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The Help emelvee Find a Job thread. Update post 628
July 8, 2010 at
04:50 PM
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tl; dr: emelvee is still looking for a job.
Not "official" or anything. Just figured I'd save you guys from me making multiple threads whenever I have a new job lead.
I appreciate the help I've received in the past, as far as information on specific areas I've looked into. I'm still looking for a job, and two came up this week.
I really prefer to stay in North Carolina, hopefully around Raleigh, where we are now. But I've been looking for a solid year, and there isn't much happening in construction around here. I want to stay in construction - that's what I know and enjoy; I've been a Controller for four firms over the past 19 years, so I'm looking for a similar position.
One potential job is a decent sized electrical contractor in Omaha...yes, Nebraska. I'm willing to go just about anywhere for a job that I love (at least that I think I will love). But the midwest is near the bottom of my list of preferred locations.
The other is a general contractor in Los Angeles...just a couple miles from LAX. Larger company than the one in Nebraska, and at least twice the size (by annual revenues) of any company I've worked for in the past. I used to live in San Diego, and would consider a return to SoCal.
Both jobs are similar pay when adjusted for cost of living (the Nebraska job is a bit lower than my previous pay, but equivalent based on the cost of living; the L.A. job is a lot higher than my previous pay, but equivalent based on the cost of living). Of course these cost of living calculators are far from perfect. Both would have similar job duties.
I know most people would think I'm crazy to even compare the two locations. But the location is truly only one of many factors in the decision. Sure, it would be nice to enjoy the SoCal weather again. But I dread the traffic; masses of people; economic mess in CA; etc. I haven't even had a face-to-face meeting with either company yet, but I'm anticipating that will happen soon.
Since I know LA more or less (though I haven't lived in SoCal for ~13 years)...Omaha is the unknown. Can anyone that's lived there give their thoughts?
Not "official" or anything. Just figured I'd save you guys from me making multiple threads whenever I have a new job lead.
I appreciate the help I've received in the past, as far as information on specific areas I've looked into. I'm still looking for a job, and two came up this week.I really prefer to stay in North Carolina, hopefully around Raleigh, where we are now. But I've been looking for a solid year, and there isn't much happening in construction around here. I want to stay in construction - that's what I know and enjoy; I've been a Controller for four firms over the past 19 years, so I'm looking for a similar position.
One potential job is a decent sized electrical contractor in Omaha...yes, Nebraska.
I'm willing to go just about anywhere for a job that I love (at least that I think I will love). But the midwest is near the bottom of my list of preferred locations.The other is a general contractor in Los Angeles...just a couple miles from LAX. Larger company than the one in Nebraska, and at least twice the size (by annual revenues) of any company I've worked for in the past. I used to live in San Diego, and would consider a return to SoCal.
Both jobs are similar pay when adjusted for cost of living (the Nebraska job is a bit lower than my previous pay, but equivalent based on the cost of living; the L.A. job is a lot higher than my previous pay, but equivalent based on the cost of living). Of course these cost of living calculators are far from perfect. Both would have similar job duties.
I know most people would think I'm crazy to even compare the two locations. But the location is truly only one of many factors in the decision. Sure, it would be nice to enjoy the SoCal weather again. But I dread the traffic; masses of people; economic mess in CA; etc. I haven't even had a face-to-face meeting with either company yet, but I'm anticipating that will happen soon.
Since I know LA more or less (though I haven't lived in SoCal for ~13 years)...Omaha is the unknown. Can anyone that's lived there give their thoughts?
Community Wiki
Last Edited by emelvee
November 16, 2010
at
07:19 AM
Originally this was L.A. vs. Omaha. Then emelvee was offered a job in High Point, NC. Took the NC job; got let go after 22 days of work.
Back on the job hunt: interview for a company in Rockville, MD on October 4.
In-person interview in Lakeville, MN on Monday, Nov 22.
Back on the job hunt: interview for a company in Rockville, MD on October 4.
In-person interview in Lakeville, MN on Monday, Nov 22.
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been threre a few times for biz - so short stays
pros: "nice" people, shops, university, runza huts
cons: it's flat & somehow i associate it with covert "cheaters" due to unfortunate knowledge of former associate - yet she was "nice"
Other than waiting in that office until it was my turn to speak to the federal employee handling my case, I always made sure I got the hell out of Omaha again and I was living in the Midwest.
