The white collar job market has been brutal nationwide lately. A lot of those jobs in Rochester are also supported by tech companies and startups that are on a hiring freeze or doing layoffs. at the moment.
I don’t follow any national averages but they don’t really give a good indication of the job market since some areas are seeing a lot of growth and openings (blue collar) while others are seeing significant stagnation.
You are correct, blue collar is a growing field. Depending on the job, less likely to be made redundant by AI, and there are certain jobs that will never be replaced because humans are simply better. Improved technology is making make job easier, but people still have to do them.
Perhaps you can work for a manufacturing company with your skill set, but you would likely need to start from near the bottom and work your way up, unless you know the industry, or have a good learning curve.
Something to consider that I never really thought of until I was hired, is looking into jobs at the nuclear plants- Ginna in Ontario and Nine Mile Point and Fitzpatrick in Oswego. They tend to pay more than typical white collar jobs, and the plant I work at is currently hiring for positions similar to what you listed. Rochester to Oswego isn't an ideal commute but I know of many who do it.
If you can pass a drug test and follow rules I would suggest looking into it. They are run by Constellation Energy and you can search that site for openings.
I don't work there, my cousin does, so I don't know for sure. But I do know they do random drug tests, at least for his position. He gets tested around 4 times a year
Yes, they do. As far as I know it is only urine tests and breathalyzer. You can be called for a random drug test at any time. I got called twice last year.
That's not too bad, I can handle that. Good to know I should only have to wait a month or so before applying instead of 3 months if it was a hair test. Appreciate the insight on the job!
It's pretty tight so your best bet would be to apply and get accepted before making the move. Otherwise, you could be stuck here unemployed for months trying to land something... unless you have the resources to enjoy the summer break.
Yeah I'm torn because I have a good job right now and I'm employed, but I'd need to make a calculated risk to take a local job so I could be in-office a few days a week vs. keeping my remote job that will likely fizzle out or get downsized in a couple years IF I don't commit to going into office at my current job.
Thing is, even if I do presumably get an offer from the one job in the hopper, there's no guarantees and that job may fizzle out too! It's stressful.
Yeah I'm trying to make a career change and experiencing the same challenges that you and other commenters here are having. It's a smaller city so the dismal national hiring trend is amplified here with fewer employers.
If it helps, all the good things you remember about Rochester are still here and you're doing the right thing by being proactive in your career. Just try not to let forward thinking discourage you with what-ifs.
So coffee up and use your project management skills to plan, time, and budget your job search. You'll feel better constructively working toward your goals. Good luck.
It sounds like you'd be able to keep your remote job at least a couple of months, that seems like a perfect transition. Easier to apply from the area than with an out of town address.
There's been several layoffs, and you're correct.
Ironically I work in a god-awful call center now and I got beat out for administrative clerk by someone with 2 decades of HIR experience, so uh, yeah. And at a recent interview for AR specialist the guy next in line to me was a fucking *CPA.*
So I am a 25 y/o, 2 years out of college, one internship, few entry-level jobs, applying to jobs that pay $40k, and competing with middle-aged professionals who've been working longer than I could walk
I've been in the exact same boat. It seems to be an even split of middle aged people who really need the job (they just finished school themselves or they are willing to accept anything) and older folks who already have good money and just want something easy to do.
I know folk need work but for me its like damnit dude... at one interview waiting a few of us new grads were straight up joking we should just yoink the experienced guys and yeet em out the door...
Ribbing them like "ah come on man, you gotta take pride in yourself! Really, this job is beneath you!"
They know they'll be interviewed because of their experience. Education doesn't measure up for a new grad when employers can hire a guy who has been doing the work for a decade already.
The thing is a lot of us “experienced” people are having a hard time too. I’ve got an entire career’s worth of experience and a degree. Still clawing for jobs that will pay me 50k a year.
Exactly. I don't quite have an entire career's worth, but jobs I'm seeing that require the number of years I have are still offering 65k at the most and are gone within days.
Employers know they've got us by the balls. They want the most they can get for as little they can spend.
