By Richard Eib, Jersey Hired
New Jersey has a branding problem.
Mention building a career in America and people immediately start talking about New York, Boston, Austin, San Francisco or increasingly places like Raleigh and Nashville. New Jersey rarely seems to make the list.
That’s strange when you actually look at what we have here.
New Jersey sits in the middle of one of the largest concentrations of economic activity in the United States. We have New York City on one side and Philadelphia on the other. We have one of America's most important ports, a major pharmaceutical and life sciences industry, a significant healthcare sector, logistics infrastructure that serves tens of millions of consumers, and thousands of businesses ranging from global corporations to family-owned companies.
And yet New Jersey is frequently treated as somewhere people commute from, rather than somewhere they build a career.
I think that perception is increasingly outdated.
New Jersey Is More Than a Bedroom Community
For decades, New Jersey's proximity to New York and Philadelphia has been one of its greatest economic advantages. It has also arguably overshadowed the state's own employment market.
Ask someone in North Jersey where they work and Manhattan has traditionally been a common answer. Ask the same question in parts of South Jersey and Philadelphia frequently enters the conversation.
There's nothing wrong with that. Access to two enormous employment markets is an extraordinary advantage for New Jersey residents.
But it can distract from the sheer scale of the economy sitting between them.
From pharmaceuticals along the Route 1 corridor to financial services in Jersey City, healthcare throughout the state, logistics around the Turnpike and ports, telecommunications, manufacturing, food production, construction and professional services, New Jersey has an extraordinarily diverse employment base.
You don't necessarily have to cross the Hudson or Delaware to build an excellent career.
Increasingly, there are compelling reasons not to.
The Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Corridor Remains a Huge Advantage
If there is one industry that demonstrates New Jersey's economic importance, it is life sciences.
The state's long association with pharmaceutical companies earned it the nickname "The Medicine Chest of the World," and while the industry has evolved dramatically, New Jersey remains an important center for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology businesses.
That creates employment far beyond scientists working in laboratories.
Large life sciences businesses require professionals across finance, human resources, legal, regulatory affairs, marketing, sales, supply chain, IT, data, facilities and operations.
There is also an ecosystem surrounding those companies.
Contract research organizations, staffing firms, consultants, technology providers, manufacturers and specialist suppliers all create additional employment.
For someone interested in building a career in life sciences, having that concentration of employers within one state creates something particularly valuable: career mobility.
You can potentially change employer without changing your entire life.
Jersey City Has Become a Serious Business Center in Its Own Right
Jersey City's skyline tells its own story.
Its proximity to Manhattan will always be part of its appeal, but describing Jersey City simply as an alternative location for New York businesses increasingly misses the point.
Financial services, technology, insurance and professional services companies have built significant operations there.
That creates an interesting proposition for professionals in North Jersey.
Working in Jersey City can provide access to major corporate careers while potentially eliminating one of the least enjoyable parts of working in Manhattan: getting into Manhattan.
For employers, meanwhile, New Jersey provides access to an enormous talent pool extending across the state, New York City and surrounding communities.
That's an employment market with considerable gravitational pull.
South Jersey Has Its Own Employment Story
One mistake we need to avoid when discussing the New Jersey economy is treating the state as if everything revolves around North Jersey.
It doesn't.
South Jersey benefits enormously from its relationship with Greater Philadelphia, but it also has significant employment centers of its own.
Camden's healthcare and education sectors have expanded considerably. Cherry Hill remains an important commercial center. Burlington, Gloucester and Camden counties have substantial healthcare, logistics, retail, manufacturing and professional employment.
Further south, Atlantic County has a very different economy built around hospitality, tourism, healthcare and professional services.
The opportunities are different from those in Bergen, Hudson or Morris counties, but that's precisely the point.
There isn't really one New Jersey employment market.
There are several.
Logistics Isn't Glamorous. It's Also Incredibly Important.
If you've ordered something online recently, there's a reasonable chance New Jersey played some part in getting it to you.
