Yet another Cookeville thread... (Knoxville, Jackson: appointed, mortgage, refinance)

[SpaceCoastSarah]

Hi all... I am writing for opinions on the current job market in Cookeville. My husband and I are currently living with our four children in Florida. I hate it here, and have ever since I was sent here to live with my mother by my father about 16 years ago. I hate the heat, the beach, the hurricanes, the non-winter, the flatness of it all.. I am originally from Northern Va. and FL has just never felt like home. My poor husband is something like 6th or 7th generation Floridian but is tired of hearing me complain and has agreed to move.
My sister lives in Nashville and my other sister just moved to Maryville. I asked them for recommendations of a nice area in the middle of the two and was told Cookeville was a great family friendly area that is very affordable.
We want to move this summer but of course the only problem is securing employment. My husband has a nice job with the city we currently live in, he LOVES his job, and is worried about finding anything at all once we move. I am employed as a CNA, but found out today from the DOH that my license will not transfer to TN, that I would need to repeat my schooling and test. Not to big of a problem, but still.
How is the job situation there? We'll have a few months of buffer, but not much more than that.
Thanks!
~Sarah
P.S. Thanks to all who have posted pics of Cookeville.. we're moving pretty much sight unseen and they eased my fears a bit.

[missinggreen]

Originally Posted by SpaceCoastSarah

Hi all... I am writing for opinions on the current job market in Cookeville. My husband and I are currently living with our four children in Florida. I hate it here, and have ever since I was sent here to live with my mother by my father about 16 years ago. I hate the heat, the beach, the hurricanes, the non-winter, the flatness of it all.. I am originally from Northern Va. and FL has just never felt like home. My poor husband is something like 6th or 7th generation Floridian but is tired of hearing me complain and has agreed to move.
My sister lives in Nashville and my other sister just moved to Maryville. I asked them for recommendations of a nice area in the middle of the two and was told Cookeville was a great family friendly area that is very affordable.
We want to move this summer but of course the only problem is securing employment. My husband has a nice job with the city we currently live in, he LOVES his job, and is worried about finding anything at all once we move. I am employed as a CNA, but found out today from the DOH that my license will not transfer to TN, that I would need to repeat my schooling and test. Not to big of a problem, but still.
How is the job situation there? We'll have a few months of buffer, but not much more than that.
Thanks!
~Sarah
P.S. Thanks to all who have posted pics of Cookeville.. we're moving pretty much sight unseen and they eased my fears a bit.

I'll be honest with you, the Cookeville job market is not that great. Unemployment in TN is up, like everywhere else, and a lot of people have moved to Cookeville and TN, which has made it harder to find employment. It is a university town and the students try to secure part time employemnt. The school system is laying off, with more layoffs to come.

It is however a great place to live.

[jguillot]

Cookeville, TN is a great town. I've been there several times and love it. I recommend that you visit Cookeville before making this decision. Stay for a few days, drive around town and the local area, talk to people, visit local businesses, check out the housing situation, and visit the places which might offer employment to you. I would never move without doing this first. You might also want to hold off on making a commitment to move until at least you or your husband has a job lined up in the Cookeville area. I hope you are able to make this work.

[Tinman313]

Here is a link for the Chamber.... Cookeville Chamber

[JMT]

I'm currently looking for a job in Cookeville, too. It's not easy.

The unemployment rate in Cookeville/Putnam County is 9.1%. That's lower than most other counties in Tennessee, but you'd probably have better luck finding a job in the larger metropolitan counties. Knox County has the state's lowest unemployment rate at 6.6%, although Knoxville's ring counties have much higher unemployment rates. Nashville's ring counties have lower unemployment rates, too.

This doesn't mean that people in Cookeville aren't hiring, it just means that there's a heck of a lot more competition for the few jobs that come up.

Here are the largest non-manufacturing employers in Cookeville:

Tennessee Tech University ... 2400
Cookeville Regional Medical Center ... 1600
Putnam County Board of Education ... 1200
Averitt Transportation ... 520
State of Tennessee ... 440
Wal-Mart (2 SuperCenters and 1 Sam's Club) ... 410
City of Cookeville ... 380
SunTrust Bank ... 350
First National Bank ... 350
First Tennessee Bank ... 350
Jackson Bank and Trust ... 350
Putnam County Government ... 312

There's not much manufacturing in Cookeville. The largest plant is Cummins Filtration which employs about 900. It's doubtful it'll close anytime soon as Cummins just closed its Utah operation and moved it to Cookeville.

