Hi guys,
I know it is oversaturation in CA (Orange County to be specific) and the only way to get a job is through CONNECTIONs, but if you are out of state students and work backward to have connections in CA. What would you do?
I only have two solutions: 1 is through rotations, 2 is getting a residency in CA.
Really try to get a residency in ORANGE COUNTY.
As I've posted many times before, I did a monitoring experiment for job search on indeed. Over a course of 2 months, there were maybe 3 (three) jobs posted on Indeed that were not retail in Orange County. Compare that to LA county - easily 10 jobs posting per week if not more. Keep in mind that most job postings are not real - they already have a candidate to fill the spot but have to post for legal reasons. The availability of jobs in Orange County just isn't there. My guess is once someone gets in (students/residents) they will fight tooth and nail to stay.
If you cannot get a residency in Orange County (not LA, not Inland empire, Orange County), be prepared to work elsewhere first and move when something comes up. There are people who live in OC who commute 80 miles one way a day to work in non-retail settings.
As I've said, if you're prepared for the most brutal job search ever, you'll be ok.
GypsyHummus said:
Honestly, once you are making 110-130k/year out in the middle of nowhere, you can basically move your family out in the rural area with you. From my understanding, a 500K house in CA buys you a shack where in rural Western states and the Midwest, 500K buys you a mansion.
Amen. I would never live in the SoCal metro had it not been for family. I've thought about moving family too. The problem is when you have to move not just parents but also grandparents who are already so used to living in their communities all these years. Plus they own property that is now worth well over 1.5 mil. Hard to tell them to sell that and move to the Midwest.
Your understanding is correct in the major CA metros (Bay, LA, SD). In the Central Valley (wonderful places if you can withstand the heat and understand that non-single people go home after work, not out to party after a 10-hr shift, so living in Modesto isn't vastly different from LA on a workday), the pricing is more reasonable and more comparable to elsewhere in other states. Not sure if it's as cheap as the Midwest, but definitely doable on a pharmacist income. The pay is also 15-20% more than in the big 3 metros.
