Job Choosing Essays - Washington Metropolitan Area, Baltimore

Job Choosing Choosing a particular job is a hard decision. Many things have to be considered about the possible place of employment to make the job search as beneficial as possible. The salary, benefits, commute time, and location are among the important to review. To further explore this question, the location will be considered more in depth. The location of the job opportunity also includes all of the demographic information that is needed to make a decision. This geographic and statistical information plays a major role in selection of a certain job in a certain area. The main demographic areas that are mainly considered are: Median income Home value Population Cost of Living Crime These main statistics are the core to which the job selection relative to choice of residency is to be considered. An article by Donald Houston in "Urban Studies" suggests that, "jobs are closely related to the surrounding neighborhoods"(Houston). This further explains the importance of selecting the right area based on other aspects than just the job itself. For technical careers, such as the computer and information technology jobs, the possibilities for employment are endless. According to an article in U.S. News and World Report, "technical fields are booming and the career opportunities are limitless"(Saltzman). The article goes on to explain that"tech jobs are expected to grow by 1.4 million from 1992 and 2005, and job openings will double in the decade ahead"(Saltzman). Because of these prophecies made, the options that a person can explore searching for an information technology job are endless. Because of the abundance of these jobs, the seeker can look more closely at the geographic and demographic benefits of the surrounding areas. Within the Baltimore and surrounding areas, many places of interest are available that have job opportunities. The job locations that will be considered include Owings Mills, Bel Air, Laurel, Gaithersburg, Columbia, and Annapolis. Also, in a broader level, some aspects of the counties in which these selected cities are located will explored. They all have similar, yet different locations relative to the Baltimore area, which is the general area to be explored. In addition, each employment opportunity holds true to be relatively equal to one another by further exploration including the type of job and the salary. This will put more emphasis on the geographic and demographic features of the selected cities and not on the employment opportunity itself. As mentioned earlier, the main points of interest to e considered within the selected cities are income, home value, population, cost of living, and the crime. This will prove to be all of the necessary information needed to select an area that is most suitable and is the best possible personal choice in regards to the demographic information provided in relation to the job itself. More importantly, this information will be accessed using Arcview's esridata and the Homeview webpage. In addition to the basic demographic data provided, many others will be added additionally. Crime rate, cost of living, and the ration of blacks to whites will be explored and included with the original data collected. Upon research of the relevant cities that the possible employment openings exist, the following results were allocated: Owings Mills (Balt. County)-- City pop- 33,833 Median income- $41,764 Home value- $160,000 County pop- 722,700 Crime index- 133 (U.S. average = 100) Cost living index- 102 (U.S. average = 100) 15 miles from Baltimore city; 35 miles from D.C. Laurel (Prince Georges County)-- City pop- 21,851 Median income- $44,651 Home value- $126,000 Crime index- 109 Cost living index- 96.8 20 miles from Baltimore city and D.C. Bel Air (Harford County)-- City pop- 10,049 Median income- $42,994 Home value- $149,800 Crime index- 14 Cost living index- 99.9 23 miles from Baltimore city Gaithersburg (Montgomery County) City pop- 11,000 Median income- $55,730 Home value- $180,000 Crime index- 237 Cost living index- 110 24 miles from D.C. Annapolis (Anne Arundel County)? City pop- 33,200 Median income- $36,833 Home value- $189,000 Crime index- 154 Cost living index- 112 30 miles from Baltimore city and D.C. Columbia (Howard County)? City pop- 84,986 Median income- $56,179 Home value- $185,000 Crime index- 100 Cost living index- 110 21 miles from Baltimore city; 24 miles from D.C. The research and data presented above poses valuable points of interest that deals with the analysis and search for the optimal area to