What would cause you to move out of your hometown?
Opportunity? A new view?
The Millennial generation is a generation on the move, according to Rent.com. According to a Rent.com survey of 1,000 US renters between the age of 18 and 34, half are living in a different city from their college or hometown. They move around for many reasons.
- 44% moved to a more urban city than where they grew up. They are looking for an interesting social life, events and activities and different job opportunities.
- 43% said they moved for job opportunities they could not find in their home town or college town.
- 21% moved for a significant other.
- 19% moved away from their college town to be near family.
- 11% moved just to try something new. And why not?
Where did they move? LinkedIn did a study of job search behavior among Millennials and discovered young people appear to be most interested in mid-sized cities.
The top 5 include:
- Austin, TX for IT and services, computer software and the internet.
- Raleigh-Durham, NC for computer software, IT and services and pharmaceuticals
- Detroit, MI for automotive, IT and services and marketing and advertising.
- Cleveland / Akron, OH for hospital and healthcare, IT and services and insurance
- Charlotte, NC for IT and services, computer software and internet jobs.
The funny thing to me is not that young people are moving around. I expect that. My daughter has moved five times in the last 6 years since college. She moved for job opportunities and to try something new. Her friends move regularly too for all the reasons listed above.
It is where they are moving that is interesting. Mid-sized cities. As a resident of northeast Ohio (Cleveland / Akron), I can see the excitement, the young people moving in to central cities, the art, the music, the energy.
Older folks have given up on these places.
What was old is new again.
This is not new. As a young adult I moved into a Chicago neighborhood around Armitage and Sheffield. I was excited about our remodeled three-flat. My grandmother would say, “I moved out of there when it was a slum and promised myself I would never go back.” True to her word she never visited. Imagine what she missed by refusing to come to the old neighborhood?
Is it possible that we are missing something exciting in our own backyard? We must remove blinders made of assumptions and ancient history to appreciate something different.
Coincidently my daughter plans to move back to Ohio when she finishes her MBA. She thinks Columbus and Cleveland are the place to be. Something old can be new again.
Wherever you are in your career path and life journey, take a moment to appreciate the beauty of where you are right this minute, without the blinders and preconceptions. It could be you live in the current hotspot doing the hottest job without even knowing it!!
I am interested in where you are in your career path and life journey. Are you in the hotspot and don’t even know it? What are you doing to adjust your career to take advantage of hot trends?