Nearly impossible to find a job in Maine? (Portland, Brunswick: appointed, apartment)

[nep321]

Seriously. For the past year or so, I have been searching internet job sites (Indeed, Career Builder, etc.) and it seems extremely difficult to find a job that I would be qualified for and pays reasonably well. I have a master's in accounting with 6 years of experience (not a CPA) in corporate tax accounting (NOT public accounting with clients). I don't want to go back to public accounting. I want to stay in corporate/internal tax accounting.

Why is it so hard to find one of these jobs? I even tried looking for general accounting jobs and found.........nothing.

I am 29 years old and right now I am getting paid $75K plus 10-20% bonus here in CT. I get 23 PTO days per year and work 40 hours a week. But I love the Portland area of Maine and would love to live there. I visited once for a weekend two years ago and thought it was an awesome place and has everything I want. Four seasons, quaint New England charm, liberal people, gay friendly and beautiful scenery. And I love that it has light traffic, low stress and a more laid back lifestyle.

What would your advice be? I almost feel like giving up. Not only that, being an out of state candidate makes it MUCH harder to be taken seriously by employers. Ugh!

[birdinmigration]

Hey there --

Firstly, I don't know anything about the accounting field, so this takeaway will be rather general.

Secondly, You are right in that it is difficult finding a job as an out-of-state candidate. You are also right that Portland is an awesome town for many reasons.

However, since you are quite specialized and you appear to have rather high standards for salary and benefits, you could be searching for a long time for anything equivalent up here.

(Unless you start your own firm, and why not)

I tell people this, to apply a little perspective -- Maine is a larger state in land area than all of the other New England states combined, yet in the entire state there is less than half the population of Brooklyn, New York.

You should visit at various times of the year to see if you're still charmed by Maine. Spend more than a weekend. Join some meetups. Tour various areas of Portland and other interesting towns, such as Brunswick, Bath, Ogunquit, Rockland.

And then if you decide 'Maine is it', sock away as much money as you can, and just come up here. Just do the move. That's what I did. I'm from the New York area originally, I tried to move back to the city, but I missed Maine so much I came back to stay.

I am making far below my pay grade, but I have 3 interesting jobs, and I love my life here. I hope you will too!

[maureenb]

Hi. I am sorry that your desire to be in Maine and continue to work as you accustomed to is so elusive. Though, I don't think yours is an unusual situation, sadly.

I know nothing of the corporate world; I am solidly blue collar, if that! LOL! All I can offer is this - persevere. What about looking into a "head hunter"? Sounds as if you are using the corporate job search avenues pertinent to your skills. Maybe ramp it up a notch.

Apart from this, and it's probably not what you deserve or want to hear - you might have to allow for some concessions to achieve part of your goal: getting to Maine.

Twenty-one years ago, I wanted to come to Maine. I couldn't find my perfect job. But I didn't lose sight of the one thing I knew I wanted more than anything else - to live in Maine. It ended up happening, not as I was trying to make it happen, but through an unexpected job that I took for one season. That job got me here and allowed me to look for what it was I really wanted to do.

Whatever happens, I wish you well.

[kellysmith]

Might sound silly because you already have a Masters, but look into joining MECPA as a Student Member. Once a member, try and make some contacts in the Profession up here. Can't hurt, and only $25 for the membership. Don't know what type of forum or method they use for sharing ideas, but try to build a network with these folks. Maybe most jobs are filled without the need for Monster.com or career builder because of this type of Organization.
https://www.mecpa.org/students

[nep321]

I'm not going to move there with no job, especially when there seems to be almost no job postings to begin with. That's very risky and I have limited savings in the bank. And being unemployed makes it harder to find a job, sadly.

[Coaster]

It is extremely unlikely that you will find a job in Maine that equals or exceeds your current one. When my wife and I moved back to Maine, we immediately took a 33 percent cut in income. That was in 1979, and it hasn't changed since. Pay scales up here are considerably lower than outside Maine. Both of our daughters live and work outside Maine, and neither of them could earn close to their current incomes if they moved back. Our older girl lives in Manhattan in NYC and earns more in a year than I did in my last four years combined working in Maine, when I was at the peak of my career here.

