Starting Job Search - Oil City, PA Area

Stiltz79

I'm looking to relocate and find a new job. I'm interested in the Oil City, PA area. Is anyone from around that area? Zip Code 16301. I'd like to make some contacts in that area and get an idea on companies to apply to. Any help is greatly appreciated.

*Edit: It does not have to be in the 16301 Zip Code. It could be around there. I am just looking for something within 45 minutes of Oil City.

ajs1976

Why Oil City, PA? I don't think there are a lot of opportunities there. You will probably need to come closer to Pittsburgh.

Stiltz79

My girlfriend is originally from Oil City and we would like to be closer to her family. They have a family business and she wants to get involved in that. So, I would like to find work in that area. I actually like it over there too. You can get a decent sized house with a lot of land for cheap. I love to hunt so this works out for me. I know it's a smaller area and not a booming area. I thought opening a small consulting business in that area and see what I can do with it. I would like to have some money coming in though. Any ideas?

ajs1976

My former employer interviewed a guy who was living and working in Oil City. He was looking at working in Pittsburgh because of more and better opportunities. Check to see how far Oil City is from Cranberry Township / Mars and Monroeville. Both are outside of Pittsburgh, but have IT jobs. Make sure it is Cranberry Township in Butler County, PA. I think there is a town called Cranberry somewhere else in the state.

Where do you live now? What kind of experience do you have?

Stiltz79

Right now I live in the Cleveland, Ohio area. I have experience on the Desktop Support side mostly. Very strong customer serivce skills and problem solving skills. I've done hardware and software support. Thin Client Environment design and implementation, EDI Processing on AS400/JDE, some AD experience, some server experience. I'm really trying to transition to the Server Side of things. I've been on the Help Desk / Desktop Support Side now for 5 years. I can send a resume if needed.

That area is about 90 minutes from Oil City. Butler is about an hour.

Stiltz79

I've been looking at some positions in the area.

How do I determine Cost of Living differences? I want to be able to accept a salary comparable to mine for that area. Is there a website that can do this? I've never relocated before and was wondering what I should be looking for, how do I time selling my current house and buying a house there? What else do I need to plan for?