Find a decent job in Des Moines area? (Ames, Urbandale: sales, lease)

[maverick_72]

We moved here to Ankeny, Iowa(North of Des Moines) 2 months ago from Florida seeking better opportunities. We flew to Des Moines to investigate the area and we loved it. My girlfriend landed a job in healthcare. So we jumped at the chance to move up here. Again, we enjoy it up here. Nice town, friendly people.

However, I am a laid off teacher and I still cannot find work. I applied as a substitute and got hired on at some districts but there is no sub. jobs at this time. School just started and it is too early for teachers to be calling in absent.

Anyway, I have applied all over the Des Moines area and even went to careerbuilder, monster.com and indeed.com to post a resume for construction, sales, substitute teacher----anything.
I must have sent out 200 resumes. All I get are "100% commission" insurance sales companies who are interested in me. Yes, I know Des Moines is the insurance capital and I would take those insurance sales jobs, but I have to spend $250 to get a license, drive my own car, pay for my own gas---I will be more broke before I even start. Again, I would do insurance sales but I can't live off 100% commission right now. I need a secure hourly (or salary).

Does anyone have ideas on where to find work in Des Moines? I am thinking of driving a cab.( Please don't say be a Walmart greeter or work at McDonalds.) I am college educated and have skills that would make a foreman or boss happy.
Sales, teaching, transportation, and construction is what I have done my whole life. At 45 years old, its hard to do construction when I see 18 yr olds getting those labor jobs. But I would still do it if I have too. $8 dollars is very low hourly. I need to make $13 - $15 to survive. I applied at John Deere too.
I have people skills, manual labor skills, sales skills, organized, clean-cut, hard worker, team player and will work until the job is completed.

Thanks all.

[tollfree]

Part of the reason may be that you don't show up in the "Iowa Courts System". I'll explain better.

Because you're from out-of-state, you don't show up in the Online Court system the way someone else would who has lived in Iowa for a long time, or all their life. Meaning, prospective employers may have to pay extra to run a background check on you, opposed to just looking you up in the state courts online system (which saves them time & money). Or they'd have to go through the extra work to look you up in Florida's court system, which could vary by county, municipality, city (Illinois is like that). They may have to call the courthouse where you used to live in Florida, or use a third-party. It's more work for them. Unless you're actively recruited or transferred here, it may actually be more difficult to find a baseline per-hour job (besides fast food). Keep in mind, in Iowa, almost everyone speaks English and has probably done at least a year of community college. It's not like Florida where you have a large population of non-English speakers, or those who never finished high school. You simply have more employable people here for the $13-15 jobs you're looking for.

Iowa may have the comprehensive state background search in the country - if not the world. For free, anyone can see even the most miniscule offenses like "loud stereo", "failure to provide insurance", or "public intox" dating back to your college days in the 90's. And it never comes off, even if you win the case. You can also see if someone got divorced, who filed for divorce, who their lawyers were, how much each party had to pay out, what the lawyers cost, how much alimony is, etc. If you break a lease, that can show up as well. Don't pay a credit card on time...that may show up too. It's part of the culture of Iowa, and something that isn't really talked about often (Iowans have a very hard time being even slightly critical of anything in Iowa - if you haven't noticed that yet). There is definitely a strong "know-all-about-your-neighbors" mentality.

So, in a way, to these employers, it's like you don't exist. And for the jobs you're applying, being lower-paying, they probably think you have some sort of a record even if you don't, but it takes them more time and costs them more to look you up. Why is a 45 year college-educated man applying for such work? There surely must be a reason for that. That's probably what they're thinking, and the reason you're only getting "pay-to-start" job offers.

[ElleTea]

Check out the book What Color is Your Parachute. Believe it or not, sending out resumes and posting resumes online is really not the best way to find a job.

I don't buy the "we only hire locals" mentality. People relocate all the time for all kinds of reasons. If companies only hired locals, no one would move. Most jobs do background checks anymore, and there is a cost involved to run one regardless of where you lived before. At my company we send them to a company in Maryland to run. What state the applicant lives in is a non-issue.

Also, I do know that many teachers are out of work, so an employer wouldn't likely question WHY you are looking for a job. IF they did, that would be an easy question to ask in an interview. Years ago people stayed in one job for decades. Not really so anymore. I think the statistic is something like the average person chages jobs every 3 years or something. Employers don't hold that against you anymore.