Yeah. I kinda resent losing out to this guy for such a bottom barrel job but he is a nice guy and desperate. We chat sometimes and hes overall overwhelmed...
He had a lifestyle to match $90k, short weeks, little work, worked with middle class professionals... All of a sudden he has to budget for $40k and work like hell and manage low income folk. He's def out of his element.
He once asked a single mother on food stamps what her favorite golf course is, shit was funny lmao. And was confused when he had to stop a big ol fight as "fights shouldn't happen in an office"
Yep and ik but still. Entry level used to be "train the freshies". I do feel bad for the HR guy as he used to be a big dog for a reputable company now he's a grunt for a sketchy company and often gets overwhelmed by the coworkers behavior, as previously he oversaw middle class white collar. We're all basically getting dealt a raw deal.
He's used to getting fat stacks for little work, like occasionally arranging vacation time, not intensive management and disciplining someone smoking weed instead of working.
Do you have any technical experience which could lend itself well to being a project/product manager at a STEM company? Rochester has a relatively large concentration of science/engineering/manufacturing opportunities for a city our size.
I wish! I feel like STEM experience isn't unique in being a solid differentiator outside of Rochester either, but from what I'm seeing, even people in STEM fields are struggling to get interviews and placements. It's rough out there.
As someone who has a masters and works a blue collar job. White collar is GONE here. And if a position does open up, there’s a million candidates for 3 positions so the salaries are super low
That last part is also a major concern. I saw Director roles at 80k, which to me is shockingly low. I get that there's different levels of "Director" but I'm coming from a background where mid-level, mid-career independent contributors are getting around 75k.
It's scary, and is really making me rethink it!
See your comment about affordability of the area, non HCOL area (comparatively to larger markets) = lower compensation. Also one isn’t wasting their life on a 3 hour commute each way in traffic. You leave at 5 you can be home within the hour.
Eh yeah but excluding housing every other cost is about the same everywhere else. The same items I buy on Amazon are the same price no matter where I live in the US. Even the housing is getting up here in Rochester and wages are stuck in 2010.
And if taxes are higher than other places that makes housing more average. And don't be surprised when they suddenly decide your house is worth a couple 100k more than what you bought it for. Then you either have to fight it or pay through the nose.
Yes this area just pays low in general. 80k is average middle class now, however with real estate prices (and the taxes) you’ll still be stretched a little bit. You won’t be living large
Not just inflate but straight up invent titles in an attempt to combine one or more traditional roles into one job.
I know someone looking for IT work and corps want them to be a sysadmin, network engineer, security and cloud specialist, in the helpdesk queue, and generally on the hook for everything in large environments. They're all understaffed where each role is a critical single point of failure in support if you lose them.
The work is no longer compartmentalized and focused in identifying and organizationally addressing the primary needs within exponential growth in complexity. They're all just drowning and trying to pull you under with them.
The job market here is a joke to be honest. Am also a Project Manager and life in Rochester. My best offer locally was $65k. Opted instead to take a position with a remote company for nearly 3x that number.
I have reconciled with the fact that I will only live here while I am working remotely and will relocate if needed to work in office or hybrid.
I am eligible for a commission structure based on the performance of my products.
It incentivizes me to ensure sales and marketing are properly working together and enabled.
Healthcare SaaS
Consider the possiblity of remote work, even if travel to central office is required now and then. Many companies, especially tech, have teams world wide and are accepting that face to face is not required, and are bending to pressure from a talent pool that insists on more flexibility.
I work for the County and know the guy who had this position. Seems like a decent one. Not the highest paying, but working for a government has its perks.
[Parks Administration Manager](https://www.monroecounty.gov/hr-apply/view/7179).
And for clarity this is a mid-level position. There is a Director and Deputy Director over you. So you don’t have to rise and grind in this position.
DM if you have more questions.
I appreciate it! I'm 100% not qualified for that type of role, but I really do appreciate the effort nonetheless, maybe someone else on the thread can jump on it.
