Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello,
My wife and are currently live in New Jersey, where we have both lived for most of our lives, but due to difficulties finding employment sufficient enough to live the life we want, we are now in the early stages of planning to relocate with NC as our first choice. My wife was offered a position in Charlotte, however neither of us have been there. I have been to the Winston Salem area a few times about ten years ago and absolutly loved many things about it. Recently we have only been to the coastal area passing through the state.
We are newly married with no children. She works in the insurance industry and I completed my Masters in 2009 (Counseling-the mental health kind not "guidance counselor"). Here we are barely able to keep up with the cost of living, having lived in several small apartments over the years. We are tired of the congestion, overall rudeness of people, poor job opportunity (due to over competitiveness for too few available positions), and overall expense of living in NJ.
Our top priorities for an area are job opportunity, low cost of living, having some space and privacy (yet still being close enough to necessities, such as banks, shopping, etc), and it being a relatively safe area.
Right now we are considering Charlotte, Greensboro/W-S, and the Raleigh area. Any and all help or suggestions are certainly welcome!!! We are likely to move within several weeks, if possible.
*In turn, if anyone has any questions about living in NJ, I know it very well and have been to almost every area.
poor job opportunity (due to over competitiveness for too few available positions),
This is one thing (competition for what jobs there are) you will not get away from here! Thanks in large part to everybody from the Northeast (including you?) trying to move here, and also thanks to NC's 9.8% unemployment, most HR departments are reporting the highest competition for every job posted that they've ever seen. You can search through the forum, but numerous quotes report hiring managers saying they're getting about 100 resumes for every open job. NC is in a recession, too, and lower supply of jobs plus much, much higher demand for them means a fiercely competitive market in most industries.
Being in the HR field I can truthfully say that I would sometimes get around 4-500 resumes for a position! In good times we would be lucky to get 100. So, this is what you will be dealing with in NC. I am not trying to bust your bubble or be negative but want to be aware of what the unemployment situation is like in the Carolinas now. There are jobs, but it is HIGHLY competitive! Also, employers now hold the upper hand and can be very picky and basically require that every single requirement listed is met in full.
It is a plus that you have your masters and congrats for obtaining that!
I also encourage you to visit NC to get a feel for which part of the state you would like to live in. For job opportunities your best bet will be the larger metro areas of either Charlotte or Raleigh-Durham. Also, each part of the state is different....which is one thing that makes NC the great state it is. YOu said you visited W-S and loved it but Charlotte is much different from W-S. If she has a job in Charlotte and you can make it on her salary for a while until you temp or find something FT it might be your ticket to get to the Carolinas! Best of luck!
Thank you for the responses! I apologize if I gave the impression that I thought that finding work in NC was "easy"! I do completely understand that NC is in a recession, as the rest of the country. I was looking to see if one area would provide better job opportunites as compared to another area, which may have been hit harder. Also, in terms of cost of living in relation to job opportunities, if there is one area that would likely provide a greater chance at success (or, by contrast, is there an area that has seen a large influx of residents all competing for a limited number of positions that you would advise someone not to move to)?
I have been to your beautiful state many times, a main reason why we have placed it at the top of our list. My brother-in-law was born and raised there, having only recently moved north. We are essentially unhappy with life here in NJ, particularly the general attitude people have and the overcrowding. The cost of living has gotten out of hand, as well, limiting the ability for people starting their lives to afford property (the cost of auto insurance alone is ridiculous-I pay close to $400 a month for one car and I have 0 points on my record and I am not considered a high risk driver!).
We would prefer to live in an area within a reasonable commute of a metropolatan area, not within the actual city, where we would have the opportunity to live with some privacy between homes (although we will likely rent at first). I have read some people say that Charlotte lacks a "suburban" community, with homes primarily within the city limits, but find that hard to believe. That is one area I have not had the chance to see first hand, but I have seen most of the remainder of the state many times.
Any honest opinions about a good place to try are welcome! Thank you very much!
I have read some people say that Charlotte lacks a "suburban" community, with homes primarily within the city limits, but find that hard to believe.
I think you may be confused. There are many smaller, suburban cities in the metro area. Charlotte covers a large area (most of Mecklenburg county) so indeed many homes are within the city limits. However overall it is a very suburban city.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
