Top Cities for Recent College Grads

[Porchman]

From Bloomberg Businessweek

Although it has fewer entry-level employers posting jobs compared with New York and Washington, D.C., the city’s low unemployment rate and cost of living make it an ideal home for young people launching their careers.

But, wait, there's more....

With such attractions as the American Cowboy Museum....those working in the city will have plenty to do in their free time, too.

I had not yet fully appreciated the impact of this asset.

[Porchman]

Uh, and can a mod fix the title? This college grad is prone to typos.

[RedScare]

Uh, and can a mod fix the title? This college grad is prone to typos.

What a maroon!

Wow, we even outranked Dallas, Atlanta and Austin! Too bad those college grads will be bored once they get here.

[AtticaFlinch]

With such attractions as the American Cowboy Museum....those working in the city will have plenty to do in their free time, too.

I had not yet fully appreciated the impact of this asset.

I rarely lol, but I just LOLed myself.

I think someone needs to inform the author of the opentravel.com boring cities blog about the American Cowboy Museum.

[livincinco]

What a maroon!

Wow, we even outranked Dallas, Atlanta and Austin! Too bad those college grads will be bored once they get here.

Too bad those college grads aren't part of the "creative class".

[Porchman]

I rarely lol, but I just LOLed myself.

I think someone needs to inform the author of the opentravel.com boring cities blog about the American Cowboy Museum.

That was in my thinking since I posted slightly later than that boring thread began. I also was stopped by the fact they mentioned one museum and all them performing arts. Alright, I can get on a soap box for the MFAH, The Menil, the Art Car Museum. The HMNS is one of the most visited museums in the U.S. with its butterflies, stinky flowers and the old chick from Ethiopia.

I actually had to confirm that this American Cowboy Museum was in Houston. If you had asked me where the ACM was prior to my search, I would have guessed OKC, Dallas, or Fort Worth. We do have the World's largest rodeo, so it's not unexpected that this museum would be here. Perhaps, it's a good celebration of the trail rides that have existed for generations. Their website sucks, so I don't know.

Regrettably, this posted comment feels like a back-handed, provincial slam disguised as a compliment. We, here, know there is a lot to enjoy. Should we care? Should we doing more in PR? (Perhaps, this is a topic for another thread).

[KinkaidAlum]

Who cares? Houston is The Suck.

Our downtown isn't lit up. We don't have electronic ads all over town. There's no Ritz-Carlton or W-Hotel. Lindsey Lohan doesn't party here unless she's paid.

[Subdude]

What a maroon!

Wow, we even outranked Dallas, Atlanta and Austin! Too bad those college grads will be bored once they get here.

We're getting complaints about you. You need to lay off the attacks on other posters or leave the board.

[TheNiche]

We're getting complaints about you. You need to lay off the attacks on other posters or leave the board.

What attack? It was dry internet humor and obviously was not a complaint made by the target of that humor. As another disinterested bystander, can I lodge a counter-complaint?

Btw, on a related note, I do appreciate that you put down a reason for the edit and issued a warning. Kudos on that.

[Subdude]

What attack? It was dry internet humor and obviously was not a complaint made by the target of that humor. As another disinterested bystander, can I lodge a counter-complaint?

Btw, on a related note, I do appreciate that you put down a reason for the edit and issued a warning. Kudos on that.

Look, if you have issues with the moderation of (other people's) posts then you can take it up with the mods or Editor by PM, not within the topic threads.

[AtticaFlinch]

We're getting complaints about you. You need to lay off the attacks on other posters or leave the board.

Look, if you have issues with the moderation of (other people's) posts then you can take it up with the mods or Editor by PM, not within the topic threads.

I am perplexed. What do either of these two posts have to do with Houston being a great place for college grads? And do they not somehow contradict each other? By your own rules, shouldn't the first post have been sent in a PM? I'm not jumping down your throat here, I'm just curious how what you did was any different than what Niche did.

Anyways... I moved to Houston in August '07 and didn't find the job market terribly inviting, at least not for someone with my particular skillset. I eventually took a job far beneath my education level, but after a year or so scraping by in the equivalent of the mailroom, I started making respectable pay and was given a respectable job title.

