Is it impossible? (Portland, Gresham, Sandy: rentals, co-op, find a job)

[SO8668]

I've recently gotten a job offer in Portland and am looking into moving there. Before anyone goes on and on about a "stars in your eyes" rant, I have visited, love the area, have a full-time living wage paying job waiting for me and am not worried about a place to live. With all this in mind is it that impossible for a SO to find a job? He has a bachelors degree in parks/rec has experience in guiding/tourism jobs, post sew and production and restaurant experience. He is not picky and not one of the types to think any kind of work is beneath him. I've heard conflicting opinions, some say it is impossible and some say there are jobs to be found for those willing to look and do the work. What is your opinion?

[Steve Pickering]

With the skills you listed, yes, pretty much not likely. You can plan on supporting the SO. But welcome to the PNW. It sounds like you made good choices.

[EnricoV]

Impossible? No.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by SO8668

With all this in mind is it that impossible for a SO to find a job? He has a bachelors degree in parks/rec has experience in guiding/tourism jobs, post sew and production and restaurant experience. He is not picky and not one of the types to think any kind of work is beneath him.

It's not impossible, but my advice is network as much as possible--start early, start making connections...because few people land good jobs in Portland without some personal connection(or luck). It can be like a fulltime job to find work in Portland unless you have one of the highest demand skillsets. But if you're persistant and follow up on every lead you can find a job--I mean it's not impossible, but you have to be persistant.

There's a lot of restaurant jobs here--there's a lot of turnover as well, but there's a huge pool to fill the jobs too. Tourism market is growing in Portland, but I don't know much of the reality of getting those sorts of jobs--but there's a lot more guided tours around downtown these days(I work down here and see a lot of tour groups every day). While I was in between jobs last year I thought about the possiblity of starting my own tour/guiding service(picking tourists up for personal trips out in the Gorge or Mt. Hood)--but never really pursued it. There is opportunities for creative enterprises though probably a lot of red tape as well...

[Rob Allen]

Not impossible. How soon will you be here? People's Food Co-op has some job openings posted right now.

Employment — People's Coop

[SO8668]

It would be in September, anyone know anything about the resorts at mt hood? I only work 3 days a week so wouldn't mind living a ways outside of town and dealing with the commute to be closer to the mountain if there are job opportunities there.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by SO8668

It would be in September, anyone know anything about the resorts at mt hood? I only work 3 days a week so wouldn't mind living a ways outside of town and dealing with the commute to be closer to the mountain if there are job opportunities there.

There's seasonal jobs at the resorts at Mt. Hood. They usually start hiring in September for lift ops, restaurant and bar jobs and so on(though Timberline is open all summer as well). Mount Hood Meadows is the largest resort and will start posting positions and have a job fair around September though.

However, one thing that's sort of risky is that in bad snow years, you can be waiting for the season to start or even laid off due to poor conditions. Early season can be hit or miss. I had a friend who got a job as a bartender at Mt. Hood Ski Bowl during one of the worst snow years and basically got laid off because the mountain closed due to lack of snow--though that's less likely at Timberline and Mt Hood Meadows.

Where are you working in the Portland area? Living past Sandy toward Mt. Hood and driving to the eastside of the metro might not be bad, but driving into downtown or over to Washington County would be messy and long.

[SO8668]

My works in gresham, so east side

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by SO8668

My works in gresham, so east side

Well then you could live somewhere to the east of Gresham and your SO could work on Hood possibly. The question would be then, would you guys prefer and enjoy living sort of out in the woods? It's nice and pretty out there, but pretty slow--Sandy is closer and the largest place but is still a pretty sleepy town--also the commute down 26 from further up--towards Zig Zag/Rhodendendron can be pretty snowy and slow occasionally. But if you like the mountains, it's kind of fun and it's not that expensive considering there's not a high demand for rentals out there. Government Camp though is the real mountain town right on Hood, but I wouldn't want to commute to Gresham from there, unless you're a hardcore skier. Most skiers in the area though just make the 1 hour to 1.5 hour drive up to Hood from further down in the valley.

[rzzz]

Vancouver is the most unaffordable city in North America.

Seattle / Washington State is ranked the best for the upwardly mobile in the USA.

Portland is its own special place.