Pondering employment in the breadline

[thenakedcat]

So, I've been working on a job-hunting strategy, something I've mentioned to quakey already. Trying to apply for jobs WHILE finishing a degree that makes me irritable and crazy would result in...exponential irritable and crazy. I'm more likely to simply pick a city large enough to have a decent number of libraries/archives/records management type jobs (

Comments

[onthefloor]

You'll definitely want to choose somewhere with good public transportation. Maybe Portland? Of your choices, I would stay with Seattle and Vancouver. Atlanta is a pretty dangerous city, and I don't know anything about Minneapolis to give you an educated guess.

You do know that if you move out to the west coast, it'll be the final straw in the basket of Oh Lordy, I Now Need To Move Out There Too. XD <3

[thenakedcat]

Hmmm, okay. Looking at housing prices, Seattle and Vancouver, BC might be out and Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA in, or possibly western Washington like Yakima. If Atlanta is dangerous, is Savannah any better? Big historical societies and museums in Savannah, it would be a decent job market.

[gishkishenh]

Dude, take it from me- I've lived in Vancouver for 2 years and Canada is my home... Vancouver is the HIGHEST in standard of living and prices in ALL of Canada, and EVERYTHING is more expensive there. It's NOT a good place for easy costs and starting up.
If you are looking for places affordable and the like in Canada, more east coast (Nova Scotia) is the key. Also, Saskatchewan is in the midst of a boom for growth, might wanna look there. :)

[thenakedcat]

Ahhhhh okay good to know. I have some vague ideas about what costs of living might be in Canada, but not much. Are there any cities with good public transport and a big cultural heritage scene (libraries, museums, arts)? The transportation could reduce my living costs a lot and the cultural heritage scene affects my job prospects.

[gishkishenh]

Well, speaking in that terms, yes Vancouver is big on that- ALL those things. Transportation is a big plus there, and it's really rooting in the local Native American and Asian immigration... but it is costly. As for other cities? I can't talk about transportation since I never lived in other places asides from Toronto and Vancouver. Heritage wise? That's also hard to say- Toronto is a place with a LOT of libraries and other archives and the like, but again, 2nd on the standard of living. Quebec is a good place to look into. BIG on heritage, and the prices are not as harsh.

[thenakedcat]

Hmmm, okay. Of Quebec City and Montreal, is one significantly better than the other for someone who is NOT fluent in French? I'm fine with reading signs and can usually follow what's being said but can't formulate a reply fast enough to carry on a conversation.

(Sorry to be picking your brain! I don't have enough Canadians that I feel comfortable asking about this D: )

[quakey]

It's unfortunate that I live in rural-outskirts-of-Seattle rather than Seattle-the-city. =/

FWIW, the GC frequently says nice things about Portland. And given that he whines incessantly about the quality of public transportation on most of the West coast, his support for Portland ought to be a positive sign.

[thenakedcat]

*is imagining Ben Stein ranting about public transport...this is a very amusing mental image*

[quakey]

It is amusing. XD Glad to entertain!

[thenakedcat]

You know, one of the places I SHOULD be considering is...Salt Lake City, UT. The Mormon obsession with family history keeps a lot of archivists employed and it's certainly a pretty safe city...BUT OMG UTAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

[7owti5]

I approve of Seattle and would second the nomination of Portland to the list, too.

If my current shitty situation continues, I will probably rent out my room for a few hundred bucks and move myself into the kids' room. Just sayin'. I'd rather have someone I know and trust in there than a total friggen stranger... that is, IF this is an area you'd want to check out.

[thenakedcat]

I have to say that being able to hang out with you would be smeggin' awesome and the San Jose area is really nice in a lot of ways. My concern would be that, with the way your local economy is going, I would not be able to find jobs paying enough to keep up with cost-of-living. Particularly given how...weird...public transit is there. But your offer is definitely worth considering.