Also, as for where you should get a job, it depends on how desparate you are for money. If I really needed a job I would go to McDonald's or Walmart (they don't have greeters anymore though ) if I had to. I am also college educated but I don't consider most jobs beneath me and if I really needed to, I would work wherever I could while I continued to look for a more ideal job. When I was unemployed 5 years ago, I also considered insurance sales and went so far as to study and test for the license. I didn't pass the test and decided to not invest any more money in that! But it was an interesting experience.

[duster1979]

First off, if you can make it subbing, have a little patience. What is this, day 7 of school up there? As you say, nobody is calling in yet; in another week or two you could be getting called 4-5 times a week. Make sure you've applied at all the schools in the area; Southeast Polk, Des Moines, Johnston, Urbandale, Bondurant-Farrar, North Polk, and Ballard are all within reasonable commuting distance of Ankeny. Even Ames and Colo-Nesco wouldn't be bad occasionally.

Secondly, if you're interested in finding a construction job, go to Menards (on Delaware across from WalMart). If you walk in the entrance door and take a right you'll find the building materials counter in the front corner of the store (you'll have to make a jog around the restrooms to get to it). One section of the counter has a glass top with dozens of business cards of local contractors underneath, take a pen and paper and write down contact information for the ones who do the type of work you have experience with. If anyone asks just tell them you're looking for somebody to do some work. I mention Menards because I'm familiar with them, but all the local lumberyards will have similar setups and can be a great resource.

Last piece of advice for now, while you're at Menards you might want to consider applying there. They pay better than other retailers, and those in management actually make pretty good money ($45-60K for department managers, $60K-$90K for assistant store managers, $90K-$120K+ for store managers). They also have a contractor sales program, reps in that program can usually count on $45K+ a year, up to about $70K+ for those who really excel and land some great accounts. Even part-timers make pretty good money, it might make a nice supplement to subbing if you decide to stick with that.

By the way, I'm also college-educated and I went the last route. My degree qualified me for a dollar an hour bump up front as a manager trainee. I moved a couple of times to take advantage of promotion opportunities and was at $70K when I left to move closer to family (a move I have regretted more than once). The nice thing about the area you're in is that there are four stores in the metro, so you can take advantage of opportunities at other stores without having to move.

Anyway, there's a lot of opportunity in that area. You'll find something that fits you, just don't give up hope. I wish you the best!

[ElleTea]

Actually city of Des Moines just started TODAY (8/22). Other area schools are also starting this week.

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

Actually city of Des Moines just started TODAY (8/22). Other area schools are also starting this week.

Same down here. I had just looked up Ankeny, it looks like they started last Wednesday. At any rate it's definitely too early to count out subbing based on a lack of calls up to this point.

[tollfree]

The insurance thing really might not be a bad idea, even if you don't sell insurance (that market is beyond oversaturated in Iowa)...but it will help to "legitimize" you in Iowa and could give your resume an extra boost, just by getting the license. Keep that in mind.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

Actually city of Des Moines just started TODAY (8/22). Other area schools are also starting this week.

Actually Johnston and I think Ankeny, both started last week.

[capitalcityguy]

Just a quick comment on selling insurance.

Des Moines isn't an insurance hub because a lot of people are in the business of selling insurance. I'm sure there are the same number of people selling insurance in Des Moiens as any other US city its size. It is an insurance hub because there are so many companies headquarter in DM that manufacture (so-to-speak) insurance (that is in turn sold around the country).

It wouldnt' matter where you were in the country. If you have a 4-yr degree (especially teaching), you're going to get hit up to sell insurance. They are always hiring insurance agents because it is one of those jobs that so few actually are able to hang on and make it a successful career. It isn't because it is a bad job....it is because it is a hard job but can be very lucurative to those that have the right mentality to pull it off.

What type of networking are you doing? The economy is still slow and you're not likely to catch on to anything beside entry level, low wage jobs if you're simply sending out resumes. YOu have to get in front of people. Get involved with some volunteer organizations, join a church(and get invovled)... you need to start making connections to those that already have jobs (Or know people ) at companies you might be interested in working at.

Good luck!

[tollfree]

There are some "call center agents" type of insurance sales jobs that take place at the corporate location. Nationwide used to have a program like this, not sure if they still do.