[editor]

I am perplexed. What do either of these two posts have to do with Houston being a great place for college grads?

Nothing. Please help keep this thread on topic.

And do they not somehow contradict each other? By your own rules, shouldn't the first post have been sent in a PM?

I see nothing in the rules about that. However, a public swat on the butt with a newspaper is often more effective than a private admonition. It helps dispel the widespread notion that certain people receive preferential treatment on HAIF.

Let's keep the rest of this thread on topic. If anyone has any questions about policies, they can e-mail me directly: editor@houstonarchitecture.com.

[crunchtastic]

Attica, no offense dude, but NO city is good for finding well-paid work if you graduated with an archaeology degree.

Once the economic reality sunk in that I'd be perpetually broke history professor, I changed career paths. Houston has been

very good to me ever since.

[lockmat]

Not in the TOS, I meant his rules, as he elected to admonish Niche for writing publicly about it after he'd done the very same thing. Besides that, what was RedScare admonished for? I think it would be fairly obvious to most people that him calling Porchman a maroon was intended as cartoonish tongue-in-cheek playfulness. I suppose had their been any actual slight, some sort of recrimination would have been warranted, but still, to make it public and then complain when someone else publicly questions the judgment is beyond silly. Plus, by my reckoning, it appears RedScare is publicly admonished far more than any other poster which would seem to indicate there is preferential treatment.... or the opposite of that. Whatever. It's just the way it looks to me.

This is the first time I have read this thread, but from Niche's earlier comment, it seems Red's comments were edited/deleted by the moderator, so maybe we're not seeing what he's referring to?

I did notice that the Maroon comment was a joke.

[sevfiv]

Yeah, Houston wasn't looking so great for me with my Art History/Psych combo gem, but no other city would have been much better to me either.

[Porchman]

Anyways... I moved to Houston in August '07 and didn't find the job market terribly inviting, at least not for someone with my particular skillset. I eventually took a job far beneath my education level, but after a year or so scraping by in the equivalent of the mailroom, I started making respectable pay and was given a respectable job title.

The article makes another important point, though. Houston is affordable. They specifically noted that the entry-level jobs were not as plentiful here. However, you don't have killer COL. That's a really big plus, particularly if you're in the process of looking for a job.

Attica, no offense dude, but NO city is good for finding well-paid work if you graduated with an archaeology degree.

Once the economic reality sunk in that I'd be perpetually broke history professor, I changed career paths. Houston has been

very good to me ever since.

Yeah, reppin' that! However, you might be surprised how useful Uta Hagen is to counseling clients.

BTW, when happy-dog dude calls me "a maroon", it's not taken seriously.

[AtticaFlinch]

Attica, no offense dude, but NO city is good for finding well-paid work if you graduated with an archaeology degree.

Once the economic reality sunk in that I'd be perpetually broke history professor, I changed career paths. Houston has been

very good to me ever since.

No doubt, but I did have a marketable sub-specialty. GIS is important to a lot of land companies, but the wall I seemed to encounter was companies wanted to do their own training. It was in '07, so they had that luxury then. Regardless, it doesn't matter much now. I barely remember the software, and I imagine in the three years I've been away from it, the software doesn't resemble anything I once knew. I'm pretty successful now, but it required a lot of scraping my way up, working long, weird hours and generally ignoring any sense of pride I'd had. It was humbling to say the least. I explained my point further, but oddly that post's disappeared.

Anyhow, the old notion that the piece of paper the degree's printed on is all that matters is no longer true. The only people at any real advantage coming out of school are people with finance or business degrees from top tier universities. These days, the only other jobs awaiting college grads are paper-filing admin jobs and retail. Even in the land o' plenty that is Houston.

[TheNiche]

Anyhow, the old notion that the piece of paper the degree's printed on is all that matters is no longer true. The only people at any real advantage coming out of school are people with finance or business degrees from top tier universities. These days, the only other jobs awaiting college grads are paper-filing admin jobs and retail. Even in the land o' plenty that is Houston.

