Trying to move Charleston, S.C. - Job search advice wanted

[njfleck]

Hello Mustachians,

Hoping to get some advice and hopefully make connections if there are any Mustachians in the Low Country.

My girlfriend and I are hoping to relocate from Indianapolis to Charleston, S.C. Both to be closer to family who are not in the best of health, but also, both of us want to live there rather than the Midwest. Charleston is conveniently located between our respective families.

The main obstacle being the job search (of course). I have been lucky to make professional connections in Indy that have kept me in increasingly interesting and lucrative work for the last 6 years. This is despite working in a non-lucrative field of education where I have worked for a school district, city government, and a non-profit. When applying for similar jobs in SC, I have found that there are fewer opportunities, and it seems harder to get an interview or even a call back. Perhaps because I am an outsider. I have some personal connections in Charleston, but unfortunately they are in specialized fields (medicine, software programming, defense contracting, etc.) and haven't been able to be too helpful as far as my job search goes. So, I am looking to branch out into a different field, but not sure how to sell myself to the private sector. I have done communications, project management work, teacher recruitment and development/fundraising (similar enough to sales it seems). It seems like these are all transferable, but not sure if that is obvious to someone looking at my previous employment.

So I am asking for a few different pieces of advice:
1. Any advice on positioning yourself for jobs outside of your field?
2. Any advice on breaking into a job market in a different city/state where you don't have many connections?
3. Anyone on here in the Charleston area and have any general advice and perhaps interest in connecting once we are down there?

[CabinetGuy]

Charlestonian here (well, actually Mount Pleasant.).

This town is extremely difficult to break into without an "in".  It's a small town, and it seems everybody knows everybody...

That being said, I'm just a sub-contractor cabinetaker/installer.  I do work in high end homes, mainly.  But if you are looking into project management in construction, this town is BOOMING.  I mean BOOMING. 

I was in a Crossfit gym in Mount Pleasant, and damn that place was one hell of a network.  Good way to meet new people, and very friendly.  Good way to meet a lot of people in a lot of different fields.

If I can help you any, I will.

Jon

[njfleck]

Hey Jon,

Thanks for the advice. Maybe I need to hit the gym during one of my visits to do some networking :). Also, I will look into project management in construction. I worked construction through high school and college, so at least I have a bit of background knowledge there.

Thanks!

[CabinetGuy]

The gym I went to was Crossfit Frequency, in Mount Pleasant.  Not very mustacian, hell, it's expensive even for Crossift.  But again, great way to make contacts.  Kind of a higher grade "box" with some pretty high earners.  May be worth a shot to drop in.  I stopped going since I hurt my shoulder (just didn't listen to my body when it was telling me to stop...) 

Jon