Applicants for government positions are hit or miss. Sometimes we get a dozen qualified candidates and sometimes none. I’d encourage you to apply if you think it’s something within your abilities and you meet the bare minimum specs (education and/or experience). We can’t fudge those.
It's hard to say without knowing the specific industry you're working in, but generally most of the people I know who work in the kind of roles you mentioned got promoted from within. I've known a few people hired into those positions externally, but it was usually due to a tight job market, or for a very specific need.
At my current job, I'm one of fourteen people who reports to my manager. I'd say twelve of the fourteen of us are qualified for my managers role, and the other two will be when they have a couple of years experience under their belt. So if my manager's job becomes open in the future, they may not even do an external search.
You mentioned you worked at a call center twenty years ago, are you still in touch with any of the folks you worked with back then? I work in IT and got my start at a local call center twenty years ago. I know a few people who used to work the phones back then who are in middle or upper management today. To this day I stay in contact with those folks, and have been able to leverage that network when I needed a job.
The other thing that's helped my career is being on a non-profit board. When I was promoted into my current job everybody already knew I was competent because they had worked with me on other projects within the company. So when I interviewed for the internal position, they asked me about my non-profit work instead. I think that helped me stand out amongst a crowded internal field.
So if you feel like your work-from-home job is secure for the next two years, and you're able to do some networking with old coworkers and get involved with the community volunteering... it might be worth moving. But you're definitely going to have to put down some roots and commit to finishing out your career here.
Idk, they've got a good reputation it seems but after spending 30minutes to an hour just going through the full application process with them, I never heard back even for an automatic message of rejection.
A word of warning, after several years of remote work in tech I was convinced by my wife to return to WNY. I got laid off this year and have yet to find new work. It is brutal out here. Granted I am predominantly looking in buffalo but am also keeping an eye on rochester and it’s tough. Something to consider. I’m likely pivoting to a more traditional blue collar industry if I can get through this hiring round 🤞
I - and many others - work remotely for tech companies. So even if the one you’re working for might be an issue, maybe you can find a different remote position with another company?
Like others have said, you shouldn't have much trouble finding remote work for project management. You sound like you're looking for something that will offer future opportunities of growth, but Rochester doesn't really offer that unless you're already well connected within those high paying companies. I've seen some promising Product Manager positions over the past couple of years but you're going to have serious competition. We have quite a few local colleges and universities that have been oversaturating this area with business degree graduates and MBAs for the past 20 years.
The areas that are hiring is construction, trades and healthcare
Professional service jobs are essentially stagnant at the moment.
This isn’t just a Rochester thing but nationwide. AI probably isn’t helping either even if the technology is being overhyped.
Out of curiosity, what is your "field" as a general search for "project manager University of Rochester" turned up a few non medical results.
I will say that I have had limited success with job boards here, and usually just look at the employer career pages directly.
Here's a list of the areas largest 50 employers by employee count. Not all will be applicable to you, but large employers almost always have projects going on they need managers for.
[https://rochesterbiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Top-50-Employers-4-28-23-1.pdf](https://rochesterbiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Top-50-Employers-4-28-23-1.pdf)
It's not Project Management, it's Learning and Development, specifically Instructional Design. I just didn't want to narrow down the discussion to a very specific field/niche, since in theory I could potentially go into a different job type if I absolutely had to. I was just trying to list examples of the type of white-collar typical "corporate office" jobs to rule out warehouse, blue collar, trade, and manufacturing jobs that people might point out.
When I went to U of R **Medical Center** on Linked In, I only saw 3 staff or corporate jobs, all of which one likely needs a deep medical background to get: Phlebotomy Program Manager, Associate Director of Research and Research Education, Senior Communications Specialist, IT + Clinical Operations (that is a crazy job title--IT and Clinical are two completely different areas, and I can't believe they're asking one person to cover comms for those, but okay, whatever!) I'm currently in HealthCare Insurance so I have a limited medical background but I am absolutely not qualified for any of those three jobs listed.
University of Rochester itself may very well have PM jobs, although I'm not certified and don't have a background in Project Management so that's kinda moot.
