My husband Tim and I had a brief discussion today with a local government employee, whose son will graduate from college next month.
We inquired about what his son had majored in, where he wanted to live, what kind of job he hoped to go after.
Of course that led us to share some thoughts about ‘the work ethic’ and how employees in different age groups seem to value different things.
Which led me to share something I’d read recently on some great community development and rural development blogs, like ReimagineRural.com
Specifically, I mentioned that people in their mid-20s to mid-30s (often referred to as ‘Millennials’) seem to choose where they want to live first and THEN look for a job in that location.
And that trend has consequences for rural communities, because they need to viewed as attractive and desirable places for 25-35 year olds to live and work BEFORE they choose to move there.
And our local government employee had an interesting response.
He said, “Well, that’s West Coast job hunting. You decide where you want to live first, then find a job.
East Coast job hunting is when you send out hundreds of resumes and go where the job is rather than where you really may want to be.”
Since I was raised in Connecticut and chose to live in Appalachia, I realize I’m not the best one to ask.
What do you think?
What comes first? The Chicken or the Egg?
How do people decide a rural community is best for them?
What are the differences when ‘East’ meets ‘West’ and can rural America rise to the challenge?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting theory! Since my community is a place where east (farmers on the east side of the county wear seed corn hats) meets west (ranchers on the western part of the county wear cowboy hats), I’m left wondering if Midwesterners are a hybrid of the two: half of our young people move away to places for jobs, and the other half moves away to places where they want to live.
That sarcasm aside, I suspect that young people only choose communities over jobs when they see the community as a place of opportunities. Nobody is going to move to a community unless they believe there is opportunity for them – either now or in the future.
But “place matters”! It’s hard to argue with research (from 2006) that shows 2/3 of college grads age 25-34 decide where they want to live before looking for a job. Again, I suspect it applies mostly to “places of opportunity”, which often translates into urban paces. But every community needs to think about how to develop community features that are attractive to young people.
And that leads me back to my opening paragraph. Unless we want most of our young people to move away (which is the norm in my part of the world), we have to create places where young people want to live. That means employment opportunities (including entrepreneurship) as well as community features that young people crave. In other words, it’s not JUST about a job anymore.
It is an interesting perspective, isn’t it? West coast corporate cultures were the first to be more casual about what employees can wear to work, or when & where they work. So I can see where personal choice and values would move higher up their list in making life and job decisions.
Place certainly does matter! Beautiful rural scenery may help tourists ‘get away from it all’ for a short time, but it’s not enough to keep them year round. My area benefits from tourists, summer home owners and retirees who are attracted by the beauty of the Blue Ridge region. But they don’t want or need to make a day to day living from it.
Like yours, my region doesn’t keep many of those who are born and raised here, nor do we attract many college grads to move here later on. That situation really needs to change. But it won’t change until WE change. And so it goes.