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Old 04-13-2009, 01:56 PM
 
2 posts, read 7,256 times
Reputation: 10

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Hey everybody, I just moved to Hampton in February. I moved here from the Dallas area after graduating from the University of North Texas in December. I have a bachelor's degree in Applied Arts & Sciences (focussing in Applied Behavior Analysis and Sociology). It has been impossible for me to find any kind of respectable employment. I am posting this out of desperation to see if anyone has any ideas of what I can do. I moved in with my best friend who is a captain in the Army here and thankfully he (and my parents) have helped me out with my share of our apartment. I have sent out literally 100 applications through craigslist and monster and cannot seem to find ANYthing. I have decent experience (1.5 years at Home Depot, teacher's assistant in college, and currently a tutor at an elementary school in Suffolk).

Leaving college, as a bright-eyed graduate I was hoping to find a $40k/yr + benefits job, but at this point even $30k seems like a pipe dream. If I can't find anything within the next 30 days I'll probably have to tuck my tail between my legs and head back to Texas - which is unfortunate because I love the area, the people, and being so close to the water. If anyone has any ideas or help I will be terribly indebted. Thanks a lot!
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Old 04-13-2009, 03:35 PM
 
50 posts, read 149,295 times
Reputation: 20
Honestly... you have a BA in sociology I'd say $30K would be a very good starting wage- in reality the 20s seems more realistic. From my experience I've found 2-3 years of solid work history (then 5-8) in the field is what will earn you more money. What about going to grad school here? Sounds like you have a bit of work under your belt... then you'd also be able to delay any student loan repayments. When I first got out of college (2002) the economy was bad- it took me about 1 month to find *a* job (customer service) and another 2 to find *a better* job (for a lawyer) and another year to find *the* job (international procurement). I stuck out 3 years of low pay ($30s) to get the experience and qualifications to move up. Income here seems really low compared to most places too- check out the cost of living post. Hate to say it but most people I knew with BAs from great schools did an abundant amount of time in food service post-college (but that was all W coast)
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Old 04-13-2009, 04:23 PM
 
Location: Living in Hampton, VA
504 posts, read 1,574,386 times
Reputation: 203
There is no money out here. You would be better off going to Northern Virginia or DC.
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Old 04-13-2009, 05:03 PM
 
2 posts, read 7,256 times
Reputation: 10
Yeah, my degree isn't exactly one where one can find a lot of money. I have thought about grad school, and then maybe just trying to work part time somewhere at a bar or restaurant (hopefully that wouldn't be too difficult to find even without any prior experience). I appreciate the response and the heads up - do you happen to have any idea of any places/resources you could think of to add to my list of places I am searching for jobs? It seems like the papers are really bare bones these days too.
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Old 04-13-2009, 08:15 PM
 
50 posts, read 149,295 times
Reputation: 20
UNT :: Career Center : Alumni (http://careercenter.unt.edu/alumni/index.html - broken link) start with that. Usually the better jobs are not posted to the general public on places like Monster- you'll have better odds IMO searching your schools career site to start. If that doesn't pan out start with the top 25 employers list for the area and go to each of their sites. Also be sure to look at the local newspaper websites (like the Pilot online).
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Old 04-13-2009, 09:58 PM
 
Location: Bronx, NY
4,515 posts, read 9,662,152 times
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I have been trying to find a job myself here and I have a bachelors degree in computer science. So we are in the same boat.
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Old 04-14-2009, 08:13 AM
 
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
5,522 posts, read 10,165,297 times
Reputation: 2572
You should have stayed in Texas. Unless you are somehow involved in the government, (contractor or military personel), you are likely going to be working a low paying service job related to tourism. If you do find something better in the civilian market, you will be making far less doing it then you would in almost any other metro area in the country, and in addition it seems it takes far more education and experience to get equivalent positions here. For instance, it takes about 5 years of experience and a CPA to get the same job title 2-3 years of experience and no CPA would in Indianapolis. This is what we call the "military syndrome", where the market is flooded with skilled military retirees, and/or their spouses, who have the ability to accept lower wages, and poor benefits, since uncle Sam is picking up the slack. If you couple that with the insane cost of living, it simply makes little sense to be here.
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Old 04-14-2009, 10:05 AM
 
520 posts, read 1,620,346 times
Reputation: 86
Our friend graduated from VaTech with a degree in ComSci. He got an offer from Lockheed, in Syracuse NY. The offer was for $65K. The cost of living there is lower than Hampton Roads.

Meanwhile he wanted to move back here, because of family and perhaps friends. But there wasn't crap. The few things he did find looked boring, and they balked at the salary.

He ended up going to work for Cisco somewhere else, which I guess offered more than Lockheed in another low cost of living region.

Keep in mind, the economic development departments used to market their cities to companies touting the low paid, highly skilled workforce. You can see past articles in the Virginia Pilot from Dave Addis on this.

There is money to be had. People who work for companies that are NOT in Hampton Roads, and live here, used to benefit from the low cost of living (before it was run up by a speculative housing mania, now it's almost cheaper to live in Northern Virginia with the exception perhaps of the commute times).
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Old 04-14-2009, 10:20 AM
 
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
5,522 posts, read 10,165,297 times
Reputation: 2572
Quote:
Originally Posted by telemonster View Post
There is money to be had. People who work for companies that are NOT in Hampton Roads, and live here, used to benefit from the low cost of living (before it was run up by a speculative housing mania, now it's almost cheaper to live in Northern Virginia with the exception perhaps of the commute times).

Ironic you bring that up, just about everyone I know that is making good money here either owns a company, or is simply based out of here, but employed with a company that is HQed somewhere else (mostly regional managers or salesmen).
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Old 04-14-2009, 01:13 PM
 
520 posts, read 1,620,346 times
Reputation: 86
Quote:
Originally Posted by Randomdude View Post
Ironic you bring that up, just about everyone I know that is making good money here either owns a company, or is simply based out of here, but employed with a company that is HQed somewhere else (mostly regional managers or salesmen).
Yep. Most of the people I know making $120K+ fall in to the "remote worker for real company" category. The company wasn't coming here for cheap people.
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