On a more serious note, I have lived in neighboring Iowa for a number of years and would compare Omaha to a place like Des Moines or Ames. I now live near Raleigh. What makes you want to stay in Raleigh or NC? The climate, people - very different in the Midwest. Cultural stuff, pretty much like every decent sized city, Omaha does offer "cultural" outlets. Unless you are looking for specific items. Community theater is big in the midwest and I just checked, Omaha is no exception. I still have an aversion to theater from my years in Iowa, I have been to enough theater plays in Iowa to last me a life time.
We like the diversity in Raleigh - it's much more culturally diverse (as in different religions, races, etc) than I expected, at least. We don't really do live theater or stuff like that, so that's not a factor.
Wherever we move, it will have to be in or near a decent size metropolitan area. I'm not moving to a small town or city again. For my most recent job, we moved from Oregon to eastern NC - we knew we were taking a risk, since I didn't expect there to be many other opportunities should the job not work out (it worked great for a few years, but now the company is struggling big time). I'm used to the suburbs - I want a safe place to live (another strike against LA) but close to shopping, restaurants, activities (zoos, maybe museums, etc).
We're kind of homebodies, but would like to make some friends wherever we end up. We won't go to a small town unless it's very close to a large city. We really tried in Greenville, NC, but we were definitely outsiders to many of the people there.
I haven't researched much, so I don't really know what questions to ask yet.
Things you'll miss if you go to Omaha:
Seafood - there's no such thing in Nebraska. I mean, there IS, but you should either catch the freshwater kind yourself, or it's going to be shipped to a Red Lobster where you'll eat it after it's been on a truck for 16 weeks. The diet is very meat-based, which I'd forgotten until I just went back to visit. I had to work harder to find vegetables, which seemed strange to me for a farming culture. Obviously, there's lots of great corn.
The ocean - If you spend a lot of time there now, get used to the fact that you'll be landlocked. If you don't spend a lot of time there now, get used to the fact that you'll rarely see it and wish you'd spent more time there when you were in NC. You won't see much water at all, in fact, and you won't realize how much water you see now.
Trees - You have no idea how many trees are around you now...but you will. You will.
Diversity - If you like knowing people who look different than you do - well...say good-bye to it. Sure, there are a few, but not many.
Accents - There are none in NE (see diversity).
Things you will LOVE and miss after you move away from Omaha (if you move there):
Nice people - Really nice. Generally speaking, Nebraska is a great place to raise children. You'll probably like your neighbors, your coworkers, and the people you see on the streets. You'll probably meet people in restaurants. If you ever move away from NE, you'll notice that people have bumper stickers about NE when they no longer live there, because they like to be associated with it, even when they no longer live there, and they still connect over it, because they know that other people from NE are nice. When I see someone with a "Huskers" sticker on their car, I still yell, "GO BIG RED!" and they smile and give me a thumbs up, or sometimes, we have a conversation. Sometimes, we even do that thing..."Hey, do you know Gene?" "Tall Gene? Yeah! I went to high school with him!"
Football - No, there's no pro team...but no one cares. Not at all. The college team IS the pro team in Nebraska, and everyone L-O-V-E-S them. They lack the arrogance and "salesiness" of a pro team and are all heart and soul. I've lived in many places with pro teams and I've never seen a state care as much for a pro team as NE cares for its college team. Even Nebraksans who don't like football love the Huskers.
Education - Nebraska (in general) ranks very highly on the education scale.
The meat - If you're a beef/meat eater, you can't beat Nebraska. I mean, it's really, really good. And, like one previous poster said - Runza! You can't say enough good things about Runza. Y-U-M! I don't eat red meat, but every few years, when I make a trip to Nebraska, I (who have not eaten red meat for a collective of about 15 years) will eat a Runza (which means red meat). So, in about 15 years, the only red meat I've eaten is 2-3 Runzas...and they're so worth it. As a kid, I had so much steak, roast, and other red meat that I just decided as an adult that it was "enough". I mean, once you leave Nebraska, why bother with any other cow? I had the best. There's no point in having beef in DC once you've had it in Nebraska! Also, a lot of people hunt and will give you pheasant, venison, wild turkey, duck, etc. and it's delicious. (See: Nice people.)
