job first or move first? (Missoula, Bozeman: coop, house, find a job)

[gowestgal]

I’ve seen some posts about how hard it is to find a job in Montana so I’d like to hear if we should find the job first or move first. My family is currently in Wilmington, DE and we’re focusing on Missoula and Bozeman. I’m in the IT industry (NOC & helpdesk mgmt, ITIL consulting, Proj mgmt) and my husband used to work for an environmental engineering firm supporting new business development but now stays home with our 2 girls (both under 2 yrs old). I’d be happy to stay at home if he has better job opportunities. So… job first or move first?

[GregW]

Job first! Fortunately a lot of IT development work only requires a decent speed hookup so your location is not that important. One of my nieces does IT consulting from a log cabin in northern NH.

[mthawki]

Unless you have enough cash saved up to last a through a couple months of unemployment, you should try for the job first. Sometimes it's hard to land a job when you're out-of-state though, so it's a catch-22.

Try looking through the local newspapers in the cities you're interested in as well as the Job Service websites and www.mt.gov

[JoeJoeMan]

I’d like to hear if we should find the job first or move first.

Do you even have to ask..................would you jumb off the diving board and check for water on the way down ?

Please disreguard this statement if you have loads of money already, in which case please do bring it out, we could sure use some of it.

[gowestgal]

That was funny. I had read a posting where someone was talking about companies not taking him seriously since he was out of state. Seems like the best way to go is set up residency and look, then move the rest of the family over if/when you land a job. Or play the lottery.

I guess I'm hoping to hear a good (and successful) relocation story.

[mthawki]

There are many variables, so it's really up to you to decide what to do. If you have a marketable skillset that would blow away an employer and you interview well, then you would hope that a temporary matter of geography wouldn't prevent you from being hired.

With many people moving here from out of state, employers are probably more open-minded to a candidate that isn't local. So if you're determined and aggressive, then go for it!

[JoeJoeMan]

Gowestgal wrote:

I guess I'm hoping to hear a good (and successful) relocation story.

Here I'll give you mine in a few sentences.......move to montana for a few months as a youth to vacation and work, meet wife, have children, get stuck here, scroung thru montana 80's depression, spend next 15-20 years trying to find a decent job, finally get education and luck into a good job, start saving lots of money to make up for lost time and to buy home, cashing home prices up up up and away, until can't afford anything but a chicken coop at current prices, decide to screw the house, give up on home ownership rather than go so far in debt just to make someone else rich for doing nothing but owning a house and riding the price up - screw them I'll keep my cash - approach retirement years financially secure living in a small but pleasant rental, finally time to kick back and relax - appoximate time required 40 years, all is well that ends well - successfull relocation compete !