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I am wondering, can I just show up in a North Dakota city,with some money, and expect to obtain employment with the objective of working in an industry maybe construction (not much blue collar experience but have the stamina). Computer skills and EE skills are good, but rather dated. I know the unemployment rate is low, but the market is fairly small with a 500,000 or so population of N.D.
You've painted your question with a pretty broad brush, so I will answer the same way... In general, probably. The job market has slowed a little there, but there are still lots of jobs that go unfilled. Construction has slowed as well, so there may not be anything immediately available, but if you are willing to work in another field for a while, maybe something will eventually open up for you.
You also did not state where in ND you are interested in moving to. That makes a big difference. Fargo and Bismarck are still booming. Western ND in general has slowed, but still more active than the eastern half. Start searching the job sites to get a feel for what is available where.
Are you familiar and prepared for the weather in ND? A lot of people underestimate it and end up leaving after the first winter.
I lived through a Minnesota winter with regular 40 below lows and 0 degree highs for a whole month.
I thought western ND would start gearing up again, but Permian Basin seems to be experiencing the oil boom this time. With a world wide oil glut that does not seem to have an end in sight, the increase in oil production in the US will probably not help prices in the long run, so perhaps a short term boom might happen in the US and would be nice to cash in on that. Bismarck seems to be the logical choice. I get the impression that the ND economy is diverse. Oil production is just part of it, agriculture too, and some engineering and electronics to support both--is what I'm thinking. The rest of the country seems to be awash in mcjobs, which is not what I am looking for in the long run. PLC and embedded systems programming is my long term goal as I used to do that many moons ago. Engineering oriented computer jobs basically. Thank you for taking the time, Dewey.
I am wondering, can I just show up in a North Dakota city,with some money, and expect to obtain employment with the objective of working in an industry maybe construction (not much blue collar experience but have the stamina). Computer skills and EE skills are good, but rather dated. I know the unemployment rate is low, but the market is fairly small with a 500,000 or so population of N.D.
Showing up anywhere with no job is a pretty dumb idea. Get the job before relocating, no matter where that might be.
That's any job. You don't relocate without a source of income lined up. Period.
Well then very few people would ever relocate. In my experience it can be very difficult to get potential employers to even look at a resume from out of state, much less consider one. And temp agencies tell you to look them up once you have moved and gotten settled in the new city. As long as you have enough money saved up to live comfortably in the new city for 6 months to a year, I see no problem in relocating without having a job lined up. I've done it before and I plan to do it again in the near future. It took me a year and a half to find my career job in my new city (I was recently out of college so didn't have a lot of prior experience), but in that time I was able to work a few temp jobs to earn money and gain experience in my chosen field.
I lived through a Minnesota winter with regular 40 below lows and 0 degree highs for a whole month.
I thought western ND would start gearing up again, but Permian Basin seems to be experiencing the oil boom this time. With a world wide oil glut that does not seem to have an end in sight, the increase in oil production in the US will probably not help prices in the long run, so perhaps a short term boom might happen in the US and would be nice to cash in on that. Bismarck seems to be the logical choice. I get the impression that the ND economy is diverse. Oil production is just part of it, agriculture too, and some engineering and electronics to support both--is what I'm thinking. The rest of the country seems to be awash in mcjobs, which is not what I am looking for in the long run. PLC and embedded systems programming is my long term goal as I used to do that many moons ago. Engineering oriented computer jobs basically. Thank you for taking the time, Dewey.
Well then very few people would ever relocate. In my experience it can be very difficult to get potential employers to even look at a resume from out of state, much less consider one. And temp agencies tell you to look them up once you have moved and gotten settled in the new city. As long as you have enough money saved up to live comfortably in the new city for 6 months to a year, I see no problem in relocating without having a job lined up. I've done it before and I plan to do it again in the near future. It took me a year and a half to find my career job in my new city (I was recently out of college so didn't have a lot of prior experience), but in that time I was able to work a few temp jobs to earn money and gain experience in my chosen field.
I've never relocated without a job. I never had that kind of money. I've lived in three states and so clearly that mentality of an out of state resume being overlooked is bull. And I did this with no connections. So yeah, I'm not buying that.
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