The state's geography makes it almost uniquely suited to logistics and distribution.
New Jersey has the Port of New York and New Jersey, Newark Liberty International Airport, major rail connections and interstate highways providing access to an enormous population within a relatively short distance.
That has fueled substantial demand for distribution centers, transportation businesses and supply-chain operations.
And logistics careers extend far beyond warehouse jobs.
The sector needs operations managers, transportation planners, engineers, mechanics, drivers, analysts, sales professionals, technology specialists, HR professionals and executives.
E-commerce has only increased the strategic importance of New Jersey's location.
You can't move the Turnpike to Tennessee.
Geography remains one of New Jersey's greatest competitive advantages.
Healthcare Is Everywhere
Another major strength of the New Jersey job market is healthcare.
Unlike industries concentrated in one particular city or business corridor, healthcare employment is distributed throughout the state.
Hospitals, health systems, physician groups, senior living providers, behavioral health organizations, pharmaceutical companies and other healthcare businesses collectively employ an enormous number of New Jersey residents.
And, again, healthcare doesn't just mean clinical roles.
Some of the largest employers in New Jersey require thousands of people working in administration, technology, finance, HR, marketing, facilities, procurement and operations.
For job seekers looking for an industry with opportunities throughout the state, healthcare deserves serious consideration.
There Is Another Advantage We Don't Talk About Enough
One of New Jersey's greatest career advantages is optionality.
Someone living in New Jersey can potentially access employers in New Jersey, New York City and Philadelphia without relocating.
That's unusual.
If one industry slows down, another may be hiring. If Manhattan no longer appeals, there may be opportunities closer to home. If your employer changes its office policy, you're operating within a region containing thousands of alternatives.
For households where two people have careers, this becomes even more valuable.
One person could work in Philadelphia while another works in New Jersey. One could commute into Manhattan while another works remotely for a company in Princeton.
New Jersey sits in the middle of all of it.
That flexibility shouldn't be underestimated.
Of Course, New Jersey Has Challenges
I'm not going to pretend everything is perfect.
It isn't.
New Jersey is expensive.
Housing affordability remains a challenge in many communities. Property taxes are famously high. Traffic can be brutal. Public transportation works extremely well for certain journeys and frustratingly poorly for others.
Employers also face challenges.
Competition for skilled workers is intense, particularly when businesses aren't simply competing against the company down the street but against employers in Manhattan, Philadelphia and increasingly remote employers anywhere in the country.
That means New Jersey businesses have to become better at selling the opportunity.
Posting a job description and waiting isn't enough anymore.
Candidates want to understand the salary, flexibility, benefits, culture, commute and career opportunity.
Employers that communicate those things effectively will have an advantage.
New Jersey Employers Need to Think Local
This is also why I believe strongly in local recruitment.
National job boards unquestionably have their place, but recruitment isn't simply about generating the largest possible number of applications.
It's about finding the right applicants.
For a New Jersey business, that often means finding someone who understands where you're located, can realistically commute there and actually wants to build their career here.
Someone searching specifically for opportunities in New Jersey is fundamentally different from someone who happens to see a New Jersey vacancy among hundreds of search results.
That's the philosophy behind Jersey Hired.
We're not trying to be everything to everybody.
We're trying to build the best possible connection between New Jersey employers and people who want to work in New Jersey.
Maybe It's Time We Stopped Looking Across the River
New Jersey will always benefit from being positioned between New York and Philadelphia.
But perhaps we've spent too much time defining ourselves by our proximity to somewhere else.
There are extraordinary companies headquartered here. There are global businesses with major New Jersey operations. There are hospitals, universities, manufacturers, technology companies, logistics businesses and thousands of small and midsized employers creating careers across the Garden State.
For job seekers, that means your next great opportunity may be much closer to home than you think.
And for employers, it means there's an enormous local talent pool waiting to discover you.
New Jersey doesn't need to become the next New York, Austin or Boston.
It already has something those places don't.
It's New Jersey.
And that might make it one of the most underrated places in America to build a career.