If you come to Maine expecting the same income and lifestyle you currently enjoy, you will be disappointed. I'm sorry. You might look at Boston or its northern suburbs, or perhaps Portsmouth, NH.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

When we came home to Maine it was a commitment. My wife was a tenured English teacher with a master's in English. Nobody would hire her to teach because she had a master's. in our entire school district nobody had a master's. They hired her as an Ed tech 3. She took a 75% pay cut to come home to Maine. She just loves kids and loved teaching. She eventually progressed through the system and retired as the special education director for a large district. She never did make as much in Maine as she made when we lived away.

There is a cost to live in Maine. If big bucks are your only goal in life, Maine is not the place to be. Most Maine people have more than one job.

[birdinmigration]

Like NMLM's wife ^ ^, I also have a Master's Degree and couldn't find a full-time teaching position.

I have applied for numerous teaching jobs, I maxed out the PPST and Praxis tests, got Conditional Cert in 2 areas, and still can't get hired full-time. It is partly that I am "overqualified" (I submit that NOBODY is overqualified to teach, even if the President of the United States applied, he'd still have to prove he can teach!). Maine is very stringent in requirements, kind of the reductio ad absurdum of No Child Left Behind.

Now I teach part-time, and work in geriatric health-care, and public-policy law. I like it, I have enough energy for all that.

OP, yes, it is risky. But what is your life worth? No amount of pay/status/perks would I trade for my life in Maine, walking my dog in the snowy woods and riding my bike to a perfect beach.

Do what works. Fish or cut bait.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

When we came home to Maine it was a commitment. My wife was a tenured English teacher with a master's in English. Nobody would hire her to teach because she had a master's. in our entire school district nobody had a master's. They hired her as an Ed tech 3. She took a 75% pay cut to come home to Maine. She just loves kids and loved teaching. She eventually progressed through the system and retired as the special education director for a large district. She never did make as much in Maine as she made when we lived away.

There is a cost to live in Maine. If big bucks are your only goal in life, Maine is not the place to be. Most Maine people have more than one job.

I don't care about making big bucks. I just want to live a comfortable, middle class lifestyle on a single income and hopefully achieve home ownership. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site, the Portland area only has a location quotient of 0.95 for jobs by the category of "Accountants and Auditors." A location quotient of 1.00 is the national average.

Apparently, these are the occupations that are most common in Maine:

Retail Salespersons
Cashiers
Registered Nurses
Office Clerks, General
General and Operations Managers
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food
Waiters and Waitresses
Customer Service Representatives
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical and Executive
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers

Most of these occupations seem like they don't require higher education or high skill, and many of them seem blue collar. Apparently, Maine is weak on Accountants and Auditor occupations that would be suitable for me

[nep321]

Originally Posted by birdinmigration

Like NMLM's wife ^ ^, I also have a Master's Degree and couldn't find a full-time teaching position.

I have applied for numerous teaching jobs, I maxed out the PPST and Praxis tests, got Conditional Cert in 2 areas, and still can't get hired full-time. It is partly that I am "overqualified" (I submit that NOBODY is overqualified to teach, even if the President of the United States applied, he'd still have to prove he can teach!). Maine is very stringent in requirements, kind of the reductio ad absurdum of No Child Left Behind.

Now I teach part-time, and work in geriatric health-care, and public-policy law. I like it, I have enough energy for all that.

OP, yes, it is risky. But what is your life worth? No amount of pay/status/perks would I trade for my life in Maine, walking my dog in the snowy woods and riding my bike to a perfect beach.

Do what works. Fish or cut bait.

I don't like taking on high risk adventures in life when there are serious factors working against my favor, such as having limited cash savings, weak job prospects and no social or professional network in the area. I mean, currently I have $37,000 in a savings account, $10,000 in an emergency fund and $4,000 in a checking account. I also have a credit card line of $3,000. Do you realize how fast that will be depleted if I move with no job, let alone qualifying for an apartment? That savings account is my "save for a house down payment" fund and I'd hate to see it depleted.