Working in NYC vs LI

I will be finishing school finaly and I have always worked on LI. Alot of people tell me to work in the city. Dont mean to get personal but are the salaries really better and approx whats the difference in pay scale?

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Pay in the city is higher but with the cost of commuting, and then the time it takes to commute i personally would rather stay on the island...

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Suazanne Do you work on the Island now?

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I live in Queens and work in the city and I have always loved it. The pay is really good in the city and I love having all my favorite stores right around the corner

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Depending on the field that your in, aside froom the pay being a little higher, there might be a lot more opportunities in the City vs. LI.

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Nina So I have been told about the opportunities.

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Wacky, yes i work on the island now.. i worked in the city last year..For me, i felt like i had to leave the house about 2 hours before i had to be at work, then it costed me about 160.00 a month just for LIRR, then there was the subway, and the days it rained, the cabs and there was more money, and then when i got out of work, it was another 1 1/2 or so before i got home...i dont really like to shop in the city and im not really a city person so maybe my opinion is biast (sp?) Now i work on the island and it literally takes me about 15 minutes to get to work, and i can even come home for lunch.. the pay is lower but for me soooo worth it..

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What are you doing in school, and what kind of job will you be looking for?

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i agree with chip...it depends on what kind of work you do, of course, but IMHO you cant beat working in the city...

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I will be graduating finally iwth my Bachelors in Healthcare Admin.

Currently I work for a Health and Welfare Fund, administering medical benefits to our members.

I need a career move.

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I just left the city in Nov. I worked there for 4 years commuting from Massapequa. I would leave the house at 7:00 am and not return till about 6:45, 7:00ish. When I left I figured out the pay difference equaled to about the same. I was paying $209.00 a month for my train and subway not including cab fare if there was a problem w/subway.

I am glad I am not in the city anymore but I am not sorry I did it for 4 years, although I was single working in a young office; happy hour is awesome in the city. So I think it all depends on your mindset. forum mail me if you have anyother questions. good luck w. your decision!

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I worked in the city (mid-town Manhattan) for 7 years before finally getting a job on LI. For me, it was one of the best moves I ever made. I was spending an hour and a half each way commuting, and I always felt my 3 hours a day could be spent in better ways than on a too cold (or too hot) train, in a smelly subway or better yet, stranded in the city because the LIRR wasn't running.

As for pay, 'yes' they say the city pays more. However, I was able to get a great position for more pay when I left to come to LI (I'm an engineer, so I guess we are wanted anywhere?). Plus I saved tons by not having to commute (I now live less than 5 miles from my office). As for gas and car, I was driving to the train station anyway, where parking was a premium (I used to take the train from RVC, then moved and was taking the train from Syosset).

So for me, it was a great move. I guess the 'thrill' of the city wore off for me as I got older and was settled with my hubby. What I do miss though is being able to go out at lunch time and get anything to eat in less than a 5 minute walk, and being able to shop on my lunch hour if I wanted to.

But I would never work in the city again unless I had to. I enjoy working os close to home. Those extra 3 hours I have now are so awesome. That's my two cents!!

Good Luck on your decision.

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Thanks for the honest answers.

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I worked in the city for almost 14 years...then 6 months before we got married I got laid off. I decided that was my kick in the a$$ to find a job on Long Island and probely change my career. My FI and I agreed (at that time) that we could live off of his salary and that I could take a lesser paying job. So I went to a trade school to learn Medical Billing. We got married and I started my job in Happauque in Nov '01. I HATED it from the 1st week but I am not a quiter so I gave it some time. I have never worked with such catty, unprofessional people in my whole life. and that was management, imagine how the workers were. It was hell! if it wasnt for making a few friends I would have not lasted another week there. It was so bad that the executives had thier own entrance and bathroom?!?!? WTF....what are they god???
It was the worst experience in my life. I knew that when I changed careers that I would have to take a pay cut but I did not expect to be treated like crap from people that couldnt find themselves out of the building each night without direction but thought they were better than everyone!!!

