interviewing with a fashion brand in SF is it worth it?
The cost of living is super-high and the quality of life, in the city anyway, is terrible right now.
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I want to scream NO…It depends on the $$ and brand. I’ve struggled for 10+ years and I’m over it. BUT my experience is mine, and yours could be quite different. I’ve worked for Stitchfix, Levis, Old Navy, and a bunch of startups in a freelance technical design capacity (after 18+ years of international creative design experience) so approaching 5 years of ‘transitional’ technical design experience. Happy to chat if you want to connect.
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I am also wondering but cost of living is very high in San Fran. I am the sole provider for my family living in Florida. I just talked to Gap and I have over 19+ years of experience, their salary is not reflective of the high cost of living. Not worth it, thoughts?
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This was just posted on StyleDispatch…
San Francisco and the Silicon Valley are extremely expensive due to all the high tech companies. Avoid brands such as Azazie. All they do is copy competitors styles and then blame design when the styles don’t sell. Horrible place to work.
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I haven’t moved to SF in my career, but I have interviewed at quite a few places and always ended up turning the jobs down- I’ve found that salaries in SF are very low for the cost of living.
I think the best bet is finding a decent salary in a less populated city. Sometimes companies will pay a premium to attract good talent to a less hot place to live, like Florida or somewhere in the Midwest. Some other companies will play that “oh, it’s cheaper to live here so we’ll pay you half of what you would make on a coast,” but the good ones will offer you a competitive salary.
If it’s not an upgrade or at least the same quality of life for you, I would be up front and say this is what I need monetarily to make this work, and if you can’t meet that, then I’ll go elsewhere.
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What field are you in? Maybe we can recommend some companies to check out?
Hope this helps!
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I’ve interviewed with many companies there over the years and they all required obscene qualifications, director experience, and wanted to pay the salary of someone just above entry level. The last one was Allbirds. For the pressure they would put you through—it was literally three roles wrapped into one—it was so not worth it. The Central Coast was a bit better but still lower for than footwear companies in Portland, Boston or even the Midwest pay for the same job.
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