Researching and looking for a new home is the fun part of moving - it opens up so many possibilities for your future life. Now it's time to deal with the not so exciting part: finding a job. It can be tough leaving your old job to start all over again at the bottom of the instant water heater installation totem pole, but it's got to be done. The sooner you start looking the better off you'll be, so you should start your job search well in advance of the actual move. This business and industry guide should help you figure out where your most likely prospects for a job in Memphis will be.

Memphis has a diverse economic base, so you have an equal chance of finding a job whether your last work experience was in making protein skimmers or quarterly stock reports. Memphis has the world's busiest cargo airport, a busy river shipping port, a rail transport yard, and its fingers in the pies of business, finance, film, manufacturing, scientific research, restaurant chains, non-profit groups, real estate and agribusiness, especially cotton and wood. Machinery, chemicals, food, clothes, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and other small items are produced in Memphis factories.

When you head out looking for a skilled labor job planing fin keels, Memphis' top producers are a good place to start. White collar workers should look there as well, since they usually have need for both types of workers. Federal Express, for example, needs over 30,000 people in management, logistics, and labor positions. Other likeliest: include top employers the county school board, the government, the health care providers, and Wal-Mart. You may also want to try the city's Fortune 500 and 1000 companies: Auto-Zone incorporated, International Paper, Thomas and Betts, and the Schering-Plough Corporation.

If you can't find an existing job, why not start a business? In recent years, Memphis has rated among the top 50 cities for doing so. Whether you live in Tennessee or Oregon, business cards are the same. Business people always need them, so opening a printing business that makes them is usually a solid idea. Some other good ideas might be a coffee shop, restaurant, day care, or retail franchise, which are things that usually do well. If you have more capital, manufacturing or transport are good sectors to get into in Memphis.

What are your chances of supporting yourself here? Well, decent. The per capita income for the city is around $21,000. Not stellar, but not beggarly either. Unemployment sits around 10.6%, slightly higher than Tennessee as a whole. Therefore, if you can manage to find a job filing or pouring drinks or making fire sleeves in a factory, you'll probably be able to keep yourself afloat.