Current Chicago Job Market (Lincoln, Irving: sales, to rent, student loans)

[solrosor]

Hi, folks. First post. I did what I could to search for a topic about this already before jumping in so if I missed a thread I apologize.

I'm looking at relocating to Chicago, but I don't yet have a job lined up. I'm running into the classic Catch-22 of needing to be a local candidate to be considered for a local position.

In Chicago, what chance does a 25 year old with a Bachelor's degree and 3 years of customer service plus one year of management experience in a large office environment (a call center) have in lining up something that's:

- Full time
- About $30,000 a year or slightly better
- Not in tech, specialized banking and finance, or a skilled trade

I have about $15,000 of cash on hand and I've accepted that I'll be living with roommates if I hope to be in a decent neighborhood in the city near transit at about $500/month between rent and utilities. That should buy me about 3 or 4 months on my job hunt.

In the Chicago economy, is 3 or 4 months a realistic time frame to land a job or should I expect a fairly long, painful slog before getting settled into employment?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by solrosor

Hi, folks. First post. I did what I could to search for a topic about this already before jumping in so if I missed a thread I apologize.

I'm looking at relocating to Chicago, but I don't yet have a job lined up. I'm running into the classic Catch-22 of needing to be a local candidate to be considered for a local position.

In Chicago, what chance does a 25 year old with a Bachelor's degree and 3 years of customer service plus one year of management experience in a large office environment (a call center) have in lining up something that's:

- Full time
- About $30,000 a year or slightly better
- Not in tech, specialized banking and finance, or a skilled trade

I have about $15,000 of cash on hand and I've accepted that I'll be living with roommates if I hope to be in a decent neighborhood in the city near transit at about $500/month between rent and utilities. That should buy me about 3 or 4 months on my job hunt.

In the Chicago economy, is 3 or 4 months a realistic time frame to land a job or should I expect a fairly long, painful slog before getting settled into employment?

$500/month between rent at utilities in a decent neighborhood between rent AND utilities. I would bump that up to at least $550-$600 to be honest after utilities, or more on up to $650. Add in your phone, and it'll go up a little more. It is great though you have $15,000 in cash if you plan to move here without a job.


Everything depends on what your line of work is. Each city is different, and some are thriving, some are not in certain areas. You mention Finance/banking, so there are many financial institutions in Chicago. The fact you have 3 years experience and a bachelor's helps a lot. If you do land the call center job here, I'm not sure what the pay is honestly, but $30k seems a little low for someone with a BS and 3 years experience with 1 year of management experience. I could be wrong though.

[solrosor]

Originally Posted by marothisu

$500/month between rent at utilities in a decent neighborhood between rent AND utilities. I would bump that up to at least $550-$600 to be honest after utilities, or more on up to $650. Add in your phone, and it'll go up a little more. It is great though you have $15,000 in cash if you plan to move here without a job.


Everything depends on what your line of work is. Each city is different, and some are thriving, some are not in certain areas. You mention Finance/banking, so there are many financial institutions in Chicago. The fact you have 3 years experience and a bachelor's helps a lot. If you do land the call center job here, I'm not sure what the pay is honestly, but $30k seems a little low for someone with a BS and 3 years experience with 1 year of management experience. I could be wrong though.

My experience is basically:

- Some restaurant and customer service work in college.
- Took phone calls for two years at a call center out of college, handled customer escalations and trained call center reps on sales and customer service for 6 months.
- I've been a salaried manager in the call center business for the last 14 months.

I have a BA in Political Science, with some Japanese language background that included a brief stint in the Tokyo suburbs.

The way I see it, my experience makes me a pretty good administrative/office generalist who can do scheduling, workforce management, and just about any supporting role for just about any office environment.

Since I don't have some kind of technical specialization, I figure starting off in some kind of entry level situation at about $30 to $35,000 is pretty realistic even with a degree.

I'm glad $15,000 sounds like a realistic cash reserve. That makes me feel like what I'm doing is a little less crazy than I originally assumed.

[JuanTheman88]

you mentioned call center and customer service, how would you feel about cold calling / inside sales?

[solrosor]

Originally Posted by JuanTheman88

you mentioned call center and customer service, how would you feel about cold calling / inside sales?

