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 family has been wanting to move to the mountains for at least eight years. We've always loved Western NC and really want to make this move happen in the very near future. My husband is an IT director at a small local hospital. However, he also does networking, etc. We know it might be hard for him to find something near Boone, so we're also open to other areas, as long as the mountains are nearby. We've thought about living in Asheville and just trying to get a weekend place on a mountain. I guess we'll have to see where there are opportunities.
Can anyone recommend any technical recruiters or placement agencies in the area?
Have you considered Greenville, SC? It's very close to the mountains and you can see the mountains from various locations all over town. Greenville has two sizable hospital systems - Greenville Hospital System (GHS) and Bon Secours (sp?) - that may have IT opportunities. Outside of medical, there are many more job options in Greenvile than Asheville or Boone. And the location makes it easy for day trips to the NC mtns.
The largest cities with the easiest access to the Western NC mountains are Greenville, SC and Winston-Salem, NC. (I suppose Johnson City, TN is relatively close to Boone, NC as well.) Charlotte is around 2 hours to both Asheville and Boone (of course this greatly depends on what part of Charlotte you live).
Some drive-time estimates:
Greenville SC to downtown Asheville: 65 minutes
Greenville SC to Hendersonville, NC: 50 min
Greenville SC to elevations > 3000 feet: 40 min
Winston to Boone, NC: 1 hour 25 min
Both the Triad and Upstate SC will have many more job opportunities than Western NC. Although I live in Greenville (SC), I'm partial to the Triad - my wife is from Greensboro - great family-friendly area - however, I do believe the economic climate is a little better in the Upstate.
If your looking for IT opportunities, Greenville Health System (GHS) is scrapping it's entire fragmented outpatient EMR/billing system - will be replaced with EPIC in the next year (or so) - I know that GHS is actively seeking experienced IT personnel - GHS employees > 600 physicians and has 11,000 employees (for comparison Mission in Asheville employees 6,000 and Wake Forest/Baptist employees 13,000 [although it plans to cut 950 jobs by June 2014]).
Last edited by drfranklin; 12-27-2013 at 10:06 AM..
Thank you for all these recommendations. We will definitely be looking into these areas!
They are all good recommendations for work. And Greenville is supposedly a nice city.
But in my view they are both too far away from the mountains if that is truly where your heart is. Yes, you could drive to the mountains on weekends if you live there but you will definitely not be "in the mountains." In fact both Greenville and Winston have virtually no elevation and are, like most southern cities very hot and humid in the summer.
And Winston is just too far IMO. I know people who live there and they are always like "great place to live, two hours from the mountains and two hours from the beach." But they get actually get there about once a year.
Winston is about two hours from Asheville.
So, realistically it may be easier to get work in one of these cities, but if you really long for the mountains I would keep looking. Hard. Asheville or anywhere around would, I think, give you what you desire. Good luck.
+1 to booya. I didn't want to say it as I always get bashed if I post an unfavorable opinion. For someone who wants to be in the mountains, I don't see how any of the options were good suggestions. Maybe check out Charlottesville VA.
If the job is #1, that should be the first consideration; a 30 minute commute is easily doable. (Except for Boone and other small towns in the "high country", it's 2 hrs. away from Asheville.) I would suggest the OP search by county, not by city or town.
Great suggestions by Dr. Franklin, but my rep tank is full for him.
The OP asked for info on recruiters; here is the website for the Asheville newspaper where he may find ads by recruiters in the jobs/employment classifieds:
Assuming the job is a must, that is a dilemma (the usual dilemma). IT jobs in general are not abundant, and something approaching an IT Director even less so. Those that do exist have people firmly entrenched so they do not open up often.
I work in an IT-related specialty field, but I telecommute to the job and travel as necessary. I came down here with that arrangement and have changed employers, then changed back, so it is doable provided the person has built a reputation in their field (which I would assume the OP's husband has given his current role). I'm not the only one here doing that.
While I think there are few companies that would consider having a remote IT Director, we do know one guy who was in such a position here for a company located elsewhere (although his job may have been physically located here when he started), so it is not unprecedented. Saying that, he and his wife eventually moved away when he took another IT Director job because he felt insecure in his situation (he felt like the company was eventually going to tell him "come up here or else").
Honestly, I think from a job perspective, the best option for the OP is the Mountain West. Charlottesville was a good suggestion, too. Commuting to Greenville from somewhere around Hendersonville is also a reasonable option. But my advice would be to conduct the same searches here, in the Charlottesville area, and in Colorado, Utah and the rest of the Mountain West. Then compare the fruits of the search.
If someone passed a law tomorrow making telecommuting illegal, that is the route I would take.
And Winston is just too far IMO. I know people who live there and they are always like "great place to live, two hours from the mountains and two hours from the beach." But they get actually get there about once a year.
Winston is about two hours from Asheville.
Asheville is not the only destination for being in the mountains. As QChick correctly stated, W-S is 1 hr 25 min from Boone, shorter if you live on the western side in Lewisville. It's an even shorter drive to Fancy Gap, VA (on the BRP) up US 52 through Mt. Airy.
We lived in W-S for 10 years after having lived fulltime in Boone and made it back up to the mtns LOTS of weekends.
As for Greenville, SC, if jobs do not permit the OP to live IN the mtns, Greenville is a quite suitable alternative. We were just there for 4 1/2 yrs till hubby retired. I know from her posts that saucystargazer doesn't like Greenville (it wasn't my own personal first choice either for very different reasons), but it's a short drive (less than an hour) to reach elevation and great outdoor rec opportunities such as Cesar's Head (SC), Table Rock (SC), Dupont Forest (NC) and many others.
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.
