Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello everyone, my first post here. I looked around, and I hope I'm not repeating anyone else's question. I'm heading up your way the end of August, and I'm looking to relocate permanently to that part of North Dakota, though I will probably be living on the Montana border when I first get there. Like everyone else, I'd love to get on an oil rig, but the rigs are not the be all end all of life up there.
My question is, given the need for workers in other areas, how many hours are they getting in the other industries? If , say, fast food places are paying $12-15 an hour, are they logging just 40 a week, or are workers clocking in 80+ like the fields are? If they need workers that bad, are they working the ones they have OT?
If it helps, or anyone has advice not in the other threads, I'm a 27 year old fit Commercial Landscape Supervisor with a chemical applicator licence and crew leader certifications. Thanks in advance everyone, reading this forum has been awesome.
Definitely check with the builders and developers in towns like Williston, Watford City, Dickinson, Minot, and even Bismarck. Housing in all those locales are going up fast.
Landscaping in ND is much less ornate than on the West Coast, and bugs/termites are generally no an issue.
Most fast food here is paying 12 to start which is just enough to think you'll be making enough to live on. The issue is, of course, housing. I don't know if the fast food industry is paying OT but the Taco Johns in town was advertising they had housing available for their night manager. You'll be competing against a lot of foreign nationals here who are on student or youth visas working. That has helped local businesses get the help but I don't know how many will be able to stay once college starts back in September.
Landscaping jobs are pretty minimal. Most are really just interested in getting the yard mowed.
Oil rigs, as has been said before, really aren't taking inexperienced hands now. Considering that the drilling is beginning to slow due to economics, I can't say if they will again.
I can tell you the McDonald's and pizza places pay $10/hr - do they get any o.t., I don't know. And the delivery guys for pizza pay all their own gas and vehicle expenses. I have heard about the foreign kids working fast food, wonder what happens in Sept, do all those foreign kids with visas go home?
You are used to working outside and working hard, but there has been a slow down in oil hiring with some companies, especially for n/e. As one poster said, start walking and talking, the connections you make are invaluable.
Again, your problem is going to be finding a place to stay that you can afford, if you can find one, not unheard of for a bedroom to go for $1400/month with shared kitchen and bath facilities. Again, let me repeat this, you might not be able to find a place to stay no matter how much money your bring with you. But don't discount needing as much money as you can pull together and if your plan does not work having access to funds to get back home when the weather gets cold.
You can not live in your car in a normal ND winter, keep reading this forum, plan, and bring plenty of money.
The companies are still hiring, it took my husband a year to find a company, he commutes from MN to ND for his shifts. We thought about relocating but the rent is insane.
In reference to the Foreign presence at fast food places, they won't leave come September. Several fast food areas throughout the country have difficulty keeping help. They've depleted the local kids so they have to do something. The State department set up a program for countries like Bosnia where if the Fast Food Store owner will Sponsor them, and give them housing and transportation, the state department will issue them a 1 year probationary visa but they have to work for "That" sponsor for 1 year. If they quit, they have to go home. After the one year probationary period, they can quit and go to work for anybody. But those folks are getting housing and somebody to run them around. They only thing they have to spend their money on is grocerys and entertainment.
Thanks Elk Hunter. So, for example, in Williston does the fast food owner provide housing (oops, I see you answered that, the owner provides housing and transportation). With housing non-exsistant there or sky high if a bed comes open I can't see how that pencils out for the owner of a franchise food business. Or do they pay their foreign "special visa" kids less an hour or charge them back partly for transportation and housing or any of these scenarios? Fascinating.
Also, if the foreign kid works the one year, do they get some kind of special visa to stay in the US and work anywhere they want for unlimited time, in any state?
Sheds some light on why I kept hearing stories of young people from far away (ie, Hungary) in Williston, ND working fast food. Thought it was weird, had no idea about this program.
Just a thought, why wouldn't the man camps, ie Target Logistics, use this program?
Maybe they do? Is there a quota of the number of foreign young people from a country that can come to the US and any quota on how many can go to any one state? Are the multi-national corps like Pepsi-co recruiting these kids?
In Williston, where are they housing them? Inquiring minds, you know
Just like eerybody else i am wanting to work in williston area. I have alot of shipping and recieving exp. In the warehouse field. I am planning a trip to apply in person to companies in the area in early september, been doin online apps for 3 months and nothing yet just denied e mails.. Any help on what companies are looking for help and offer housing would be great.. And do companies iffer insurance right away or do you have to wait? I do have a family but i have to make the money...wolves are knockin at the door
If warehouse and shipping is your goal, look further east in ND. Housings available there. Google Digikey for careers. They are hiring and offer very good health insurance (but the pay isn't the best.)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
