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What kind of employment opportunities are there for someone with a marketing degree? I am planning my move to Maui from sunny So. Cal but would like to find employment and then find a place to live nearby so my commute isn't long. Any advice on interviews? I am planning on scheduling interviews about a month before I actually move so that I can look at places to live while i'm out there. MPD would be ideal if I can get through all the examinations. As for my girlfriend, she is a licensed cosmotologist here in Ca but would have to take the State Board exam again. Would she make more at a large resort spa in the hotels or at the small local spas? Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
When you ask what kind of jobs there are here for someone with a marketing degree, then intone MPD, I get confused. What kind of marketing degree? AA? BA? MBA? "Marketing" is rather generic, and can mean anything from strategic planning to corporate communications to line sales, depending upon the organization and the job to be filled. What's your experience? What's your specialty?
And MPD? As in Maui Police Department? Or am I missing something?
I saw your earlier post and had questions about the "marketing" part, but now I'm totally confused.
As to your wife and the resort spa v. local spa/salon question -- well, it depends. I say that a lot here, but right now it depends upon how busy resort spas stay given that tourism is way off (v. the dependability of local trade).
Thanks for the reply. I have a Bachelor's in Marketing. My concentration is in advertising and promotions. I mentioned MPD because since im radically changing my lifestyle, i would definitely welcome a career change as well. To me it seems as if it would be a rewarding and exciting career. Not to mention the pay and benefits are good too. I know the big marketing cities are LA and NY but are there any opportunities out there for me?
Wow! That's a change alright! I have to say that I'm surprised that the two positions listed on the county web site (Officer I and Dispatcher I) don't pay any better. At about $36K/year or $28K/year, you and your wife would probably need for her to make at least as much, if not more. No doubt the benefits are good, but the Officer job is a lot of responsibility for that.
As for your marketing degree, again, "it depends." There are a few studios and small agencies here, and very few companies large enough to have in-house. Most of the design industry is in -- surprise! -- Honolulu. That's not to say there aren't opportunities and talent here, just not so many places to work. (My background is in design and marketing consulting, but not here. And I am mostly retired now, but I read the papers and I watch the classifieds.)
Maui is a much smaller place than its reputation suggests. And you need to learn "how things are done here." (Which is very different from the mostly results-oriented way things were done on the East Coast where I worked.) There are lots of "consultants" that offer their various services and lots of "experts." Still, it seems very small to me, very local, and very network-oriented.
I saw your earlier "job or home?" post, and I thought it was a conundrum. You can't get a "good job" if you don't live here, and you need a job to pay for your home. You've mentioned your degree, but not your experience. Do you have any? In what field? (Real estate, cars, restaurants, even sporting goods or fragrances -- whatever -- might be useful.)
The number one thing our friends who own businesses here complain about is not being able to find people who are "serious" about their work. The number two thing is not being able to keep "good people," often because they move back to the mainland. Being able to demonstrate that you "know how to work," are dedicated, and intend to stay really counts here. Being "all over the place" is typical. And not so marketable -- especially in our current economic downtime.
There are fewer and fewer jobs in the paper every day. (I read the classifieds as kind of a hobby, I admit.) In the current market, I think it's critical to be here, get a feel for your options, and make the most of them. If you can afford it, of course.
I would guess that "jobs are drying up" because tourism (which accounts for about a third of the state's income) is way down. I think 22% in July, and a recent survey of businesses reports more pessimism and likely cuts. From today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Downturn batters isle businesses | starbulletin.com | News | /2008/09/04/
You must have misread it. It says $3800/mo for Police Officer, which is $45,600. Dispatcher is $2702/mo; $32,424. Both are terrible based on cost of living, but as we all know, pay does not follow the cost of living in Hawaii.
I think Hawaii's unemployment rate is very misleading to a lot of folks. Frequently when folks lose their job here they can't afford to stay and move away so they don't file for unemployment here in this state. Thus Hawaii has low unemployment numbers even though the jobs are disappearing. They also don't file for unemployment when they lose only one of their two or three jobs. Technically they are then only "underemployed" and not "un-employed" so they don't show up in the numbers.
Last fall the numbers of "help wanted" ads took a fairly dramatic down turn in the newspapers. When the price of gasoline took a big jump up, the folks who worked on one side of the island yet lived on the other all found jobs closer to home and there was also a big difference in the number of help wanted advertisements from one side of the island to the other. This spring, after Aloha and ATA airlines folded, the already low numbers of help wanted ads dropped by half again. That is partly because of decreased "lift" (less airline seats coming to Hawaii = less tourists) and partly because the folks newly out of work would be scrambling for whatever jobs were available at that time.
There are a lot more rentals to choose from now, though, the number of those has increased. The number of folks advertising services offered has quadrupled, too, and folks are now starting to do yardwork for $10 an hour when $15 was the previous minimum to get them interested.
So far this year we have lost Aloha Airlines, ATA and Molokai Ranch as far as large groups of folks out of work. There have been a lot of little businesses cutting back and letting one or two workers go or not hiring new ones when the old workers retire. The hospitals on the island of Hawaii are losing money and cutting back employees although in one community they had a fund drive to hire back a few of them.
When tourism is down it cuts back more than just the tourist jobs. The guy growing lettuce can't sell as much because the hotels aren't buying. The lawn maintenance folks lose a few customers since they now have the time to do it themselves since they aren't working with tourists now and they don't have the extra money anymore, either. It is a trickle down effect all the way across the board. Hawaii seriously needs to be diversified. They keep going for the "one trick pony" effect whether it is with sugar plantations, pineapple plantations or tourism. Until they get diversified this boom and bust cycle is gonna keep repeating itself.
When contemplating moving to Hawaii - remember we are 2,500 miles away from most anything. There is the city of Honolulu (pretty much the entire small island of Oahu) but it does not have the surrounding other cities to draw on like similar sized cities on the mainland would have. A few of the other population centers in the state would qualify as "towns" but most of our population centers are of the "village" category. So jobs in Honolulu serve basically ONLY the Honolulu area. There is no "tri-state" distribution areas or "serving the cities of A, B & C" sort of job spread. Outside of Honolulu, the jobs and services are supported by a very small and limited population base. No manufacturing base, no mineral resources, no metals and extremely expensive electric rates. Everything made here has to fit a niche market and either be consumed locally or shipped 2,500 miles. All these considerations limit and shape our employment market.
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Really Confused
