Should I stay or should I go?
January 16, 2015 6:09 AM   Subscribe

Should I move to a bigger city to find a job even if I don't line one up and even if I have no savings?

I am a law student in my last semester of school. I currently live in Pittsburgh, and I am hoping to practice immigration law. Here in Pittsburgh, the market is fairly small, and many people do not speak a second language. I speak Spanish and Portuguese, which are both useful for the market that I wish to help. Unfortunately, there are only about four immigration law firms here. On the other hand, however, as I mentioned, there are not many attorneys with my language skills that wish to do public interest immigration. I've spent the last 8 years building my network. I have many people that are willing to vouch for me and help me. In short, market is small here, but I am one of few people with an interest and abilities for a field in which I am highly interested. I am also a bartender/manager at a restaurant that I've worked at for the past 8 years, so it's a great safety net.

In Philadelphia, the market is much larger, but I would be in a sea of people just like me. You know the story. Bigger market, more competition. I don't really have to go into much more than that.

I am poor. I am in debt. I am jobless. WHERE SHOULD I GO?! If I move somewhere new with no safety net and no savings, am I going to die? How do people do this? Just looking for suggestions based on people's experiences moving without a job lined up.
posted by kbennett289 to Work & Money (7 answers total)
 
Yes move, but start applying for jobs, not just Philly, but New York, California and Texas. With Portuguese you should concentrate on Miami/South Florida. Lots of immigrants from Brazil there. You can line up a job before you move, some may even pay all or part of relocation.

Check out Linked in, type Attorney Portuguese in the search bar and see what pops up. You'll be surprised. You may start with document review or something like that. You may not get into your dream job straight off, but you can have the regular legal stuff as your day job and do Pro Bono Immigration work on the side.

The important thing is to start working as an attorney straight off. You can secure the document review work first, then take the Bar wherever you end up.

Good Luck!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:32 AM on January 16, 2015 [4 favorites]


Is there any reason you can't live in Pittsburgh while applying for jobs in other cities? I'm not in the law field, so I genuinely don't know the answer to that question: in the law field, are you at a distinct disadvantage if you are not currently living in the city in which you are applying for jobs? You should talk to people and find out.

I moved a couple years ago from Pittsburgh to NYC with job offer in hand and moving expenses reimbursed and it was still a huge drain on my finances. I can't imagine doing it with no income and debt. It costs money to move: security deposit for new place, vehicle for moving stuff or just the gas to get there even if you have a car. Plus bigger cities are just more expensive to live in: Mass transit/parking, food, etc. are more expensive. What if you have to move back because you don't find a job? Then you'll have to do it all over again.

Plus I imagine you will need at least some job in the meantime to sustain you, and in a brand new city you'll have to start all over again to find that (in Pittsburgh you've got your restaurant job), and that's time you could spend looking for a law-related job.

Unless you have a friend's couch in a city you can crash on pretty cheaply, I would give the remote application strategy a try first.
posted by unannihilated at 10:15 AM on January 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


If you have no savings, then you should absolutely not move. When people move without a job, they always have savings.
posted by signondiego at 11:40 AM on January 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


Make sure to consider how fast your new city may or may not be growing. Sure, an area with a fast-growing population will create a lot of jobs, but there will be that much more competition. (Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer.)
posted by scratch at 11:47 AM on January 16, 2015


Best answer: I wouldn't move right when you graduate, if you have no savings and no job. But if Philadelphia is where you want to end up, you can start working now to get a job or savings for an eventual (say, within a year?) move to Philadelphia.

Definitely apply for legal jobs there just to get yourself established, even if you don't land your dream job. If/when you get one, move there. In the meantime, keep working your restaurant job and save as much as you can so that you'll eventually be able to move without a job.

Also, even with no savings and no job, you can start networking with immigration folks in Philly. Do you know anyone who has an industry contact in Philadelphia? Ask them to introduce you and set up an informational interview. Do some research and figure out who the big players are in your field in Philadelphia and how to get connected to them.
posted by aka burlap at 12:18 PM on January 16, 2015


Another thought is state, local and federal government Attorney jobs. The Federal job in Texas might have some Immigration stuff associated with it, and Texas is a good place to practice Immigration Law.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 3:22 PM on January 16, 2015


Start hunting for legal jobs that require someone fluent in Portuguese, even if they aren't immigration jobs. If someone needs a Portuguese/Spanish speaker, even better, but there are lots of positions for Spanish-speaking lawyers out there (and, conversely, plenty of Spanish-speaking lawyers).

Also realize that in many parts of the country, if you're a new lawyer who wants to practice immigration law, many attorneys will look at you like you professed an interest in international human rights law or baby panda law. Unless you're in a big city with a sizable immigrant population, there just aren't that many attorneys doing it when compared to, say, criminal law or insurance defense work. And when you say you want to do immigration law I expect you mean it in a way that most law students mean when they say they want to do environmental law -- they don't want to do environmental law for the oil companies, even though it's the oil companies who hire most of the environmental lawyers. Neither the spotted owls nor the Wild and Scenic Rivers pay very well. Likewise, I expect you don't want to do deportation hearings on behalf of the government, especially since you mention "public interest immigration." There just aren't many people funding public interest immigration attorneys, which makes it a very small, very competitive market.

If you are poor, in debt, and jobless, this isn't the time to gun for your dream job. Gun for a job working as an attorney at a place that will pay you money to work as an attorney. Preferably in a place you want to live for a while. And if at all possible, get the job before you move. Call in allllllll the favors from your network. Friends. Classmates. Cousins. Whoever. Now is the time.

Good luck.
posted by craven_morhead at 3:41 PM on January 16, 2015


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