HONOLULU (KHON2) — A new study ranked the best and worst cities to start your career in, and Hawaii did not come out on top.
WalletHub, a free credit score website, ranked cities based on different metrics like availability on entry level jobs, monthly average salary, annual job growth, workforce diversity, share of workers in poverty and more.
The study reports new graduates are entering the market at a good time with the unemployment rate for people 20 through 34 at 6.9%.
They also report the job market recovering from the damage by the pandemic and employers planning to hire 31.6% more graduates from the class of 2022 than they did for the class of 2021.
The top three cities to start your career according to the study are Salt Lake City, Utah, Orlando, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia.
Honolulu and Pearl City both tied for having the lowest monthly average starting salaries. Pearl City also came in third to last for having the fewest entry level jobs.
WalletHub compared 182 cities across two key dimensions, “Professional Opportunities” and “Quality of Life.” Their sample only considered popular cities in each case and excludes cities in the surrounding metro area.
Rochelle Parks-Yancy is a management professor at Texas Southern University who said staying focus is the best thing to do for new hires.
“This includes staying abreast of what is becoming more professionally prevalent in your field and not limiting yourself to just one industry,” said Parks-Yancy. “Instead, focus on creating talents, skills, and abilities that are in demand across numerous industries.”
She said the days of expecting to grow one’s career with one company are long gone. Instead, people should stay professionally nimble.
“Stay ready to get a new job at any time,” said Parks-Yancy. “Employers downsize when they deem it to be a good business decision. Thus, people should stay open to new opportunities.”
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To read the full report by WalletHub ranking the best and worst cities to start a career in, head to their website.
