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There are quite a few white collar jobs, especially for CPA's, doctors, nurses, social work, engineers, etc. It all depends on your skills.
I'm sorry, but thats not true. Its a great state for blue collar jobs and almost anything in the medical field. It lacks job for business professionals and engineers. Also a lot of jobs in these fields are found by word of mouth, so unless you are connected, it will be hard to land a good one. Im not saying you cant find a job, but if you do you will likely be under employed.
There are quite a few white collar jobs, especially for CPA's, doctors, nurses, social work, engineers, etc. It all depends on your skills.
Yes, the entire area of Eastern Montana, Western North Dakota, South Dakota and Eastern Wyoming needs many professional people. If you have some business/finance/communications (non-IT)/english degree, finding a job above $30k will be tough. However, I would say that working at a grocery store or warehouse can pay better than that if you stay long enough. The grunt labor (Schlumberger, etc.) hires a lot of the un-skilled locals but you need to be in the area long enough and stay through a winter. Most of the Texans, Oklahomans and Louisianians won't work in 0 degree much less -40 degree winter.
As someone who does work in the area, I don't want anyone who is coming from Houston or Dallas if they haven't been through a winter already. This area is RURAL. The next gas station can be 60 miles away from where you are and the nearest big grocery store can be over 100 miles away. Most people can't hack it more than a year.
I'm sorry, but thats not true. Its a great state for blue collar jobs and almost anything in the medical field. It lacks job for business professionals and engineers. Also a lot of jobs in these fields are found by word of mouth, so unless you are connected, it will be hard to land a good one. Im not saying you cant find a job, but if you do you will likely be under employed.
I do agree more with MagicCity on this one. Now, I moved to the area already with a job at hand due to a promotion....and I moved here at the age of 33 so that will influence my opinion some. But my wife is a LSCW at the local hospital and through her work we know lots of RN's, LPN's and CRNA's. We had a friend who at the age of 28 went back and got the education to become a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) and got out and he was hired by the local hospital he trained at and was able to start at 120K. Granted this is a more specialty nursing field and required quite a bit of schooling. We have a friend who is an environmental engineer at EERC in Grand Forks and not to mention the large number of people who work at the local university as teachers or staff there. We of course know several neighbors who make a good living being master electricians, mechanics and farmers (sugar beets can may well).
I am not disclaiming at all the fact that in many fields the pay is lower in ND and nw MN than elsewhere and cost of living is not that much lower to compensate it. But in the bigger cities of ND...there are certainly plenty of white collar jobs. My wife didnt know a person in town and was hired at the local hospital.
I do agree more with MagicCity on this one. Now, I moved to the area already with a job at hand due to a promotion....and I moved here at the age of 33 so that will influence my opinion some. But my wife is a LSCW at the local hospital and through her work we know lots of RN's, LPN's and CRNA's. We had a friend who at the age of 28 went back and got the education to become a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) and got out and he was hired by the local hospital he trained at and was able to start at 120K. Granted this is a more specialty nursing field and required quite a bit of schooling. We have a friend who is an environmental engineer at EERC in Grand Forks and not to mention the large number of people who work at the local university as teachers or staff there. We of course know several neighbors who make a good living being master electricians, mechanics and farmers (sugar beets can may well).
I am not disclaiming at all the fact that in many fields the pay is lower in ND and nw MN than elsewhere and cost of living is not that much lower to compensate it. But in the bigger cities of ND...there are certainly plenty of white collar jobs. My wife didnt know a person in town and was hired at the local hospital.
Your wife is in the medical field, so I'm not surprised she found a job right away. People with degrees in finance, engineering, marketing etc. don't have it as easy in the ND.
Your wife is in the medical field, so I'm not surprised she found a job right away. People with degrees in finance, engineering, marketing etc. don't have it as easy in the ND.
If you don't have a well-paying position waiting for you, stay away. The only way to get better than $30k/year (without working construction) is through connections. This is just about the most passive-aggressive place in the country (world?), which means you are doomed if you don't have the right last name or know the right people.
Definitely right. I could get paid twice as much working in the city I moved from doing the same thing I'm doing here. This place is terrible for jobs, unless you want to drive trucks or work on the rigs, which obviously, not for everyone. And forget about trying to get licensed for ANYTHING here: teacher, massage therapist, therapist. I'm finishing up my master's degree and they are a pain in the butt to get licensed, I'm pretty much going to have to go to my state of residence, take the test there and transfer. I also talk to my friend's who moved here from other states and have tried to licensed as teachers and massage therapist and they said it is a pain and they never want to do anything this ridiculous again. My friend was making 6 figures and had 12 years experience with human resources working for the government and a place in town offered to pay her $12/hr. Not even salary. This is ridiculous, I thought ND was having a boom and they can afford to pay people but this is not the case. I have two jobs just to make what I'm used to making somewhere else. I have searched and put out my resume for the 8 months I have been here. I found a full time job I enjoy but still at 10/hr, it's just ridiculous and has nothing to do with my degree. But good luck, if you know people here or know someone that knows someone, you can probably do a lot better.
Okay, so it seems high-paying "professional" jobs are a bit hard to come by in ND. But how about just your run-of-the-mill jobs? North Dakota has been one of the places on my move-to list for a long time. I've more-or-less decided to go for it. If I hate it, I can always go to one of the other places on my list. But, I think I will really like it.
