Help me find a job in Southern California
October 9, 2014 3:28 PM Subscribe
I like my job, but not the location. I'd like to find something similar/related to what I'm doing now in Southern California, but don't really know where I should be looking, and would like some suggestions.
About I year ago, I landed a cool job after finishing graduate school. I work for a small research/strategy consulting firm, that focuses mostly on working with agribusiness and food companies who are looking to enter new export markets or improve their position in their current export markets.
Things I like about the job:
I do a bunch of research on overseas markets and underlying economic, political, and social factors that are driving consumption trends. It's interesting, and often involves going in country to do primary research.
It's project work, so I am doing something new every couple of months.
Agribusiness can be pretty interesting, especially when I'm working with consumer products. I especially like strategy projects where we try to figure out how a company should try to enter a new market and where to position themselves in the market.
Thing I don't like about the job:
It's located overseas, and I really want to move back to the U.S.
I did grad school in southern California and I enjoyed living there. It's a place I'd very much like to get back to. Ideally, I'd like to live in the San Diego area but jobs there are a little bit limited so I'm looking at L.A. too, but I don't really know where I should be looking. There are companies just like my company, doing the same kind of work, in D.C. and other parts of the east coast but I don't know of any in SoCal, so I'm looking for some suggestions.
Basically, a job that involves any/all of the following:
Researching/working with trade data or economic data (not necessarily ag related)
Market entry strategy, ideally in overseas markets but it could be local markets too
Internationally oriented agribusiness work. Whether that be research, supply chain logistics, business planning, etc, agribusiness seems like an interesting field and I wouldn't mind pursuing a career in that field.
I realize that's a pretty nebulous description of what I'm looking for, but if you have any suggestions for companies/industries to check out that might meet some of these qualifications in Southern California I would appreciate it. Thanks
About I year ago, I landed a cool job after finishing graduate school. I work for a small research/strategy consulting firm, that focuses mostly on working with agribusiness and food companies who are looking to enter new export markets or improve their position in their current export markets.
Things I like about the job:
I do a bunch of research on overseas markets and underlying economic, political, and social factors that are driving consumption trends. It's interesting, and often involves going in country to do primary research.
It's project work, so I am doing something new every couple of months.
Agribusiness can be pretty interesting, especially when I'm working with consumer products. I especially like strategy projects where we try to figure out how a company should try to enter a new market and where to position themselves in the market.
Thing I don't like about the job:
It's located overseas, and I really want to move back to the U.S.
I did grad school in southern California and I enjoyed living there. It's a place I'd very much like to get back to. Ideally, I'd like to live in the San Diego area but jobs there are a little bit limited so I'm looking at L.A. too, but I don't really know where I should be looking. There are companies just like my company, doing the same kind of work, in D.C. and other parts of the east coast but I don't know of any in SoCal, so I'm looking for some suggestions.
Basically, a job that involves any/all of the following:
Researching/working with trade data or economic data (not necessarily ag related)
Market entry strategy, ideally in overseas markets but it could be local markets too
Internationally oriented agribusiness work. Whether that be research, supply chain logistics, business planning, etc, agribusiness seems like an interesting field and I wouldn't mind pursuing a career in that field.
I realize that's a pretty nebulous description of what I'm looking for, but if you have any suggestions for companies/industries to check out that might meet some of these qualifications in Southern California I would appreciate it. Thanks
Roll Global perhaps? That is the best combination of strategy and agriculture I can think of...
Maybe RainBird? Presumably that would also flex the supply chain and new market element as well.
posted by milqman at 3:57 PM on October 9, 2014
Maybe RainBird? Presumably that would also flex the supply chain and new market element as well.
posted by milqman at 3:57 PM on October 9, 2014
I'm surprised you're not finding those things in San Diego, with all the biopharma. You may need to do some research to find out if the terminology is different out here.
Mostly I think you should look in all of Southern California. Get yourself a Google Voice number with an Irvine area code, and when asked say "I've got a roommate waiting to sign a lease in [YOURCITY OR NEARBY] but I need to secure a job before I can commit."
Put your resume up and see who contacts you. You have nothing to lose.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:01 PM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
Mostly I think you should look in all of Southern California. Get yourself a Google Voice number with an Irvine area code, and when asked say "I've got a roommate waiting to sign a lease in [YOURCITY OR NEARBY] but I need to secure a job before I can commit."
Put your resume up and see who contacts you. You have nothing to lose.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:01 PM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
Cargill has a giant corporate headquarters in Orange County.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:06 PM on October 9, 2014
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:06 PM on October 9, 2014
I work in trade and export facilitation for a state government in Australia. I'm not in the agribusiness area, although we do have one of those (along with areas that cover other key sectors).
Some of what I do, or people I work with do, includes analysis of trade and sector data to report on growth/value/etc, supporting international trade missions (inbound or outbound), working with individual organisations to help them secure major trade opportunities, designing and implementing strategies to support the sector to move into new international markets (e.g. through events, grants programs and quasi-diplomatic activities).
I am not sure what the exact equivalent in California would be, but on googling, I find things that look sort of similar like the California State Trade Export Program (STEP) and California Centers for International Trade Development. Certainly there seem to be a few different gov areas/aspects to the STEP program, if you google it, that may be worth investigating. There may or may not also be Federal government areas that deal with this and are based in California - the Australian Federal equivalent to my state agency also has state-based offices.
posted by AnnaRat at 4:33 AM on October 10, 2014
Some of what I do, or people I work with do, includes analysis of trade and sector data to report on growth/value/etc, supporting international trade missions (inbound or outbound), working with individual organisations to help them secure major trade opportunities, designing and implementing strategies to support the sector to move into new international markets (e.g. through events, grants programs and quasi-diplomatic activities).
I am not sure what the exact equivalent in California would be, but on googling, I find things that look sort of similar like the California State Trade Export Program (STEP) and California Centers for International Trade Development. Certainly there seem to be a few different gov areas/aspects to the STEP program, if you google it, that may be worth investigating. There may or may not also be Federal government areas that deal with this and are based in California - the Australian Federal equivalent to my state agency also has state-based offices.
posted by AnnaRat at 4:33 AM on October 10, 2014
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posted by palionex at 3:56 PM on October 9, 2014