graduated. I moved to Atlanta with only $2k to my name. You do need at least some money to get you going. Don't come down here flat broke, that would be stupid.
Sleeping on a friends couch is a lot to ask of a person. If they can give you a committment and you can stay there as a temporary roommate then that would be better. Otherwise, I would try to line up an apartment on a short-term lease and have that waiting for you when you move.
You're going to have to get a 'whatever job' .. .maybe 2 of them. When I moved to Atlanta I was working p/t at the mall and also worked during the day with a temp agency. Try to live in the Charlotte area, inside I-485 at least. One thing that will make it difficult is that an apartment is going to want to see that you have actual employment before signing a lease. Plus a deposit. Could you get a co-signer on a lease, like a parent? I don't think its all that uncommon a thing to have when you're in your early 20's.
Just don't be naive and think that (*Want to move to NC and make it happen*) this will be easy.
*** Do not take anything I am about to write as advice ***
I moved out of the house at 17, with no degree, no job, no money and no place to live. It wasn't until I was 24 that I was able to afford to go to college, and that was after years of living in lousy apartments, making lousy decisions and doing whatever it took to survive. Honestly, that was not living ... it was just surviving. However, I look back on those years fondly now, as I think it helped me build a lot of character and did a lot to define who I am as a person.
I never took a handout in all that time. Sometimes a bag of potato chips was all I had for dinner. I went years without a phone, a TV or a computer. I took whatever job I could find, which at some points meant handing out flyers and at other points meant selling toys door to door. I can't say I chose all this (moving out at 17 wasn't necessarily my own decision) but it was what I had and I eventually turned it around to the point where I am now relatively successful financially, in a very stable and happy relationship and living in the perfect little town in the perfect little house. American dream, and all that.
*** Okay, this part you can kind of take as advice if you are so inclined ***
If I was in a position back in those days to set out on my own unprepared or make a plan and work towards my independence, you'd better believe I would have chosen the plan. You don't need to suffer to build character, even though that was my reality. You would be far better off living at home with your parents if that is an option until you can afford to "Face the world on your own."
I would seriously consider working with your University to find a job or internship locally and get a head start on your career at this point. When you have some experience under your belt, a decent amount of cash saved up and a good idea of what you want out of your life, go do your thing.
If you do decide to go ahead and try to make your fortune now, I wish you the best of luck.
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