Job market in LA (Los Angeles, Orange: Home Depot, school, college)

[intelfan11315]

Just wondering, when people say its impossible to get a job what kind of jobs do they mean? Is it really impossible to get a job as a waiter or fast food or do they mean it is slow right now for the professional fields?

[Island_OnThe_Land]

I think like anywhere the more skills and education you have the better chance you have for finding employment. Of course, you hope your "skills/education" set match the local economic sectors that are set to grow.

California is trying to be on the leading edge of "green" technology. Do you have engineering skills?

It was just announced that the Chinese electric car manufacturer will locate it's North American headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles (see link below). Granted, the LA office will initially ONLY employ about 100 employees...but future growth is quite possible. This is a big deal for LA as we have seen MANY major corp.'s flee the region for "cheaper" states over the past 20 years.


Los Angeles Selected as BYD’s North American Headquarters | EON: Enhanced Online News

[Island_OnThe_Land]

The latest unemployment rates for March 2010:

Miami-Dade County: 12.0%

Los Angeles County: 12.3%

So the picture is NOT pretty in either location. That said, in neighboring Orange County (I am talking SoCalif., not Fla...the unemployment rate is "only" 10.1%).

If you really want to get detailed info. on what forecasters are saying will happen to the LA economy you might check this website for the LA Economic Development Corp (www.laedc.org).

http://www.laedc.org/reports/Forecast-2010-02.pdf

Their most recent forecast (Feb. 2010) says there will be very modest "job loss" in 2010 (after a HORRIBLE 2009); however, they see improvement in 2011.

That said, THIS year (in 2010) the LAEDC sees the following industries in LA ADDING JOBS in 2010: International Trade, Tourism, and Film/TV production.

In addition, the so called "new economy" of Los Angeles is largely technology driven. This includes: BIO-MEDICAL, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, and ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY, all of which build on the diverse technical research capabilities in the area. Another key driver is creativity. There is a growing fushion between technology and creativity such as in VIDEO GAMES and FILM PRODUCTION.

[intelfan11315]

I study Chemical Engineering so Los Angeles sounds like the place for me to be in time, I was just kind of wondering about the job market for say someone who hasnt graduated college looking to make extra bucks at a restaurant.

[Island_OnThe_Land]

I understand. Those jobs are certainly more competitive than a few years ago...but if you have drive (and any experience helps too) I think it is very possible to make that happen.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

I see a lot of fast food and other eating establishments hiring older workers that were formerly laid off. People that were getting $80 and 90,000 a year are taking jobs that pay $40 and $50,000 a year. People that used to have a $50,000 a year job are taking lower paying jobs including fast food.

Is it impossible to get a job? No is it an easy task? No

[Ennea4]

Not if you have plenty of experience in what youre going in to. All people care about here is experience, Experience, EXPERIENCE. If you haven't worked a lot (like me for instance {just school!}), then yea, it's hard.

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by Ennea4

Not if you have plenty of experience in what youre going in to. All people care about here is experience, Experience, EXPERIENCE. If you haven't worked a lot (like me for instance {just school!}), then yea, it's hard.

Not true, sometimes too much experience can hurt as well. While I was getting turned down for certain jobs because I had lacked experience 4-5 years ago, now I am losing jobs to candidate with less experience because...well simply put, their salary history being much weaker seems like a better investment to some companies even though that guy is inferior to me in experience.
Due to the current job market, majority of the companies have gotten cheap, they are low-balling like crazy while asking for a lot more in return for the same position compared to previous years! Seeing a company ask for BA degree for a lousy entry level tech support/help desk job a few years ago was unheard of unlike now.
An easy way to tell if a company pays dirt is if they ask you your salary requirements before even interviewing you first. They do that because they know they pay peanuts and they do not want to waste their time with someone who wants or was making much more (which would mean majority of the applicants).
Back in the day people'd exaggerate what they were making at their current job to get a better offer from the company they were applying at.
Now, if you are applying for the same or similar position that you have done in the last several year, you better lie stating a much lower number otherwise you will not even hear back from the company or get an e-mail stating "...even though we were impressed with your skills, we decided to pursue other candidates..." type e-mail response.

[ElectroPlumber]

Originally Posted by TurcoLoco

Not true, sometimes too much experience can hurt as well. While I was getting turned down for certain jobs because I had lacked experience 4-5 years ago, now I am losing jobs to candidate with less experience because...well simply put, their salary history being much weaker seems like a better investment to some companies even though that guy is inferior to me in experience.
Due to the current job market, majority of the companies have gotten cheap, they are low-balling like crazy while asking for a lot more in return for the same position compared to previous years! Seeing a company ask for BA degree for a lousy entry level tech support/help desk job a few years ago was unheard of unlike now.
An easy way to tell if a company pays dirt is if they ask you your salary requirements before even interviewing you first. They do that because they know they pay peanuts and they do not want to waste their time with someone who wants or was making much more (which would mean majority of the applicants).
Back in the day people'd exaggerate what they were making at their current job to get a better offer from the company they were applying at.
Now, if you are applying for the same or similar position that you have done in the last several year, you better lie stating a much lower number otherwise you will not even hear back from the company or get an e-mail stating "...even though we were impressed with your skills, we decided to pursue other candidates..." type e-mail response.

I searched for two years for a job using my "real" resume without success. I got the old "You wouldn't be interested in this position with your experience"

Then, I dumbed my resume down to very little experience and took off most of my degrees. And bingo, I got a retail job that wasn't great, but did pay the bills for awhile.

It kind of takes the air out of the advice you always hear that the problem with U.S. workers is that they need to get more education for today's job market.

[intelfan11315]

Although your responses are very helpful, and paint a picture of the LA job market for a college grad, I am currently a college student that wouldn't mind a job at a place like In-N-Out or Home Depot, I was wondering about those kind of jobs?