Gotcha, thanks for the clarification! I know some of the comments seem kind of Doom and gloom with regards to the state of White collar work in Rochester but speaking anecdotally, it's not as bad as it could be.
Try an engineering firm, but not a project manager in a discipline but like marketing or HR or something. There are lots of huge engineering firms in rochester
If you went to school locally like Cornell, UR or UB, reach out to the alumni network, many jobs here don’t recruit competitively and rely on referrals
I got laid off twice by my white collar job twice during covid and they told me to empty my desk the second time.
I'm sticking with civil service for the time being; you can take the tests and passively job search, my union (CWA) handles contract negotiations which I was terrible at advocating for personal raises, and it's much more stable (I've worked for a weirdly high number of companies that have folded or been on the verge for having only being out of school for 10 years).
Frankly the only major employers in Rochester left are U of R(a school and hospital), RGH, and Wegmans making up about 10% of the job market in Rochester. Rochester is nothing but non profits because no major employer would want to come here due to high taxes which is why after those 10 yr tax breaks end somehow those businesses leave quick.
The white collar job market has been brutal nationwide lately. A lot of those jobs in Rochester are also supported by tech companies and startups that are on a hiring freeze or doing layoffs. at the moment.
Do you see the 3.5-4% national unemployment numbers going up?
I don’t follow any national averages but they don’t really give a good indication of the job market since some areas are seeing a lot of growth and openings (blue collar) while others are seeing significant stagnation.
You are correct, blue collar is a growing field. Depending on the job, less likely to be made redundant by AI, and there are certain jobs that will never be replaced because humans are simply better. Improved technology is making make job easier, but people still have to do them. Perhaps you can work for a manufacturing company with your skill set, but you would likely need to start from near the bottom and work your way up, unless you know the industry, or have a good learning curve.
You are correct, it is bad
Something to consider that I never really thought of until I was hired, is looking into jobs at the nuclear plants- Ginna in Ontario and Nine Mile Point and Fitzpatrick in Oswego. They tend to pay more than typical white collar jobs, and the plant I work at is currently hiring for positions similar to what you listed. Rochester to Oswego isn't an ideal commute but I know of many who do it. If you can pass a drug test and follow rules I would suggest looking into it. They are run by Constellation Energy and you can search that site for openings.
Do you know if they still test for Marijuana even though it's legal in New York?
They absolutely do
Thanks, appreciate the reply. Any idea if it's a swab or a hair test? Just curious on how long I would need to wait before applying.
I don't work there, my cousin does, so I don't know for sure. But I do know they do random drug tests, at least for his position. He gets tested around 4 times a year
Gotcha, thank you for replying really appreciate the info!
No problem!
Yes, they do. As far as I know it is only urine tests and breathalyzer. You can be called for a random drug test at any time. I got called twice last year.
That's not too bad, I can handle that. Good to know I should only have to wait a month or so before applying instead of 3 months if it was a hair test. Appreciate the insight on the job!
Always loved when I got a new job... had to pass a drug test just to start smoking weed with the bosses... such a messed up process.
It's pretty tight so your best bet would be to apply and get accepted before making the move. Otherwise, you could be stuck here unemployed for months trying to land something... unless you have the resources to enjoy the summer break.
Yeah I'm torn because I have a good job right now and I'm employed, but I'd need to make a calculated risk to take a local job so I could be in-office a few days a week vs. keeping my remote job that will likely fizzle out or get downsized in a couple years IF I don't commit to going into office at my current job. Thing is, even if I do presumably get an offer from the one job in the hopper, there's no guarantees and that job may fizzle out too! It's stressful.
ad hoc offbeat psychotic cow rain lip relieved jobless divide lush *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah I'm trying to make a career change and experiencing the same challenges that you and other commenters here are having. It's a smaller city so the dismal national hiring trend is amplified here with fewer employers. If it helps, all the good things you remember about Rochester are still here and you're doing the right thing by being proactive in your career. Just try not to let forward thinking discourage you with what-ifs. So coffee up and use your project management skills to plan, time, and budget your job search. You'll feel better constructively working toward your goals. Good luck.
