Advice for young couple considering a move to the DC area?

[Anonymous]

Hi - my younger brother is considering moving to the DC metro area. He's in his mid 20s and has a bachelors' degrees from a state university in Connecticut. He majored in Spanish and worked for two years as a crisis counselor for at-risk kids, then spent a year working in sales for a home improvements company. He isn't sure what he wants to do - more school may be in his future- but for now he is mostly interested in sales, marketing and management kinds of jobs. (To be honest, he's pretty open). He has good people skills and is a hard worker.

Any suggestions of companies or jobs he should check out, and/or suggestions of affordable, safe neighborhoods for young couples? His wife is an ESL teacher, so odds are they won't be making a ton of money regardless.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Did you happen to post earlier re: neighborhoods for your brother?

[Anonymous]

If they aren't going to be able to make a lot of money, I don't recommend DC.

[Anonymous]

If you're going to be in relatively low paying positions that are not tied to DC government or politics, then don't move to DC. Tell him to find happiness elsewhere...Pittsburgh or Columbus seem nice. There's no need to scrape by in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

OP here.. no, this is my first post. is there an earlier one I should look for?

My brother and his wife are currently in rural central CT. Cheap -- but not a lot of job opportunities! They are not just thinking of DC itself, but NOVA, MD, etc.

[Anonymous]

I'd encourage Baltimore or Richmond - still close to you and vibrant, but not nearly as expensive as DC and its suburbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi - my younger brother is considering moving to the DC metro area. He's in his mid 20s and has a bachelors' degrees from a state university in Connecticut. He majored in Spanish and worked for two years as a crisis counselor for at-risk kids, then spent a year working in sales for a home improvements company. He isn't sure what he wants to do - more school may be in his future- but for now he is mostly interested in sales, marketing and management kinds of jobs. (To be honest, he's pretty open). He has good people skills and is a hard worker.

Any suggestions of companies or jobs he should check out, and/or suggestions of affordable, safe neighborhoods for young couples? His wife is an ESL teacher, so odds are they won't be making a ton of money regardless.

Thanks!

This is very broad. What industry? I doubt he could get a manager position anywhere based on his background. No offense, but that's the reality.

Do you live in DC? It's ridiculously expensive here.

[Anonymous]

D.C. is a place for young people who have a career purpose I mind and not a place where somebody can go in and "find a job". Additionally, with your brothers level of experience he'd be lucky to even find a job that pays close to a living wage in the DMV area. There are plenty of kids with competitive degrees working basically for free and for jobs that pays well those positions are already taken by the cream of the crop.

[Anonymous]

No. Just no. You move to DC for a specific job or industry that you know will pay well or have a future of paying well. It would be criminally stupid to move to DC when you have a job that can be done elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Repeating what others have said:

- Your brother has a very weak background to move to DC.
- DC is not a city you go to when you are looking to find a job. You come here because of a specific career.
- DC does not have many sales/marketing type generic jobs. People in marketing, by way of example, likely have a top degree in political science, spent a few years grueling on the hill, and move to political marketing. Very different than what you describe for your brother.
- The types of jobs he might get here would be very low paying. Hourly. Unpaid internships. That kind of thing. People are willing to take pittance to work in DC because it leads to better things (see point above about marketing job). But those people have a definite career track. Not worth pittance wages to just get a job. The non-DC type jobs (i.e., those that your brother would be looking at) pay the same as smaller, lower cost of living places.
- You are writing this on behalf of a mid-20s brother. Why isn't he writing it? DC is filled with type A personalities and this tells me your brother is not going to do well in this city. If he was a real go-getter, despite the above bullet points, maybe. But he sounds like just a dude looking for a new life.
- Sure, he can get a $30k a year job somewhere in DC. But that is a TERRIBLE life in DC. Just terrible. Read all the threads on this and the real estate forum. people live in this terrible, expensive city because they are tied here for their jobs. You don't come to DC because it's a nice place to live. If you can work elsewhere, work elsewhere.
- Move to Tampa, or Pittsburgh, or Baltimore, or Madison. Or somewhere with moderately okay jobs. They'll have a much happier life than in DC.

PS in case you didn't get the message, don't move to DC.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the negative advice is accurate. It depends what he wants. If he thinks he is going to move to DC and walk into a a high-paying, prestigious job at a lobbying firm or on the Hill, then yeah, he's unrealistic. But though DCUMers may tend to forget this, the DC metro area is also full of people who - gasp - work as waiters, roofers, retail sales people, check-in clerks at hotels, temps, administrative assistants in offices, etc.

If he is just looking at this stage of his life for a simple "job" - not a career, just something that will pay bills for a couple of years while he decides if he wants to go back to school - then this is a perfectly good place to move. Even if he and his wife both get minimum wage jobs, they would bring in, together, about $60k/year, which works if they don't mind living in a studio in a less fashionable neighborhood. Trust me, whole families in this city manage to get by on much less.

Maybe he should consider signing up with a temp agency to get his feet in the water?

[Anonymous]

Agree. Some class bias showing here. I know plenty of young people working at mall stores and restaurants and the like, perfectly happy. They probably won't want to do it forever but there is nothing wrong with being an Uber driver or a temp or a waiter for a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi - my younger brother is considering moving to the DC metro area. He's in his mid 20s and has a bachelors' degrees from a state university in Connecticut. He majored in Spanish and worked for two years as a crisis counselor for at-risk kids, then spent a year working in sales for a home improvements company. He isn't sure what he wants to do - more school may be in his future- but for now he is mostly interested in sales, marketing and management kinds of jobs. (To be honest, he's pretty open). He has good people skills and is a hard worker.

Any suggestions of companies or jobs he should check out, and/or suggestions of affordable, safe neighborhoods for young couples? His wife is an ESL teacher, so odds are they won't be making a ton of money regardless.

Thanks!

But WHY does he want to move to DC? Does he believe there is strong career potential? Because it's located near friends/family? Because parts of it are very hip right now? The PPs saying that we are being classist and that plenty of people get by on low wages are correct - but those people most likely have strong family and community ties to the area. Sales and marketing have way, way better opportunities in way lower cost of living areas. It's just a boneheaded plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. Some class bias showing here. I know plenty of young people working at mall stores and restaurants and the like, perfectly happy. They probably won't want to do it forever but there is nothing wrong with being an Uber driver or a temp or a waiter for a few years.

Then why can't OP's brother do these jobs elsewhere where cost of living is so much lower? As many have said, DC is a place where people move into for a specific purpose and highly doubt most of these "young people working at mall stores" moved from other places into DC just to work at mall stores.

Please don't do OP's brother a disservice and render this advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the negative advice is accurate. It depends what he wants. If he thinks he is going to move to DC and walk into a a high-paying, prestigious job at a lobbying firm or on the Hill, then yeah, he's unrealistic. But though DCUMers may tend to forget this, the DC metro area is also full of people who - gasp - work as waiters, roofers, retail sales people, check-in clerks at hotels, temps, administrative assistants in offices, etc.

If he is just looking at this stage of his life for a simple "job" - not a career, just something that will pay bills for a couple of years while he decides if he wants to go back to school - then this is a perfectly good place to move. Even if he and his wife both get minimum wage jobs, they would bring in, together, about $60k/year, which works if they don't mind living in a studio in a less fashionable neighborhood. Trust me, whole families in this city manage to get by on much less.

Maybe he should consider signing up with a temp agency to get his feet in the water?

Is it true that two minimum wage jobs would bring in about $60k/year? That sounds high to me.