Even then, it isn't the education that makes the ivy leagues so worthwhile. It's mostly just the people you meet, especially legacies with rich and well-connected families. Any other educational advantage can be made up for with a CFA, CPA, or something else that proves your skill set...and at a minuscule fraction of the cost.

The real problem, however, is just that finance firms aren't creating jobs. You can be credentialed and still be un-employable. ...and that's where you're absolutely correct about admin jobs and retail jobs being the fallback position. I finally got one such job, but even then it would've never been possible without exploiting people that I've known. They wouldn't have hired me based on my skill set. And that reveals another caveat, that Houston (and most anywhere else) sucks if you don't know people here.

[Porchman]

No doubt, but I did have a marketable sub-specialty. GIS is important to a lot of land companies, but the wall I seemed to encounter was companies wanted to do their own training. It was in '07, so they had that luxury then. Regardless, it doesn't matter much now. I barely remember the software, and I imagine in the three years I've been away from it, the software doesn't resemble anything I once knew.

Continuing education is going to be critical to most careers. That's just a fact.

Anyhow, the old notion that the piece of paper the degree's printed on is all that matters is no longer true. The only people at any real advantage coming out of school are people with finance or business degrees from top tier universities. These days, the only other jobs awaiting college grads are paper-filing admin jobs and retail. Even in the land o' plenty that is Houston.

Mmm...not buying it. Can engineers and economics folk get easy jobs? Yeah. Are they going to be the most easily re-employable in a changing economy? Not so sure. Very often they are employed in a specialized area, and to transition from there, they have to go through some of the technical challenges you reference above. There are some engineers who are very challenged in this economy. There are some who are doing rather well. Some have their fate in the balance of the moratorium. What do they do if they lose their job?

There is also the importance of discernment to a City. There is an importance to that in this Forum - the HAIF. As exemplified in the discussions here over preservation districts, HEB in Montrose, and WalMart in the Heights, we are a City that does not treat issues in a purely conservative or liberal manor. I've lived in other areas of the Country. These discussions are unique.

Engineering and finance, alone, does not get you to that balanced discussion. Vesting oneself in altruistic humanities does not either. In reaching that point, our landscape is not so flat. In that sense of reality, we're everythingt to which Richard Florida feels we should aspire, and nothing he describes.

[AtticaFlinch]

Even then, it isn't the education that makes the ivy leagues so worthwhile. It's mostly just the people you meet, especially legacies with rich and well-connected families.

Ivy League connections aren't all that necessary in Houston, though perhaps KinkaidAlum can share some of his high school buddies with the class of 2010?

[AtticaFlinch]

Continuing education is going to be critical to most careers. That's just a fact.

Certainly, and in some sense I'm glad I don't work in such a process-driven software-heavy field as GIS. Technical skills are virtually useless in my current field. The people who work behind the scenes handle that. All I need to understand now are economic trends and human nature.

Mmm...not buying it. Can engineers and economics folk get easy jobs? Yeah. Are they going to be the most easily re-employable in a changing economy? Not so sure. Very often they are employed in a specialized area, and to transition from there, they have to go through some of the technical challenges you reference above. There are some engineers who are very challenged in this economy. There are some who are doing rather well. Some have their fate in the balance of the moratorium. What do they do if they lose their job?

Agreed, but I was talking about jobs for recent college grads.

There is also the importance of discernment to a City. There is an importance to that in this Forum - the HAIF. As exemplified in the discussions here over preservation districts, HEB in Montrose, and WalMart in the Heights, we are a City that does not treat issues in a purely conservative or liberal manor. I've lived in other areas of the Country. These discussions are unique.

Could it be that we're better at parsing through BS?

[Porchman]

Certainly, and in some sense I'm glad I don't work in such a process-driven software-heavy field as GIS. Technical skills are virtually useless in my current field. The people who work behind the scenes handle that. All I need to understand now are economic trends and human nature.

Certainly, that does not require any CE like a studies in fututrism.

Agreed, but I was talking about jobs for recent college grads.

The ability to adapt is important. My first job was in fundraising. Colleger grads can get jobs i fundraising at big offices like Rice, BCM, or UH. I learned about planned gifts and trusts. It and CE have brought me a long way.

