Job prospects in smaller cities vs very large ones

How do you best market yourself ?

When I was at my last job interview, here in the DFW Metroplex,
looking for work. I had the pleasure of checking with other wholesale
as well as retail jewelers at the Trade Center in Dallas .

The interview went OK, but there was some others interviewing who
had more experience. So …

The seventh floor which has jewelers was 1/3 empty, 1/3 filled with
toy and novelty shops, and the last 1/3 were jewelers still in
business. This is no exaggeration . A year ago it had twice as many
stores open.

I liked the look on the faces of the jewelers as they asked me " Yes,
How can I help You ? , and I replied - Yes, Please Hire me I am an
unemployed Jeweler and Gemologist !!!

Service Merchandise went out of business here 3 years ago, and the
town ( Dallas, Fort Worth ) is still flooded with an excess of
jewelers. There are a number of larger job shops which have closed as
well.

Being too proud to Whine, and too cheap to Bitch ( I would have to
pay someone to listen ), I have made my mind up to return to a smaller
town of 80,000 population where I have a paid for home.

I have no debts, everything is paid for, but I can not afford to
continue living in a place where I can find no work. I am going to
give myself another 6 weeks to find work. If I can not find work I am
returning home.

I am wondering how to market myself. In this smaller town, are a
number of jewelry stores with one store an AGS certified.

AGS will accept my certifications to go to their schools. I can
become a Certified Jeweler and Gemstone Appraiser if I am employed by
an AGS firm.

I intend to take Anna Millers Master Valuer correspondence class to
help start the process. My main objective is a sustainable job . I
need to go to work .

Do smaller towns offer fewer jobs, but more jobs per person,
population wise ?

I need some input on this soon . No work is getting me down.

ROBB
Do not mistake CIVILITY for SERVILITY

Rob - hate to tell you this, but 80,000 isn’t a small town !
My small town has 8,000 - yes, that is the correct number of zeros!
And that is only if you include the “suburbs”! So what could a
genuinely small town offer you? Well, we have no certified jewelers,
but we do have 3 jewelry stores, all doing just fine, thank you.
Plus Wal-Mart, plus several other department and discount stores and
gift stores that offer jewelry (I am doing a show at the local Merle
Norman today, and again the Saturday before Mother’s Day, which for
them is bigger than Christmas!).

So…small towns have folks who want to buy “nice” jewelry at
affordable prices. They also have repairs they need made, charms
that need to be attached to bracelets, watches fixed, etc.

Our only certified jewelry retired over 10 years ago. Was he making
what a top jeweler would make in DFW? No way. Were his expenses the
same? No way! You can buy a 5,000 sq ft house for under $250,000,
easy. On several acres of land! Can’t do that in DFW for sure!

Be creative. The other thing small towns love is evening and
weekend classes - lots of retirees and other folks who love learning
new things.

Best wishes.

Beth in rural SC