I might be open to it.

The contractor I currently work for does some outbound sales projects, though my own experience has all been in inbound calls.

I'm not terribly picky. It depends a little bit on the business I'd be supporting (i.e. whether the company I'm working for is legit/stable), what the product is, what the base wage is like, and what the sales/conversion targets look like.

[solrosor]

Originally Posted by JuanTheman88

you mentioned call center and customer service, how would you feel about cold calling / inside sales?

Originally Posted by solrosor

I might be open to it.

The contractor I currently work for does some outbound sales projects, though my own experience has all been in inbound calls.

I'm not terribly picky. It depends a little bit on the business I'd be supporting (i.e. whether the company I'm working for is legit/stable), what the product is, what the base wage is like, and what the sales/conversion targets look like.

And obviously commission potential.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by solrosor

My experience is basically:

- Some restaurant and customer service work in college.
- Took phone calls for two years at a call center out of college, handled customer escalations and trained call center reps on sales and customer service for 6 months.
- I've been a salaried manager in the call center business for the last 14 months.

I have a BA in Political Science, with some Japanese language background that included a brief stint in the Tokyo suburbs.

The way I see it, my experience makes me a pretty good administrative/office generalist who can do scheduling, workforce management, and just about any supporting role for just about any office environment.

Since I don't have some kind of technical specialization, I figure starting off in some kind of entry level situation at about $30 to $35,000 is pretty realistic even with a degree.

I'm glad $15,000 sounds like a realistic cash reserve. That makes me feel like what I'm doing is a little less crazy than I originally assumed.

Ah I see. Yeah..wish I knew more. You have been a salaried manager in a call center for the last 14 months which is good. I think you'll get in the least $30k/year. It really depends on what company you go to, what they have you do, etc.

$15,000 is good really. Even if you went out twice a weekend spending $100/night, paid $600 in rent + $50 in utilities, then another $70 for cell phone, $80/month in public transit, and had $20 of eating out/day, and $100 in groceries a month....

You'd last almost 7 months on that money assuming no other debt.

Now pretend you spend $600 month/rent. Go out twice a week only spending $20/night, get $150/month in groceries, and maybe $150/month eating out, $80 for public transit (that's an unlimited pass btw), $70 for cell phone...

That would last you a year assuming no other debt.




My advice to you though is to find an area that is cheap to rent (i.e. a Ravenswood, Lincoln Square, Irving Park, Edgewater, Andersonville, etc) and close to public transit so you can ditch your car if you do have one.

[JuanTheman88]

pm sent

[solrosor]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Ah I see. Yeah..wish I knew more. You have been a salaried manager in a call center for the last 14 months which is good. I think you'll get in the least $30k/year. It really depends on what company you go to, what they have you do, etc.

$15,000 is good really. Even if you went out twice a weekend spending $100/night, paid $600 in rent + $50 in utilities, then another $70 for cell phone, $80/month in public transit, and had $20 of eating out/day, and $100 in groceries a month....

You'd last almost 7 months on that money assuming no other debt.

Now pretend you spend $600 month/rent. Go out twice a week only spending $20/night, get $150/month in groceries, and maybe $150/month eating out, $80 for public transit (that's an unlimited pass btw), $70 for cell phone...

That would last you a year assuming no other debt.




My advice to you though is to find an area that is cheap to rent (i.e. a Ravenswood, Lincoln Square, Irving Park, Edgewater, Andersonville, etc) and close to public transit so you can ditch your car if you do have one.

This is all extremely helpful information, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to lay that all out for me. Incidentally, $80 for an unlimited pass is a steal for a transit system that big. That's great. I have some monthly student loans that I'm paying off, and I'm an extremely light drinker so it would seem that I'd be able to last a good while without an enormous hit to quality of life until I get something set up, which is good news.

[liveandletdie]

Originally Posted by marothisu

My advice to you though is to find an area that is cheap to rent (i.e. a Ravenswood, Lincoln Square, Irving Park, Edgewater, Andersonville, etc) and close to public transit so you can ditch your car if you do have one.

I would not call Lincoln Square, Ravenswood and Andersonville cheap to rent for the most part.