The layout - Omaha is easy to navigate and even when the traffic is bad, it's not bad. The people are (generally speaking) great drivers and when they're not, you can get away from them, because the road is straight, long, and usually uncrowded. "Zip zip" and you're away from the a-hole. As with any big city though, you have to watch where you live. There are very bad parts of Omaha and there are violent gangs. (Yes, really...no matter how funny anyone thinks that might sound, there really are. I promise you. There really are. Trust me.) As with most big cities, Omaha has a drug culture. For Omaha, it's crack and meth, and you don't want to run into people with those problems if you can help it...and you can help it. This is really no different than Raleigh. (I lived in Raleigh for 2 years.)
The landscape - It can be very quaint and beautiful between cities. There are a lot of interesting things along the side of the road. My favorite is Millford.
The pace - Well, you already live in Raleigh. My experience throughout my life was; the pace of DC is too fast and not in a good way (like New York), but in a "You want to get ahead? Slug your best friend in the face." kind of way. The pace of NC was too slow (for me). The pace of Nebraska was "just right". I just loved the pace of life there.
Stuff to do - People often think that Nebraska would be dull and boring. Not so in the southeast part of NE. It's at least as filled with things to do as Raleigh and I would say there's more to do. It's got a nice cultural swing. The people are lively and interesting and they're "with it" in the bigger cities. In some of the smaller surrounding cities, they'll tend toward being home bodies and probably more like your idea of small town, midwest folks, but they'll still have that industrious, purposeful zest for life.
A note on the weather: When it gets hot in Nebraska, there are fewer escapes than there are elsewhere. Shade trees are very few and far between. I've mentioned the water issue. Find a lake. It gets really hot there. When it gets cold, it's probably going to snow - sometimes it snows as early as October (I learned to drive in the snow...my birthday is in October). Sometimes, it snows as late as April (but that's unusual). The great thing about Nebraska is that those people know how to deal with snow. It snows - the snow is removed. The people drive like aces in snow, rain, and other inclement weather.
These are (of course) generalities. Personally, I think I would prefer Lincoln to Omaha, but if Lincoln isn't on your radar, Omaha is nice. I also think that the price of really nice real estate in the midwest is great. If it were me, I'd get a home on a lake, because I would really, really miss water. Then again, I've become accustomed to the prices of real estate in the DC area, which are astronomical, so I could be biased on that topic.
Are we talking about a permanent arrangement? How will your daughter and wife feel about not having the beach nearby. I'd really miss that. And I really would miss fresh seafood. If I'd never lived in NC and at the beach, maybe I wouldn't miss those things so much. Now, I have access to fresh seafood and I'm only a quick trip to the beach. If you're water babies and you do decide to go to Omaha, I really encourage you to look for a lake house.
Having said all of that, I've heard great things about LA (and bad things about LA), too. If I could live anywhere in the US right now, I think I'd choose San Francisco. Of your choices, I'd give Omaha some very serious thought.
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Some of this makes me wonder if we're talking about the same Nebraska.
Especially the drivers (well, in Omaha at least).
Seafood - there's no such thing in Nebraska. I mean, there IS, but you should either catch the freshwater kind yourself, or it's going to be shipped to a Red Lobster where you'll eat it after it's been on a truck for 16 weeks. The diet is very meat-based, which I'd forgotten until I just went back to visit. I had to work harder to find vegetables, which seemed strange to me for a farming culture. Obviously, there's lots of great corn.
agreed. corn is grown for the cows - then people eat the cows
The ocean - If you spend a lot of time there now, get used to the fact that you'll be landlocked. If you don't spend a lot of time there now, get used to the fact that you'll rarely see it and wish you'd spent more time there when you were in NC. You won't see much water at all, in fact, and you won't realize how much water you see now.
yep
Trees - You have no idea how many trees are around you now...but you will. You will.
yep
Diversity - If you like knowing people who look different than you do - well...say good-bye to it. Sure, there are a few, but not many.
yep
Accents - There are none in NE (see diversity).
