Nashville job market vs. Knoxville (Franklin, Brentwood: sales, home, income)

[TXboomerang]

Me and my wife moved to Knoxville about 18 months ago. So far we have had difficulty with the job market. I was laid off of the job that we originally moved for after being there 6 months. My wife had a hard time finding a job and then landed one in December only to be laid off today. I am in sales, more specifically high end specialty retail sales with several years of management experience. My wife is a technical writer.

Can anyone comment on the strength of Nashville's job market vs. Knoxville? We are both looking for jobs, but have decided to consider leaving Knoxville for places of better opportunity. We would like to avoid moving back to the Dallas area as we really like TN a lot. Any comments are appreciated!

[ariesjow]

Knoxville is doing well for itself but I'd imagine you'd have considerably more job options here. The Nashville metro is more than double the size of Knoxville. There are more high end and specialty stores here than anywhere else in TN and more are opening up all the time. What type of retail sales are you interested in?

[TXboomerang]

My experience is with fitness equipment and some outdoor power equipment. The home equipment is the high end stuff that kind of picks up where the department and sporting goods stores leave off ($1000-$5000 pieces of equipment). I may have a shot at working for a guy I know here in Knoxville at his Brentwood location. I've also contacted another company in that area that has a Franklin store location.

I'm also interested in several other possibilities, its just that Knoxville seems to be relatively limited in opportunities. My wife has also found more opportunities in Nashville than Knoxville.

[k350]

Well, economic conditions throughout the country are slamming retail sales hard, so moving anywhere might not do you any good.

E. TN has a weak job market anyway, you might be better off relocating if you intend to stay in the field. E. TN is great for those with a fixed income or a lower than normal salary due to low cost of living as compared to many other parts of the country.

[TXboomerang]

Originally Posted by k350

Well, economic conditions throughout the country are slamming retail sales hard, so moving anywhere might not do you any good.

E. TN has a weak job market anyway, you might be better off relocating if you intend to stay in the field. E. TN is great for those with a fixed income or a lower than normal salary due to low cost of living as compared to many other parts of the country.

Yeah, I figure retail sales are tough across the board. But I think Knoxville and small towns like Knoxville are typically hit harder. One of the local companies here has been down 30% this year in fitness equipment retail in Knoxville, but only down about 5% at their Brentwood location. Plus, just the fact that my wife had dozens of opportunities in the Dallas area, and yet here she's lucky to find one job posting every two weeks in the tech writing field.