Well, needless to say when an opportunity to come back into the city came to me...I jumped at it! Of course my salary went up about 4 times! thats the plus, the downside is that I have to take a train and not get home until 7pm. In my opinion, for me, its totally worth it!! Even my husband says I am happier that I was before!


So my advice to you is to think long and hard about where you want to work. You can always try one place, and if you do not like it then go to another.

Good Luck no matter which path you choose!!

Lisa

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Wacky - just to give you some numbers, my firm pays a $5k city vs. LI differential. Honestly, it barely covers my LIRR and subway tickets. If Mayor Mike has his way and the commuter tax is reinstated, I'm going to be losing money. It's also a quality of life thing - in order to get down-town by 9ish, I have to take the 7am train from Babylon. It's not fun - you have to take your normal work day, and add about 3-4 hours to it for commuting. And look out when there's an LIRR delay.

JMO!@!

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I guess for me the commute isnt bad, I live in Queens so its a 30 min train ride to my office. When I was in Midtown it was about an hour commute on the train.

What I love most about being in the city is in Downtown. I have the south street seaport about 5 blocks from me and in the summer its so nice to be over there. When the WTC was here, they had wonderful free concerts in the summer and it was so nice to just sit in the plaza and enjoy an ice cream cone and listen to some great music. I do miss that.

As someone said before everything you could ever want food wise is less then a 5 minute walk. The city in the winter time is so beautiful. the stores have all there displays up, the lights, the music, the shopping. Oh its such a wonderful time of the year.

When I was in midtown i had bloomingdales about 5 blocks from me, a lot of great shopping stores and great restuarants.

Happy hour is great in the city. Once in a while to grab a drink with a few coworkers after a long day at work was always nice.

You bump into some cool celebs in the city every once in a while.

I am a city girl. I was born and raised in Queens and have been working in the city for 6 years. I wouldnt trade it for anything.

I did go to college in Long Island and I worked in the city and that commute some days killed me. That took me an hour each way and it was tough. Somedays it really bothered me but i never regret one moment of it.

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I worked on LI right out of college for 2 years, then in the city for 4 and now I'm back on LI. I had to take the job out here b/c I was unable to find one in the city in my field after 9/11. I finished up grad school 1 year ago, and this was the only offer I got after going on about 50 interviews. There was just such a large pool of applicants since so many companies were laying people off. (Sorry, I'm digressing.)

I preferred working in the city. I liked that I could run out at lunch and easily go shopping. Now I have to spend my entire lunch hour if I need to run out to the drug store for a few items. I also liked that I could commute with FH and that we could meet up for dinner very easily. Now it's a real pain in the neck. After sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour to get home, I don't want to do anything by lay on the couch, let alone head into the city for dinner.

The salary difference can be quite large, depending on the industry. I work in direct marketing, and got a 30% salary increase when I went to the city, and then had to take a very large salary decrease when I found my job on LI.

Best of luck with your decision.

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This is a good post. I have worked on LI for 8 years and live in Western Suffolk and my job is relocating to the city come March and I do not want to go...because of the commute (although it will probably be close to what I do now, minus horrible LIE traffic and wear and tear on my car) and the fact that I am not a city person (like it once in awhile)....I also hate getting home at 6:00 as it is now...it will be even longer. Plus my company isn't going to pay us much more to go ($3,000 for travel which will pay for only the travel and nothing else) and POSSIBLY an across the board raise. So to me this isn't worth it especially since I just got married, if I wanted to work in the city I would have when I was single and I didn't want to do it then.

So, I am on the hunt for a new job!!!!

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It so depends on your industry. I work in investment banking and you can take a wild guess with the number of ibanks on LI or in any non metro area. Yep, you guessed it! NONE! So moving out of NYC would be like a career killer for me.

But if you work in healthcare or education or a variety of other industries, there are pros/cons to both.

IMO, everyone should work in Manhattan for at least a short time in their life. Then you know for yourself if its for you.

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Thank you. I work in the medical insurance field. Opportunites are grewater Im sure in NYC, just not sure. Anyway I will continue my quest of sending out resumes.'

Thank you