Here's my situation: I have been teaching math for around 18 years for a college (now a university). But it has been contracted by semester for almost all of those years (adjunct). In moving to ND, I don't really expect to find a job in my field (BS in math/computing emphasis, BS in English, and significant grad work in structural engineering). If I do, fine. But I don't really care. By the time I actually move to ND, I plan to be debt free. I am alone. I want to build (mostly my own labor) and live in a very small home that costs very little to heat/maintain/tax/etc. So I figure I don't really need a huge income: food, heat, taxes, car care, and other basics. AND, I don't really care what kind of work I do. I'm not as young as I used to be, so I can't do the sort of backbreaking stuff I could have at twenty, but other than that, it doesn't matter. I don't bore easily, so I'm game for whatever as long as I'm physically able to do it. Before returning to school I did many things for work.
The question is, after reading further comments on this thread, will I find ANY work? Ten or twelve bucks an hour should be sufficient, based on the lifestyle I will lead. The larger towns in the area I'm planning on going to are Park River and Grafton. Grand Forks is probably within commuting distance, although it would be a long way and gas would eat that small wage up fast.
As I said, I'm easy--the way I look at it is that I'm selling my time and doing my best to provide my employer with what he she expects of me, regardless of what it is (assuming I'm capable). I believe in doing a good job (I have a good work ethic) and I don't care what the job is because I've never really felt "defined" by my employment. Heck, I'll wash dishes, I don't care as long as I'm getting paid... well, okay, washing dishes isn't going to get 12 dollars an hour, but you get the idea.
Do I have a chance of finding a job in northeastern ND, or am I dreaming?
Okay, so it seems high-paying "professional" jobs are a bit hard to come by in ND. But how about just your run-of-the-mill jobs? North Dakota has been one of the places on my move-to list for a long time. I've more-or-less decided to go for it. If I hate it, I can always go to one of the other places on my list. But, I think I will really like it.
Here's my situation: I have been teaching math for around 18 years for a college (now a university). But it has been contracted by semester for almost all of those years (adjunct). In moving to ND, I don't really expect to find a job in my field (BS in math/computing emphasis, BS in English, and significant grad work in structural engineering). If I do, fine. But I don't really care. By the time I actually move to ND, I plan to be debt free. I am alone. I want to build (mostly my own labor) and live in a very small home that costs very little to heat/maintain/tax/etc. So I figure I don't really need a huge income: food, heat, taxes, car care, and other basics. AND, I don't really care what kind of work I do. I'm not as young as I used to be, so I can't do the sort of backbreaking stuff I could have at twenty, but other than that, it doesn't matter. I don't bore easily, so I'm game for whatever as long as I'm physically able to do it. Before returning to school I did many things for work.
The question is, after reading further comments on this thread, will I find ANY work? Ten or twelve bucks an hour should be sufficient, based on the lifestyle I will lead. The larger towns in the area I'm planning on going to are Park River and Grafton. Grand Forks is probably within commuting distance, although it would be a long way and gas would eat that small wage up fast.
As I said, I'm easy--the way I look at it is that I'm selling my time and doing my best to provide my employer with what he she expects of me, regardless of what it is (assuming I'm capable). I believe in doing a good job (I have a good work ethic) and I don't care what the job is because I've never really felt "defined" by my employment. Heck, I'll wash dishes, I don't care as long as I'm getting paid... well, okay, washing dishes isn't going to get 12 dollars an hour, but you get the idea.
Do I have a chance of finding a job in northeastern ND, or am I dreaming?
Hi Chris
I would check with job service of North Dakota for job listings.... Marvin Windows is in Grafton. I certainly think there are opportunities for hard working people in the area to get jobs. There is a Grafton and Grand Forks office. It is quite suprising to hear of the problem in finding good jobs in the state for those qualified. But again I never had to look....so I dont know enough to comment.
I do work run of the mill jobs and they do not pay the same thing you would expect to paid for in other places. It took a long time for me to find a run of the mill job that paid $10/hr but you have more than one degree and experience so I'm sure if you wanted to find a job, it won't be hard. For the rest of us, though, who have college degrees, are completing master's degrees, or have only a few years experience in our fields, we are dying with these low paying jobs that definitely don't do anything to help us with our college loans be debt free. Then again, when I went to college and racked up my loans, I was basing my future salary on where I lived. North Dakota wasn't even a state in my mind at the time. Unfortunately, my husband decided to join the air force and they moved us here. But if you are looking for run of the mill jobs that pay about $9/hr, there are plenty but be foreceful because even with my experience I didn't get called back for about 3/4 of the jobs I applied for. As for heating, your bill will be expensive in the winter, which lasts pretty much more than half the year here. We kept our heat running all the time because when it gets to -60 degrees for more than a month straight, you will want to be warm! Other than that, you should be fine, I think.
DaninEGF you are lucky you've never had to look for a job. And yes, many other people have mentioned to me how ridiculous it is to get licensed here. I am literally going to have to move back home for a month or more, take my therapist licensure test there, do my supervised hours, then come back here with my husband and reciprocate my license. It's either that or go to a school out of town, find a job there, and take two classes on a college campus for a whole semester because they don't offer my master's at Minot. Sigh. This state is ridiculous.
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Truth serum