yet there are dialects
Things you will LOVE and miss after you move away from Omaha (if you move there):
Nice people - Really nice. Generally speaking, Nebraska is a great place to raise children. You'll probably like your neighbors, your coworkers, and the people you see on the streets. You'll probably meet people in restaurants. If you ever move away from NE, you'll notice that people have bumper stickers about NE when they no longer live there, because they like to be associated with it, even when they no longer live there, and they still connect over it, because they know that other people from NE are nice. When I see someone with a "Huskers" sticker on their car, I still yell, "GO BIG RED!" and they smile and give me a thumbs up, or sometimes, we have a conversation. Sometimes, we even do that thing..."Hey, do you know Gene?" "Tall Gene? Yeah! I went to high school with him!"
yep
Football - No, there's no pro team...but no one cares. Not at all. The college team IS the pro team in Nebraska, and everyone L-O-V-E-S them. They lack the arrogance and "salesiness" of a pro team and are all heart and soul. I've lived in many places with pro teams and I've never seen a state care as much for a pro team as NE cares for its college team. Even Nebraksans who don't like football love the Huskers.
yep
Education - Nebraska (in general) ranks very highly on the education scale.
yep
The meat - If you're a beef/meat eater, you can't beat Nebraska. I mean, it's really, really good. And, like one previous poster said - Runza! You can't say enough good things about Runza. Y-U-M! I don't eat red meat, but every few years, when I make a trip to Nebraska, I (who have not eaten red meat for a collective of about 15 years) will eat a Runza (which means red meat). So, in about 15 years, the only red meat I've eaten is 2-3 Runzas...and they're so worth it. As a kid, I had so much steak, roast, and other red meat that I just decided as an adult that it was "enough". I mean, once you leave Nebraska, why bother with any other cow? I had the best. There's no point in having beef in DC once you've had it in Nebraska! Also, a lot of people hunt and will give you pheasant, venison, wild turkey, duck, etc. and it's delicious. (See: Nice people.)
yep & potential health concern
The layout - Omaha is easy to navigate and even when the traffic is bad, it's not bad. The people are (generally speaking) great drivers and when they're not, you can get away from them, because the road is straight, long, and usually uncrowded. "Zip zip" and you're away from the a-hole. As with any big city though, you have to watch where you live. There are very bad parts of Omaha and there are violent gangs. (Yes, really...no matter how funny anyone thinks that might sound, there really are. I promise you. There really are. Trust me.) As with most big cities, Omaha has a drug culture. For Omaha, it's crack and meth, and you don't want to run into people with those problems if you can help it...and you can help it. This is really no different than Raleigh. (I lived in Raleigh for 2 years.)
yep - saw some "bad" parts
The landscape - It can be very quaint and beautiful between cities. There are a lot of interesting things along the side of the road. My favorite is Millford.
missed millford
The pace - Well, you already live in Raleigh. My experience throughout my life was; the pace of DC is too fast and not in a good way (like New York), but in a "You want to get ahead? Slug your best friend in the face." kind of way. The pace of NC was too slow (for me). The pace of Nebraska was "just right". I just loved the pace of life there.
uh-huh
Stuff to do - People often think that Nebraska would be dull and boring. Not so in the southeast part of NE. It's at least as filled with things to do as Raleigh and I would say there's more to do. It's got a nice cultural swing. The people are lively and interesting and they're "with it" in the bigger cities. In some of the smaller surrounding cities, they'll tend toward being home bodies and probably more like your idea of small town, midwest folks, but they'll still have that industrious, purposeful zest for life.
home bodies ftw
A note on the weather: When it gets hot in Nebraska, there are fewer escapes than there are elsewhere. Shade trees are very few and far between. I've mentioned the water issue. Find a lake. It gets really hot there. When it gets cold, it's probably going to snow - sometimes it snows as early as October (I learned to drive in the snow...my birthday is in October). Sometimes, it snows as late as April (but that's unusual). The great thing about Nebraska is that those people know how to deal with snow. It snows - the snow is removed. The people drive like aces in snow, rain, and other inclement weather.
yep
These are (of course) generalities. Personally, I think I would prefer Lincoln to Omaha, but if Lincoln isn't on your radar, Omaha is nice. I also think that the price of really nice real estate in the midwest is great. If it were me, I'd get a home on a lake, because I would really, really miss water. Then again, I've become accustomed to the prices of real estate in the DC area, which are astronomical, so I could be biased on that topic.
Are we talking about a permanent arrangement? How will your daughter and wife feel about not having the beach nearby. I'd really miss that. And I really would miss fresh seafood. If I'd never lived in NC and at the beach, maybe I wouldn't miss those things so much. Now, I have access to fresh seafood and I'm only a quick trip to the beach. If you're water babies and you do decide to go to Omaha, I really encourage you to look for a lake house.