Oreck Vacuum Cleaners has its manufacturing facility, call center, and reserach facility in Cookeville. The Identity Group is an ink marking manufacturer which just announced it's moving jobs from its Florida facility to Cookeville.

If you do Google searches for those places, you should find Human Resource links with job openings.

Like I said earlier, I'm currently up for a job in Cookeville at Tennessee Tech, and I'm hoping and praying like crazy that I'll get it. But with the stiff competition out there vying for the few jobs that are available, I'm not going to hold my breath. And you might have to wait this one out, too, until the economy starts getting better. But don't give up!

[JoeCartpath]

JMT....maybe if the folks at Tech would look at this forum - and see all the positive stuff you've posted about Cookeville - you'd have a really good shot at it! Good luck! I know it's competitive there. I had a good friend (accountant) apply there a couple of years ago. She's an outstanding individual with very good credentials....probably overqualified. She was very disappointed when she didn't get it because she really wanted to move to Cookeville. Instead, she's now in Sewanee.....

[Wordy]

JMT, I didn't realize that you were working on a move here. Yay! My daughter was at UT but now is at Tech and I have a couple more in the pipeline who may or may not go to Tech (I like to promote it as I think it's great and nearly free for us). We would love to have you!

As to the original poster, this is not a tiny town but it also not a large city. If you guys need to work and make a certain amount of money--as opposed to picking up retail jobs, which may or may not be possible actually these days--what I would suggest is to find the jobs first and then move to where they are. I really like my job and in fact I also picked up a part-time job, but I think everybody is right when they say jobs are kind of hard to come by here. The cost of living is nice and low, which is very good, but the wages are also not that fab either. I remember when we first moved here, the mortgage people were thrilled at my husband's teacher salary (!) saying that the average wage was more like $8-10 an hour. If you are a CNA, you will be able to find something even if it's home care that you contract out to do, so I think your husband is the one whose career will drive where you end up.

We have been here since late 2005 and I really love it. We bought a house when we got here and just refinanced it, so we had to have another appraisal done. Oddly enough, our house value has gone up $62,000 in the 3 years we've been here--mostly because we made improvements, but I was sort of stunned at the increase. The $$ we've put into the improvements is not nearly $62K. Maybe 30-40K? The notes in the appraisal indicate that the market is sluggish but stable here, which I also found interesting.

Good luck to everyone!!

[jguillot]

JMT,

Good luck in landing that job at Tennessee Tech. I know you've wanted to move to the Cookeville area for such a long time. I hope you can make it happen!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by JoeCartpath

JMT....maybe if the folks at Tech would look at this forum - and see all the positive stuff you've posted about Cookeville - you'd have a really good shot at it! Good luck! I know it's competitive there. I had a good friend (accountant) apply there a couple of years ago. She's an outstanding individual with very good credentials....probably overqualified. She was very disappointed when she didn't get it because she really wanted to move to Cookeville. Instead, she's now in Sewanee.....

Thanks! Believe me, I've thought about trying to get on at the Chamber of Commerce in Cookeville. I'm certainly one of Cookeville's biggest cheerleaders. And I'm sorry about your friend in Sewanee. Is she still trying to get on at Tech?

Originally Posted by Wordy

JMT, I didn't realize that you were working on a move here. Yay! My daughter was at UT but now is at Tech and I have a couple more in the pipeline who may or may not go to Tech (I like to promote it as I think it's great and nearly free for us). We would love to have you!

I really appreciate that! I think Tech is a hidden jewel. It's not as flashy as UTK or MTSU, but its quality of education is outstanding, and it's certainly not a party school.

I think this is interesting: in the last 15 years, UTK has had 5 different presidents. In the last 50 years, Tech has had 4 different presidents. And the last president of Tech (Angelo Volpe) stayed in Cookeville after retiring and is spending his time doing volunteer work throughout the community. I think that speaks volumes about the kind of institution Tech is and the kind of community Cookeville is. People just don't want to leave!

Originally Posted by jguillot

JMT,

Good luck in landing that job at Tennessee Tech. I know you've wanted to move to the Cookeville area for such a long time. I hope you can make it happen!

Thanks, jguillot! I can't wait for you and your wife to move to Cumberland Cove. Maybe I'll be in Cookeville and we can have a big Welcome to Tennessee party for you.

[jguillot]

Thanks, jguillot! I can't wait for you and your wife to move to Cumberland Cove. Maybe I'll be in Cookeville and we can have a big Welcome to Tennessee party for you. [/quote]


Thanks JMT. I appreciate that. I hope you are living and working in Cookeville by the time I'm able to retire there. I'd love to meet you.