Why can't Pittsburgh keep young people in the city? (York: job openings, school)

[Tallysmom]

My sister raised two kids in Pittsburgh -- both left to attend school out of the area and to work out of the area.... and both came back to Pittsburgh. My nephew is getting married, so he found someone his age to marry.... and both are under 30.

And wonder of wonders! My neice just got a teaching job!

So not all young people are leaving -- and it's just natural that they do strike out on their own, even if they do come back.

[IheartRobots]

I realize my situation is unique compared to alot of people who come from here. Personally, I feel like I would just have a better chance opportunity wise in another city than Pittsburgh. Aside from what I don't personally like about it...which is irrelevant to this conversation, I'm not too keen on the work that is available in Pittsburgh for someone like myself.

I went to college at Pitt with the hopes of moving to NYC and working at a design firm, in the fashion/streetwear industry, in advertising, print media, web design and graphic design for the alternative sports (skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, BMX, etc.) even in the process of finding internships, I couldn't even find anything remotely related to what I aspired to do. I had started as a graphic design major and switched to Digital Media Communications because it involved new media and computers.

All of the internships I wanted to get into (at Reebok, Nike, Turntable Lab, etc.) were all in other cities and I was split between paying to stay in those places for those valued internships and trying to find something along those lines in Pittsburgh...to which I found absolutely nothing I was interested in. It got to me, mainly because here I was paying for school to get a so called creative job, and there was nothing around available in my hometown.

As far as general jobs go, with what I am interested in...there is nothing that is available. Most of the skate and streetwear stores in Pittsburgh already have their staff that are mainly friends that got put on and no one else will even remotely have a shot at working there. The idea of working in a cubicle for some drab banking or law firm bores the living snot out of me. considering my education, I'm not really trying to sell myself short and work somewhere that won't benefit my career whether directly or indirectly. I'm not one of those types who wants to be some average joe schmoe who works a boring and readily uninfluential job...I set my sights way too high and pittsburgh doesn't have what I'm looking for as far as employment is concerned.


I've applied to my fair share of places and have received no call backs. For a while, I was discouraged with the absolute lack of work I was finding so it made me feel as if I just didn't have a place in Pittsburgh and no employer would want to hire me. The amount of people who contacted me outside of pittsburgh on the other hand...that's another story...

I'm in the process of taking out a loan just to move to a city that I enjoy and actually has jobs for people like myself...instead of dealing with shifty employers who have agendas and won't hire someone like me because I'm applying for a job while black...which really doesn't matter as long as you can do the job right...except in Pittsburgh. I was trying to avoid getting into a dialogue about job discrimination in Pittsburgh, but I'm so used to it here, I've given up hope of staying here and it's given me a very negative perspective of the city I grew up in.

[ddietrich]

IheartRobots, your situation is unique. It sounds like you are very particular about what you want to do. Unfortunately with some industries, those jobs are mainly located in a few areas and are not widespread throughout the country. That's just the way it is, and always has been - it's nothing new or a detriment to Pittsburgh. No city (with maybe an exception of the mega-cities) is a hotbed of nearly every industry.
To be 100% honest, Pitt is not strong or well known for your major and interests (Disclaimer: I have 2 degrees from Pitt and loved it, but no college is fabulous in every single field).

Hindsight is 20/20, of course. But you made a choice to go to a school that is neither well known/strong in your chosen field of student nor is it located in a city where that industry is particularly strong.

You're a college grad with little to no skills and experience. I'm not sure what efforts you have made to secure a job, but it does sound like your job search has been very narrow- there are very few things that you are willing to do- you outright refuse to work in certain industries and environments. If you can't be flexible, that's your own fault. Right now, hundreds of thousands of young people are also looking for jobs- the economy stinks and no one is hiring. People have to adapt if they want to survive -and that goes throughout the whole country. Sometimes life doesn't work out how we plan, and we have to make do and make sacrafices.

Your bitterness towars the city is misplaced. It's not the city's fault that you made choices a few years ago that are affecting you now, and that you have a narrow view of what you consider acceptable work .

Perhaps it is your disgruntledness and frustration that is coming through to potential employers that is hurting you.

[WILWRadio]

Unfortunately the job picture in most metro areas of the country is worse than what you have in the Pittsburgh area. Contacts and friends will be the key to landing a good job in this economy regardless of where you go. Otherwise, you may have to settle for an entry level job that is beneath your education level in order to make ends meet.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Otherwise, you may have to settle for an entry level job that is beneath your education level in order to make ends meet.

Graduates of this generation seem to have this problem of thinking that they deserve to bypass entry level positions.

Everyone starts out entry level regardless of education or field. They're unemployed becasue they don't want to accept that.

[ryanswindle]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Graduates of this generation seem to have this problem of thinking that they deserve to bypass entry level positions.

Everyone starts out entry level regardless of education or field. They're unemployed becasue they don't want to accept that.

I wouldn't call this the truth, as a member of this generation who worked my way up, what I have found is that entry level opportunities are extremely difficult to get a hold of. Now that I'm an experienced worker I don't have the troubles I did originally.

Some places have more opportunities for people to start there careers, Pittsburgh isn't one of them. I would call out the entrepreneurial spirit of the west/northwest as places far more likely to give opportunities to people at the beginning of their careers.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Graduates of this generation seem to have this problem of thinking that they deserve to bypass entry level positions.

Everyone starts out entry level regardless of education or field. They're unemployed becasue they don't want to accept that.

This has been happening for at least a decade. It seemed as though with the onset of the 1990's suddenly inexperienced people were getting appointed to important executive positions within American corporations.

My Uncle ultimately wound up being an Executive VP at Northeast Utilities in Connecticut but he started out as a Lineman. My friend's father started in the Mailroom of the AETNA Insurance Co. in Hartford and worked up to Corporate Comptroller. Another friend's father started out in an entry level office position at EXXON and ultimately became their CEO. Sadly, a lot of college graduates don't understand that you need to start at the bottom and work up if you are going to completely understand all of the ins and outs of the business.

[ajl777]

//www.city-data.com/forum/pitts...g-friends.html

[ryanswindle]

Damn punk kids! This generation is so lazy!

[robrobrob]

Some places have more opportunities for people to start there careers, Pittsburgh isn't one of them.

I agree with this statement. I think this fact is compounded by the fact that Pittsburgh has a lot of colleges. So Pittsburgh kids are in competition with Pitt/CMU/Chatham/etc. grads for those entry level jobs.