Could it be that we're better at parsing through BS?

Perhaps. You're the one who is in line to put up 2,000 posts in the year since you joined a year ago, so I'll leave that answer to your discernment. .

[crunchtastic]

In some respects Attica and I have much in common. I was captain of my high school Debate Team, triple letterer in Crap No One Ever Cared About like extemp speech and ready writing, etc. Summa Cum Laude in undergraduate. Who writes a thesis on Fr. Savonarola and the burning of the vanities? Me!! With professorship and being the female Hunter Thompson effectively dashed as lucrative career opps, the only other realistic option for my particluar skills was law. But once I adjusted for the cost of law school and hours spent doing high-priced secretarial work, I am quite sure I came out ahead by sleeping with lawyers and not becoming one. In the end I do advertising for financial planners, brokers and life insurance agents, the money's more than decent and the work is embarrassingly easy. The gig could be over at any moment, and that's okay too. I'm frankly glad I'm not starting out now. It would suck.

[AtticaFlinch]

Certainly, that does not require any CE like a studies in fututrism.

Trends are easy to predict. By and large human behavior follows a discernable pattern. You can't pinpoint future trends with 100% accuracy, but you can definitely pinpoint the most likely possible outcomes of certain actions and then choose the solution that will work best for most situations. There's a small percent chance that everything will go wrong, and there's a small percent chance that everything will go right, but there's also a majority percent chance that just enough more will go right than wrong to leave you ahead, even if not exceptionally so. It doesn't require CE, but proficiency in Microsoft Excel and industry-specific software are virtual crystal balls. Still, no one teaches this software outside of my company. All CE here is internal, and I guess I'm fortunate to have landed with a company that does all their promoting and training internally. Otherwise, there's no telling what I'd be doing now... probably digging up pot sherds still.

The ability to adapt is important. My first job was in fundraising. Colleger grads can get jobs i fundraising at big offices like Rice, BCM, or UH. I learned about planned gifts and trusts. It and CE have brought me a long way.

No doubt adaptability is paramount to success in the real world. At the age of 32, I'm on my third career. At this time, I do hope to be done with those major life-changing shifts though. Hopefully any adapting I have to do now will be because I've got more responsibility and a bigger paycheck.

Perhaps. You're the one who is in line to put up 2,000 posts in the year since you joined a year ago, so I'll leave that answer to your discernment. .

What can I say? I'm prodigious in saying a lot about things that I have no control over and shouldn't care about. Thank god the internet exists or I'd have to engage in more debates with my wife, and it kinda annoys her.

In some respects Attica and I have much in common. I was captain of my high school Debate Team, triple letterer in Crap No One Ever Cared About like extemp speech and ready writing, etc. Summa Cum Laude in undergraduate. Who writes a thesis on Fr. Savonarola and the burning of the vanities? Me!! With professorship and being the female Hunter Thompson effectively dashed as lucrative career opps, the only other realistic option for my particluar skills was law. But once I adjusted for the cost of law school and hours spent doing high-priced secretarial work, I am quite sure I came out ahead by sleeping with lawyers and not becoming one. In the end I do advertising for financial planners, brokers and life insurance agents, the money's more than decent and the work is embarrassingly easy. The gig could be over at any moment, and that's okay too. I'm frankly glad I'm not starting out now. It would suck.

My story is similar, but throw in a couple really life-changingly bad decisions in the mix, and that's how I got here from there. But yeah, I'm glad I got my current start in 2007 and not now.

[KinkaidAlum]

Ivy League connections aren't all that necessary in Houston, though perhaps KinkaidAlum can share some of his high school buddies with the class of 2010?

If you hadn't gathered by now from the content of my posts, I am not very well connected with Kinkaid's movers and shakers. Most of my contacts from that school fled Texas long ago. There were a few of us who considered ourselves to be progressive but that was mostly because we smoked cloves at NRG and Red Square and used fake ids to get into Power Tools rather than the Piney Point kegger.

Now, if you want a job as an editor in NYC or doing post production film work in LA, then I can hook you up with my Kinkaid cohorts!