“Today a highly significant demographic realignment is at work: the mass relocation of highly skilled, highly educated, and highly paid people to a relatively small number of metropolitan regions, and a corresponding exodus of traditional lower and middle-class people from those same places.”
-Richard Florida
3 Choices for Your Post-Military Location
Where you live and begin working after the military may be the most important decision during your transition and in your life. You are so often caught up in finding the first job or position after the military that many of you give little consideration to geographical location. This can be costly and really short-sighted.
On the surface, the choice for geography seems straightforward. There are only 3 options when it comes to determining where you will live:
- Your hometown. For many of you, leaving the military is a chance to go back to your roots and return home. For those who choose this route your starting point is to find the right position or opportunity close to home. This is your primary driver and consideration.
- Your last duty station. A second option is to begin working at or near your last duty station. This becomes a natural choice for many because you have developed a strong affinity for this location. It’s the location where many military service members begin their transition so it’s often a key factor in the job search.
- Somewhere new. A final option is to choose a completely new location. For those who dare, beginning your new career in a completely new location may be the wisest choice of all. Here’s why.
It’s Not Just About What You Do, But Where You Live
Traditional career advice is position-centric instead of geographic-centric. Naturally, you want to focus on the most popular jobs. On the surface this makes absolute sense. Identify your job, get hired and follow the opportunity. But for real success in your military transition you may want to prioritize geography ahead of the position itself. Let me explain.
“Now more than ever, it’s really important to put serious thought into where you want to live. The place you choose to live is key to your economic future. Jobs no longer last forever. In fact, the average twenty-something switches jobs every year. Place can provide the vibrant, thick labor market that can get you that next job, and the one after that and be your hedge against layoffs during this economic downturn.”
-Richard Florida
Richard Florida, professor and author, has really crystallized the most important consideration for your military transition. “Florida is one of the world’s leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation.” That’s according to his professional bio. My take on his work is that he is one of the world’s foremost experts in determining future trends – where geography and work intersect.
Florida started out as an academic economist at Carnegie Mellon University focusing on urban economic development. He’s now become a true thought leader on economic growth, competitiveness, global trends and urban development. Here are some of the big ideas Florida has introduced to the business world:
- The Creative Economy – Work in our society is more and more knowledge based. There is a demographic shift away from industrial jobs towards creative work, which he calls the creative economy.
- The Creative Class – The people who excel at this creative work are the creative class. These aren’t just artist and musicians but engineers, service professionals, scientists, architects and educators.
- Creative People Cluster – Unlike the industrial age the new resource is people. And they are mobile clustering around other creative people.
- The Three T‘s of Dynamic Cities – Cities with dynamic economies have talent (Creative Class), technology (focused on innovation) and tolerance (open to many different kinds of people, ideas and lifestyles).
- Concentration of Economic Success in a Few (Mega) Regions. – Talent, innovation and economic growth are concentrated in a few dozen regions around the world. Florida mapped out population density, economic activity, commercial innovation and scientific discovery. He found an interesting trend – a few dozen places in the US and two or three dozen places (mega regions) worldwide that dominate the global economy.
“Far from being flat, the world is spiky. Talent, economic growth and innovation are becoming increasingly concentrated in a few dozen regions around the world.”
-Richard Florida
What Does This Mean for You?
This is far from an academic exercise. This growing trend of the world being ‘’spiky’’ has huge implications for your transition. Let me break down what this means for you:
- All work is temporary. First of all, it’s important to understand that work in the business world is temporary. This doesn’t mean you won’t find a company to work for for many years. You might. But the average twenty-something switches jobs every year.
- Early career moves may be the most important. One recent article quoted the following report – “Earnings tend to grow much more [quickly] early in one’s career than later,” says Princeton University economist Henry Farber. One prominent study shows that, adjusting for inflation, about two-thirds of all lifetime income growth occurs in the first 10 years of a career, when people can switch jobs easily, bidding up their earnings.”
- Find a location that is dense with opportunities. All this job turnover and worker mobility means it’s critically important to find the right location. You’ve probably always known this intuitively but now your choice is more important than ever. We are not just experiencing a cyclical recession but a ‘Great Recession’ that will alter the economic landscape – creating winning and losing cities. Therefore, your location of choice must be a growing economic region.
- Consider these top Creative Cities during your search. Florida has a website called “Who’s Your City” which has a best cities US and Canada section. You’ll find a segmented list – best cities for young professionals (20-29), best cities for mid-career professionals (30-44), best cities for families with children, etc. Check out this list as you do your research.
Resources
Here is a list of resources for you to check out for more information:
- Books: Who’s Your City?
- Free Ebook: A Creative Manifesto: Why The Place You Chose to Live Is the Most Important Decision in Your Life
- Website: Who’s Your City
- Website: Find Your Best City by Kiplinger
- Website: Sperlings’ Best Places
I don’t want to underestimate the personal circumstances and individual preferences that go into choosing your post-military place to live and work. There’s no absolute right place. And I know there are “different strokes for different folks.” However, I can’t emphasize enough how important a factor geography is. Be aware of the changing economic and demographic dynamics. And choose wisely. Your initial career success may depend on it.
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