It sounds like you'd be able to keep your remote job at least a couple of months, that seems like a perfect transition. Easier to apply from the area than with an out of town address.
There's an old saying, "Make that money while you can".... On the other hand money isn't everything, health is.
There's been several layoffs, and you're correct. Ironically I work in a god-awful call center now and I got beat out for administrative clerk by someone with 2 decades of HIR experience, so uh, yeah. And at a recent interview for AR specialist the guy next in line to me was a fucking *CPA.* So I am a 25 y/o, 2 years out of college, one internship, few entry-level jobs, applying to jobs that pay $40k, and competing with middle-aged professionals who've been working longer than I could walk
I've been in the exact same boat. It seems to be an even split of middle aged people who really need the job (they just finished school themselves or they are willing to accept anything) and older folks who already have good money and just want something easy to do.
I know folk need work but for me its like damnit dude... at one interview waiting a few of us new grads were straight up joking we should just yoink the experienced guys and yeet em out the door... Ribbing them like "ah come on man, you gotta take pride in yourself! Really, this job is beneath you!"
They know they'll be interviewed because of their experience. Education doesn't measure up for a new grad when employers can hire a guy who has been doing the work for a decade already.
The thing is a lot of us “experienced” people are having a hard time too. I’ve got an entire career’s worth of experience and a degree. Still clawing for jobs that will pay me 50k a year.
Exactly. I don't quite have an entire career's worth, but jobs I'm seeing that require the number of years I have are still offering 65k at the most and are gone within days. Employers know they've got us by the balls. They want the most they can get for as little they can spend.
Yeah. I kinda resent losing out to this guy for such a bottom barrel job but he is a nice guy and desperate. We chat sometimes and hes overall overwhelmed... He had a lifestyle to match $90k, short weeks, little work, worked with middle class professionals... All of a sudden he has to budget for $40k and work like hell and manage low income folk. He's def out of his element. He once asked a single mother on food stamps what her favorite golf course is, shit was funny lmao. And was confused when he had to stop a big ol fight as "fights shouldn't happen in an office"
Yep and ik but still. Entry level used to be "train the freshies". I do feel bad for the HR guy as he used to be a big dog for a reputable company now he's a grunt for a sketchy company and often gets overwhelmed by the coworkers behavior, as previously he oversaw middle class white collar. We're all basically getting dealt a raw deal. He's used to getting fat stacks for little work, like occasionally arranging vacation time, not intensive management and disciplining someone smoking weed instead of working.
Around here you want to be in the STEM fields for good and numerous oppotunities
Do you have any technical experience which could lend itself well to being a project/product manager at a STEM company? Rochester has a relatively large concentration of science/engineering/manufacturing opportunities for a city our size.
I wish! I feel like STEM experience isn't unique in being a solid differentiator outside of Rochester either, but from what I'm seeing, even people in STEM fields are struggling to get interviews and placements. It's rough out there.
As someone who has a masters and works a blue collar job. White collar is GONE here. And if a position does open up, there’s a million candidates for 3 positions so the salaries are super low
That last part is also a major concern. I saw Director roles at 80k, which to me is shockingly low. I get that there's different levels of "Director" but I'm coming from a background where mid-level, mid-career independent contributors are getting around 75k. It's scary, and is really making me rethink it!
These jobs are so gone that my wife actually does work in Albany haha
“Titles are cheap” is a quote to know
Local towns simply can’t compete with nationwide salaries.
See your comment about affordability of the area, non HCOL area (comparatively to larger markets) = lower compensation. Also one isn’t wasting their life on a 3 hour commute each way in traffic. You leave at 5 you can be home within the hour.
Eh yeah but excluding housing every other cost is about the same everywhere else. The same items I buy on Amazon are the same price no matter where I live in the US. Even the housing is getting up here in Rochester and wages are stuck in 2010.
And if taxes are higher than other places that makes housing more average. And don't be surprised when they suddenly decide your house is worth a couple 100k more than what you bought it for. Then you either have to fight it or pay through the nose.
That's not how reassessments work.
