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Old 06-03-2010, 12:09 PM
 
5 posts, read 5,771 times
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I'm a 24 year old guy who's been living in Billings Montana for pretty much all my life. Things really aren't going anywhere here for me so I've been thinking a fresh start somewhere might do me some good. PSU seems like a good school for me and I like Portland, but I've heard bad things about the job market. I stand to inherit some money from my grandparents, about $10,000, and I have an aunt and cousin in Lake Oswego that I hope to be able to stay with until I get settled. I'm willing to take just about any job and I'm wondering how hard it might be to get even a job at a fast food place or gas station?
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Old 06-03-2010, 12:28 PM
 
Location: Baker City, Oregon
5,432 posts, read 8,122,294 times
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Definitely get a degree, but get it at a university in your home state of Montana, such as the University of Montana, to take advantage of the in-state tuition rate. You will save many, many thousands of dollars.

When you are done with your education, move to your dream location.
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Old 06-03-2010, 12:45 PM
 
5 posts, read 5,771 times
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Thanks for the advice but you didn't answer my question. I don't want to wait till I'm almost 30 to move across the country and I'm not going to sell my house and leave my friends and family just to move to a smaller town in Montana.
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Old 06-03-2010, 01:04 PM
 
Location: Portland, OR
1,657 posts, read 4,472,959 times
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Yes, there are jobs available in Portland. You can verify this on Craigslist.com, or Portland's daily newspaper web site: Oregon and Portland Local Jobs - OregonLive.com
but you will find that for every job opening, there are lots and lots of applications submitted. Who knows, you maybe the luck one.

Gas station jobs, and fast food are real hard to come by. Way too many applicants. However, do note there is almost every week someone hiring a fork lift operator for warehouse work at odd hours. But you need to be an experienced fork lift operator. Same goes for other skill trades, bring experience.

Rent is high in Portland compared to many places, but cheap compared to SF, LA, Chicago.

Summer is coming up soon, and the homeless population in Portland might swell to over 5000 or maybe as high as 8000 by the end of September. These homeless would also like a job as you are looking for. Don't take my word, ask your cousin about the "spare-change" crowd in the City of Portland.

Best of luck to you.

Phil
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Old 06-03-2010, 01:19 PM
 
35 posts, read 137,383 times
Reputation: 44
IF college is your ultimate goal, have you looked into Eastern Oregon University? It's located in La Grande, OR (about 4 hours to Portland, 3 hours to Boise). They don't charge out-of-state tuition. La Grande is still a rural area but for a small town, there is enough going on to keep busy. The plus side is rent is cheap compared to Portland. Although it's not the "big city", it's not so far away that you can't go there on a weekend.
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Old 06-03-2010, 01:47 PM
 
172 posts, read 535,945 times
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The job market stinks but it sounds like you will have some funds to get by and also a place to stay. Why not come out, find a job (hopefully) and work for 1 year and see if you like it here and you will also establish residency which would then allow you to go to an Oregon state school for a much lower rate than if you imemdiately went to PSU. PSU is very expensive and quite honestly, I do not think it worth the money if you are going to wind up under a massive pile of debt. There are a lot of recent grads with over $100k of debt and no job who are now realizing they made a huge mistake going to a more expensive school when they had cheaper options.

Not trying to preach - good luck with whatever you do. You are young and now is the time to take a few risks so go for it.
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Old 06-03-2010, 01:54 PM
 
5 posts, read 5,771 times
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I have a decent amount of experience driving a forklift and doing warehouse work, but I'm not certified or anything. Would that be an issue? Also I'm really only interested in moving to Portland, I don't think it would be worth selling my house and leaving my roots to move to a place that doesn't offer any more than Billings does.
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Old 06-03-2010, 02:01 PM
 
5 posts, read 5,771 times
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That was something I was thinking about doing Rhodan, I've just heard so many bad things about the job market so I'm trying to do as much research as I can on how long it might take to find a job.
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Old 06-03-2010, 02:02 PM
 
Location: Southwest Washington
2,316 posts, read 7,802,942 times
Reputation: 1746
From what I understand, UMT is a much better school than PSU. I know there is no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that I'm going to go to PSU, even though that will mean leaving behind my friends and family and my good quality of life in this city. I'm actually considering UMT myself. Missoula is supposed to be an awesome little city.

But anyway, getting more on topic... What rhodan said is true. PSU is not worth paying out-of-state tuition for. But it's probably good enough for most people in most departments at the in-state tuition rate.

If you can establish residency before going to PSU, definitely do that. As far as other concerns... Go for it. Why not? Worst thing that could happen is you'll be here till your money runs out without being able to find a job and have to go back home to Billings. That's the worst case scenario.

Speaking to the job market... Someone I know got turned down for a coffee house job because he drinks decaf. Just to show you how much of an employer's market it is... As I have said in another post, I know many people who have been out of work for 6 to 9 months, making finding a job their "job" and networking, etc, and still had to wait that long to find something. It's not impossible. You just need hard work, good luck, and excessive amounts of patience, and an unhuman frugality to get you through.
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Old 06-03-2010, 02:23 PM
 
321 posts, read 1,133,002 times
Reputation: 151
MrNiceGuy - I think you are young enough to qualify for a program like ETAP - Evening Trade Apprenticeship Program, I think it stands for. You should check in to something like that to see if you could get your forklifter's license or something along those lines. Check OregonApprenticeship.com (I worked on that website!) if that sounds like something you might be interested in.

If you are young and not overeducated, you might have a better chance of finding work than someone who is 30 with a Master's looking for a warehouse job.
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