Having said all of that, I've heard great things about LA (and bad things about LA), too. If I could live anywhere in the US right now, I think I'd choose San Francisco. Of your choices, I'd give Omaha some very serious thought.
as a veg - no way could i do omaha now. plus dh would die w/out sailing.
plus - culturally, the opportunities are abundant contrasting n.c. and/or omaha. of course, with that said - there is A LOT of competition
Seafood: I would miss seafood a bit, but most of the stuff here in NC is fried anyway. I do miss the seafood in the Northwest. But I prefer a steak over seafood anyway.
Ocean: I like being near water (90%+ of my life has been spend within 2 hrs of either the Atlantic or Pacific), so that would be an adjustment. But we only actually go the ocean once or twice a year, so probably not a deal breaker.
Trees: I would DEFINITELY miss trees. That's one of the things I dislike about living in the desert (Iived in Nevada and southern Utah for a bit). And hills...I didn't like the pancake flat landscape of eastern NC; Raleigh area is much prettier for rolling hills.
Diversity: yeah, Nebraska's not exactly the place for that.
Accents: I used to like southern accents...until I moved here.
People: It would be nice to feel welcome...I would hope that would be the case wherever we go. We were disappointed by the lack of a feeling of being welcome when we moved to eastern NC, especially when people talk up "southern charm" so much.
Football: I really enjoyed the college sports vibe in Greenville. I like that, and minor league baseball.
Education: One of my biggest concerns about L.A.
Meat: I love a good steak, but I'm not really a connoisseur.
Traffic: Another big negative for L.A.
Landscape: We like taking scenic drives. Not too practical in L.A.
Pace: I've adjusted pretty well to a slower pace in NC, compared to the west coast. I don't think this would be an issue...I just don't want to live in NY (I grew up in NY State, suburbs of NYC).
Stuff to do: Certainly a plus for L.A., but we don't really do that much. I'm sure a city the size of Omaha has plenty of activities for us.
Weather: I do miss the SoCal climate, but I like the weather in NC. I don't mind some snow; I'd like a little more than we get here.
Hopefully, this would be a long term move. Daughter is going into 4th grade; I'd like to not have to move again until she's out of high school at least.
Trees: I would DEFINITELY miss trees. That's one of the things I dislike about living in the desert (Iived in Nevada and southern Utah for a bit). And hills...I didn't like the pancake flat landscape of eastern NC; Raleigh area is much prettier for rolling hills.
Diversity: yeah, Nebraska's not exactly the place for that.
Accents: I used to like southern accents...until I moved here.
People: It would be nice to feel welcome...I would hope that would be the case wherever we go. We were disappointed by the lack of a feeling of being welcome when we moved to eastern NC, especially when people talk up "southern charm" so much.
Football: I really enjoyed the college sports vibe in Greenville. I like that, and minor league baseball.
Education: One of my biggest concerns about L.A.
Meat: I love a good steak, but I'm not really a connoisseur.
Traffic: Another big negative for L.A.
Landscape: We like taking scenic drives. Not too practical in L.A.
Pace: I've adjusted pretty well to a slower pace in NC, compared to the west coast. I don't think this would be an issue...I just don't want to live in NY (I grew up in NY State, suburbs of NYC).
Stuff to do: Certainly a plus for L.A., but we don't really do that much. I'm sure a city the size of Omaha has plenty of activities for us.
Weather: I do miss the SoCal climate, but I like the weather in NC. I don't mind some snow; I'd like a little more than we get here.
Hopefully, this would be a long term move. Daughter is going into 4th grade; I'd like to not have to move again until she's out of high school at least.
I think you might be surprised at the diversity, between Hispanics, Asians, Indians, and Sudanese (refugees).
It will be nice for the Omaha Royals to have another fan
One of our contractors went to see them on dollar day and said there was still hardly anyone there.
Last winter was
I think we ended up with a bit over four feet of snowfall total, I think average is closer to two feet. It's true that you'll see it in October at times, but sometimes you won't see it again until the end of December. It does get cold enough that a 50F day in the middle of winter is officially shorts weather for some of us
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Lived in Westchester County, NY for 18 years.