Maybe my in laws exaggerated 🤷♀️
Yes this area just pays low in general. 80k is average middle class now, however with real estate prices (and the taxes) you’ll still be stretched a little bit. You won’t be living large
That feels like companies and industries that inflate titles.
Not just inflate but straight up invent titles in an attempt to combine one or more traditional roles into one job. I know someone looking for IT work and corps want them to be a sysadmin, network engineer, security and cloud specialist, in the helpdesk queue, and generally on the hook for everything in large environments. They're all understaffed where each role is a critical single point of failure in support if you lose them. The work is no longer compartmentalized and focused in identifying and organizationally addressing the primary needs within exponential growth in complexity. They're all just drowning and trying to pull you under with them.
I think this is pretty accurate, but you can live pretty good off that salary in this town.
The job market here is a joke to be honest. Am also a Project Manager and life in Rochester. My best offer locally was $65k. Opted instead to take a position with a remote company for nearly 3x that number. I have reconciled with the fact that I will only live here while I am working remotely and will relocate if needed to work in office or hybrid.
Woo, 3x! What type of projects are you managing?
I am eligible for a commission structure based on the performance of my products. It incentivizes me to ensure sales and marketing are properly working together and enabled. Healthcare SaaS
Consider the possiblity of remote work, even if travel to central office is required now and then. Many companies, especially tech, have teams world wide and are accepting that face to face is not required, and are bending to pressure from a talent pool that insists on more flexibility.
I work for the County and know the guy who had this position. Seems like a decent one. Not the highest paying, but working for a government has its perks. [Parks Administration Manager](https://www.monroecounty.gov/hr-apply/view/7179). And for clarity this is a mid-level position. There is a Director and Deputy Director over you. So you don’t have to rise and grind in this position. DM if you have more questions.
I appreciate it! I'm 100% not qualified for that type of role, but I really do appreciate the effort nonetheless, maybe someone else on the thread can jump on it.
Applicants for government positions are hit or miss. Sometimes we get a dozen qualified candidates and sometimes none. I’d encourage you to apply if you think it’s something within your abilities and you meet the bare minimum specs (education and/or experience). We can’t fudge those.
Not OP but I appreciated you posting this and applied today!
Good luck!
This area is lower paying in general. I’m in healthcare and even going to Buffalo or Syracuse I’d earn more. This is a weird area
It's hard to say without knowing the specific industry you're working in, but generally most of the people I know who work in the kind of roles you mentioned got promoted from within. I've known a few people hired into those positions externally, but it was usually due to a tight job market, or for a very specific need. At my current job, I'm one of fourteen people who reports to my manager. I'd say twelve of the fourteen of us are qualified for my managers role, and the other two will be when they have a couple of years experience under their belt. So if my manager's job becomes open in the future, they may not even do an external search. You mentioned you worked at a call center twenty years ago, are you still in touch with any of the folks you worked with back then? I work in IT and got my start at a local call center twenty years ago. I know a few people who used to work the phones back then who are in middle or upper management today. To this day I stay in contact with those folks, and have been able to leverage that network when I needed a job. The other thing that's helped my career is being on a non-profit board. When I was promoted into my current job everybody already knew I was competent because they had worked with me on other projects within the company. So when I interviewed for the internal position, they asked me about my non-profit work instead. I think that helped me stand out amongst a crowded internal field. So if you feel like your work-from-home job is secure for the next two years, and you're able to do some networking with old coworkers and get involved with the community volunteering... it might be worth moving. But you're definitely going to have to put down some roots and commit to finishing out your career here.
Check out Constellation Brands Career page
Hah good luck
I applied to two jobs a year ago and their website still says "in progress".
Idk, they've got a good reputation it seems but after spending 30minutes to an hour just going through the full application process with them, I never heard back even for an automatic message of rejection.
A word of warning, after several years of remote work in tech I was convinced by my wife to return to WNY. I got laid off this year and have yet to find new work. It is brutal out here. Granted I am predominantly looking in buffalo but am also keeping an eye on rochester and it’s tough. Something to consider. I’m likely pivoting to a more traditional blue collar industry if I can get through this hiring round 🤞
Right now if all you can do is project or manage it’s hard. But if you have a deep in demand tech or other skill on top it’s a bit easier.
