Alert! Warning! Don't Move to Hilo, Hawaii Expecting to Find a Job

Everybody around the country is crying, agonizing, and hurting over the same type of economic dilemmas. Many people have to jump ship by leaving a state they just don't want to leave because they are comfortable and love the area, but must go because there are just no jobs. People have to make quick, sometimes rash decisions just to be able to put food on the table or make ends meet. It is hard to know where to turn or where to move. I am here to tell you Hilo, Hawaii is not the place for you to relocate if you are expecting to find a job.

We all have to wonder is the company you are choosing to merge with is gonna go out of business soon or file for bankruptcy. Many have had to drop their pride and their high paying salaries and taking any job that is steady for the moment hoping the job lasts long enough, so that the electric, gas, water, grocery bill, car insurance etc. and other obligations are met. Blue collar, even white collar work men are skating by paying the household bills hoping the work truck can make it without tires, or breaks and that the family's main form of transportation weathers this ugly tumultuous storm. A small town like Hilo, Hawaii is going to have even more problems.

First of all before the economic crisis hit, Hilo did not have a whole lot of jobs. Now it is really bad. When my family first moved to Hilo in May of 2008 my husband had a job; he then lost it due to know more work in the area. He has applied to over 50 places on line and in person here in Hawaii. The expectations just for a mediocre type job is a little over the top in some cases. People, who have jobs, are not all so understanding that you don't have a job and desperately need one. If you are over qualified they look you up and down and wonder what you are doing applying for such a job below your standard pay level. You come into the work place and request an application, "sistah girl", on the telephone doesn't want to get off acting like you are spoiling her day because she has to put down her cell phone with a friend on the line and give your "no job having" behind an application. They have a "Now Hiring" sign, posted but aren't in any big rush to call you.

Personality Tests Keeping You from Job in Hilo

If you are not careful when filling out the personality test that is attached with the job application, the system will in some cases tell you there are no jobs available for you at this time. Then you have to wait months before you can apply again. Those personality tests are not the simplest thing. You may think you are trying to answer it the way the company wants you to answer it, but they do throw a few tricks in there. Of course if you have a bad temper, or you are a push over softy type individual you don't want to put that on the on-line test. If you are trying to be totally 100% honest, you may fail the personality test and get denied the job anyway. To even apply to be a school custodian you must have many years of experience. They always want a bachelor's degree for the simplest jobs. The ultimate desperate attempt for a skilled laborer is walking into a fast food joint, one of the few in Hilo and asking for an application and they say come back because they don't even have applications. Or the lady in an office is sitting right next to the desk holding applications and she doesn't want to get up and hand you one, she tells you to come back when her boss can give it to you.

Will Do Any Type of Work

Hard working men are driving around with signs on their trucks begging for work. The signs proclaiming no job is too good for them and listing their phone number. No response, because there are no jobs. People are picking up and moving back to the mainland quickly to feed families. Their furniture and vehicles must be sold below the value because it is not easy nor is it cheap to get those items shipped to the mainland. One thing I love about Hawaii is the loyalty to each other. Locals come first. That is all good but I am a mainlander, so is my husband, if a local person needs a job first, he's going to get it first and that leaves you out. It is what you know and who you know. If Uncle or Auntie needs a job and you are both up for the same position, who do you think is going to get it? I say this because Hawaiians refer to older ones as Uncle and Auntie and are very much geared towards helping family first, and don't always take so kindly to mainlanders coming here and taking their jobs. I fully understand. I just wish we were somebody's Uncle, Auntie, or favorite cousin, to get a job referral quicker.

Middle Class Couple Moved to Hilo Hawaii Expecting to Find Job

If you are a government worker like a police officer or nurse, sorry you cannot just get a job that easily in Hilo Hawaii either. I know this because my neighbor about 9 months ago was living In London with her husband. Both were working. They made pretty good money. She was a full-time nurse and he was a police officer. Her husband being a citizen of London counted on having a hard time getting a job, because of citizenship but they have children now grown and the wife's paycheck would more than cover their household expenses. They took a roll of the dice and moved Hilo in July of 2008. At the time the woman looked in the newspaper and saw plenty of nursing jobs and did not see the need to find one first. She figured she would get a job on arrival besides why should she worry? They had a fat savings account. They could live off of the savings and credit cards until a job popped up right? Wrong!

They packed up and came here. Through the summer they bought a car, went sightseeing every day. Oh how they loved to watch the volcanic flow and dip their toes in the black sand beaches, in their new place of residence, they simply enjoyed life and had a spot of tea every day, strolling through the island mesmerized, smelling the flowers, going shopping etc. not having any worries regarding finding a job. She was a nurse, how hard could it be to get a job.

When it came time to apply for job the husband could find no work and neither could the talented nurse. She soon found out that some places in Hilo would act with extreme enthusiasm to hire but in the end she just could not get a job because of severe cut backs. Guess what, the savings began to dwindle. She ended up filing for food stamps and was only able to get enough for herself; the husband did not qualify because he is no citizen. I guess they figured he could get loose fruit from the nearby fruit trees. Now she has to leave her husband alone here and finish out their lease, while she trucks on up to the cold mountains of Arizona for a nursing position and send money back home to the hubby.

Not the saddest story ever told, I mean really but the point is poor planning, and assumptions, in this time of economic crisis can leave you in a worse predicament than before.

If the wife and husband had done their research regarding Hilo, maybe read an informative article, gotten a much cheaper place for the two of them they could have made it here together and not be separated or maybe stayed in good ole' London and waited until after things got better. It was not wise to move, not having a job lined up, they almost found themselves homeless.

Moving to an Island is a big step, and takes careful planning. It is not so easy to pick up and go back to where you came from with the price of shipping furniture and vehicles plus the price of airline tickets. Make very careful decisions before making a move anywhere especially small towns and like Hilo Hawaii.