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Letters to the Editor: A word of advice for job-seekers


By SD Times Editorial Board
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October 1, 2010 —  (Page 1 of 3)
Alan Zeichick, to your question in the article: "What do you tell job-hunters in this economy?" The answer is simple... Move!

The answer sounds ridiculous. Why move without a job first? But when I say move, I don't necessarily mean move physical locations (though the answer I propose below will eventually require a physical move). I mean move your job search to a different low-populous area of living.

For these last 10+ years, I've worked at the Center for the Application of Information Technologies, Western Illinois University. The Center is located in the rural town of Macomb Ill., past corn fields 70 miles from several major surrounding cities (Quad Cities, Peoria, Springfield, Quincy), and other mid-size cities. It's also a four-hour drive south from Chicago.

One of the most challenging things our Center faces is finding, and wooing, potential employees. We are not able to attract and hire individuals that currently work in more populous areas for the following reasons, as has been told to us by actual candidates or inquirers:

1. "I don't want to work for you because your review process took too long!" (The government requires a certain length of time to keep a search open, review candidates, and perform other requirements, and it takes longer than a corporate company that can close the search the moment they find the right candidate.)
2. "The government job does not pay as much as the corporate equivalent." (Despite that other non-financial benefits are greater, and quality of life is higher.)
3. "I don't want to work at a government job."
4. "What?? You pay taxes out of your pay check! And you won't pay me more to compensate for the paid taxes? Forget it." (Person from Nevada; they are exempt from pay taxes there, and instead pay more in property tax)
5. "You need to offer me as much as I would get paid working the same job in Chicago." (Despite the much lower cost of living in Macomb.)
6. "Macomb is too small of a town." (The candidate preferred to work in a large suburb of Chicago where the commute is more than an hour away through jams every day, because the suburb provided more options over a small town.)
7. "How can your town not have a mall!?"


Related Search Term(s): professional development, Python

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