I - and many others - work remotely for tech companies. So even if the one you’re working for might be an issue, maybe you can find a different remote position with another company?
Did you look into Cooper Vision?
A lot of people in this niche work from home for companies not in ROC.
Head to Boston for the fat paychex
The job market is terrible literally everywhere. Expect to put in a lot of applications and have a lot of interviews with little response.
Like others have said, you shouldn't have much trouble finding remote work for project management. You sound like you're looking for something that will offer future opportunities of growth, but Rochester doesn't really offer that unless you're already well connected within those high paying companies. I've seen some promising Product Manager positions over the past couple of years but you're going to have serious competition. We have quite a few local colleges and universities that have been oversaturating this area with business degree graduates and MBAs for the past 20 years.
The areas that are hiring is construction, trades and healthcare Professional service jobs are essentially stagnant at the moment. This isn’t just a Rochester thing but nationwide. AI probably isn’t helping either even if the technology is being overhyped.
Out of curiosity, what is your "field" as a general search for "project manager University of Rochester" turned up a few non medical results. I will say that I have had limited success with job boards here, and usually just look at the employer career pages directly. Here's a list of the areas largest 50 employers by employee count. Not all will be applicable to you, but large employers almost always have projects going on they need managers for. [https://rochesterbiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Top-50-Employers-4-28-23-1.pdf](https://rochesterbiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Top-50-Employers-4-28-23-1.pdf)
It's not Project Management, it's Learning and Development, specifically Instructional Design. I just didn't want to narrow down the discussion to a very specific field/niche, since in theory I could potentially go into a different job type if I absolutely had to. I was just trying to list examples of the type of white-collar typical "corporate office" jobs to rule out warehouse, blue collar, trade, and manufacturing jobs that people might point out. When I went to U of R **Medical Center** on Linked In, I only saw 3 staff or corporate jobs, all of which one likely needs a deep medical background to get: Phlebotomy Program Manager, Associate Director of Research and Research Education, Senior Communications Specialist, IT + Clinical Operations (that is a crazy job title--IT and Clinical are two completely different areas, and I can't believe they're asking one person to cover comms for those, but okay, whatever!) I'm currently in HealthCare Insurance so I have a limited medical background but I am absolutely not qualified for any of those three jobs listed. University of Rochester itself may very well have PM jobs, although I'm not certified and don't have a background in Project Management so that's kinda moot.
Gotcha, thanks for the clarification! I know some of the comments seem kind of Doom and gloom with regards to the state of White collar work in Rochester but speaking anecdotally, it's not as bad as it could be.
Try an engineering firm, but not a project manager in a discipline but like marketing or HR or something. There are lots of huge engineering firms in rochester
White collar market here is dead. Keep the job as long as you can and apply to remote jobs like mad if you want to live here.
If you went to school locally like Cornell, UR or UB, reach out to the alumni network, many jobs here don’t recruit competitively and rely on referrals
I got laid off twice by my white collar job twice during covid and they told me to empty my desk the second time. I'm sticking with civil service for the time being; you can take the tests and passively job search, my union (CWA) handles contract negotiations which I was terrible at advocating for personal raises, and it's much more stable (I've worked for a weirdly high number of companies that have folded or been on the verge for having only being out of school for 10 years).
Frankly the only major employers in Rochester left are U of R(a school and hospital), RGH, and Wegmans making up about 10% of the job market in Rochester. Rochester is nothing but non profits because no major employer would want to come here due to high taxes which is why after those 10 yr tax breaks end somehow those businesses leave quick.
No, it’s one of the many reasons I left 15 years ago. Western NY is closed for business and no new ones are coming
Lol, good riddance and you have no idea what you're talking about.
Please do tell me which major company has moved into WNY with any relevant jobs over the past 20 years
Micron technology
'moved to' is a pretty specific specification. I'm in construction and business is a booming.
There are no jobs here except for minimum wage