FL170, One thing you should remember is that you will be competing for jobs with others "up north" so sometimes others will try to steer you away in order to decrease their competition. I experienced this when i started looking for work in 2000. People said "don't come up here you'll never get a job". Guess what? I got a job. Why? Because I was willing to live and work in the stinkiest sh!thole with the worst possible conditions you could imagine. The others stayed in the "nicer" areas. Pack your bags drive your car up shake some hands met some people and then do it all over again and again and again....eventually you'll get a job.