Is any place booming with jobs?

[Biff Johnson]

Leaving aside all political rhetoric, is there any place in the country that is booming and can't find enough quality employees?

A little background, I've spent almost 20 years as a mechanic, RV technician and supervisor of repair shops. I was laid off over a year ago and have yet to find work in Oregon. I had always mistakenly assumed that if you had skills and were good at what you do that you could always find work! Not true! The downturn in major industries in Oregon has closed many repair facilities.

I've beat every bush and contact I have in my area and there are just no jobs. What employers are left are using the down economy to offer insulting, unlivable wages to experienced candidates. Employers tend to place the same ads repeatedly yet never contact qualified applicants. Interesting note on the local county HR page. In 2007 they received 2,700 job applications; in 2010 the number was 9,755. Competition is stiff.

Nearing economic doom, I've decided that I may have to leave my family and home area to seek work. I've seen all the news reports that detail the job explosions in the Dakotas and such. Is there anybody that can actually expound on the economic conditions in other parts of the country? I'm wary of placement and recruiting services.

I've tried reinventing myself and broadening my skill sets in hopes of finding new avenues of employment but so far it is for naught. Hoping with the wide range of experience here somebody may have valuable input!

[Bill Edwards(2)]

South of San Antonio, TX.... it's insane. (an Oil boom)

[Jim Rimmer]

We are a large control valve repair facility in the Houston area and have hired 16 mechanics in the last few months. We recently hired a guy for our Odessa facility. Odessa is in west Texas and is in the middle of a booming oil area. This poor guy is living in a box trailer with no plumbing or electricity while we work with him to find an apartment. None available in the area. Unemployment there is about 2%.

If you are interested in relocating, check careerbuilderdotcom. We post our jobs there and have facilities all over the US. Closest to you would be Washington or California and I don't know if they are hiring or not.

[Steve Meliza]

What's wrong with Oregon? The past 3 people hired to my group are not US citizens. The past dozen or so candidates I've interviewed have not been US citizens. Of the three people that are interviewing this week I'm surprised to see that one of them is a US citizen. Now tell me, why can't we find qualified US citizens to hire? All of your jobs are not going overseas, overseas is coming here with superior knowledge, skills, and education and taking the high tech and high paying jobs. Now that I think about it, that is the American dream.

Unfortunately we don't hire mechanics here or I'd get your resume.

[Biff Johnson]

There is not a darn thing wrong with Oregon! Well, other than high number of illegals, economy in the tank and rising crime:) Seriously though, I don't want to leave this area...obviously it's where I am raising my kids, volunteering in the community, etc. However if I don't land something productive soon we will be out of a home.

Since my last ten years have spent in a supervisory roll it has definitely limited my job search. I will return to mechanical work if I can find the job even though it is physically demanding.

I'm sure many people on this forum own their own businesses and if so, tell me how you find your best people? With a majority of companies it is impossible to get past the HR department and get a resume in front of someone. And as you know, on paper it is hard to stand out among the herd.

[Ralph Boumenot]

I feel your pain. I was out of work for almost 3 years. In the interim, I was turned down by McDonalds and Dunkin' Donuts. I was told to my face that I was too old to wash dishes. I overheard a recruiter say "who's the old guy and what's he here for?" One employer offered me a similar job I had been doing with no bennies - 20 hours or less a week for minimum wage pay. I would have been doing the same job I had formerly been paid almost $30 an hour to do. I finally got a job totally unrelated to what I had been doing for the previous 35 years at less than a 1/3 of what I was making. It was a humbling experierence. I hope that things fall into place for you.

[Rich Riddle]

Ralph, what job did you do for 35 years that you were paid nearly $30 an hour to perform? Was it a highly skilled job?

[Rich Riddle]

What employers are left are using the down economy to offer insulting, unlivable wages to experienced candidates. Employers tend to place the same ads repeatedly yet never contact qualified applicants. Interesting note on the local county HR page. In 2007 they received 2,700 job applications; in 2010 the number was 9,755. Competition is stiff.Well if you want to avoid political rhetoric you will need to get rid of the "livable wage" propaganda and indicate what precise value per hour employers are offering and the exact type of mechanic you are and your formal training and certifications. To make a long story short, the more certifications you have that are required to perform a job and the fewer the number of people who attain those certifications, the higher your salary and employment ability.

Unfortunately, if any Tom, Dick, or Harry can call himself the type of "mechanic" you are, then the lower the salaries and less likely to find employment one will find himself. I went to school to attain the required education, tested for licensure in fields, obtained licensure, and found a shortage of folks in the three fields where I obtained licenses in life.

Times change, and I think the days when people can expect the $75,000 a year job for performing semi-skilled labor (such as assembly line work) have faded into history. Also gone are the times when a person can show up for a job with few or no skills and expect an employer to train them (unless you go in the military) at full salaries. I know many union workers who lost jobs with limited skills and are now looking at quite the downturn in their life styles based upon the lack of skills they have. Perhaps yours are good; for your sake, I hope they are.

[Biff Johnson]

Maybe this forum is good luck? Shortly after posting this morning I got a call from an outfit I had applied to. The HR gal did a telephone interview and said I sounded good for the job and that she would pass it on to the manager and they would probably call in a few days. 45 minutes later the local manager called and I'm meeting him at the shop on Friday. Fingers crossed!

Ralph, you are right....it is a very humbling experience. I hope there is a special place in hell for those employers who use the bad economy to leverage good, qualified people into taking jobs at insulting pay.

[Chuck Wintle]

Leaving aside all political rhetoric, is there any place in the country that is booming and can't find enough quality employees?

A little background, I've spent almost 20 years as a mechanic, RV technician and supervisor of repair shops. I was laid off over a year ago and have yet to find work in Oregon. I had always mistakenly assumed that if you had skills and were good at what you do that you could always find work! Not true! The downturn in major industries in Oregon has closed many repair facilities.

I've beat every bush and contact I have in my area and there are just no jobs. What employers are left are using the down economy to offer insulting, unlivable wages to experienced candidates. Employers tend to place the same ads repeatedly yet never contact qualified applicants. Interesting note on the local county HR page. In 2007 they received 2,700 job applications; in 2010 the number was 9,755. Competition is stiff.

Nearing economic doom, I've decided that I may have to leave my family and home area to seek work. I've seen all the news reports that detail the job explosions in the Dakotas and such. Is there anybody that can actually expound on the economic conditions in other parts of the country? I'm wary of placement and recruiting services.

I've tried reinventing myself and broadening my skill sets in hopes of finding new avenues of employment but so far it is for naught. Hoping with the wide range of experience here somebody may have valuable input!

Alberta, Canada is in a job boom...they are crying for skilled trades...you would have a job in an instant.

[Brian Elfert]

North Dakota has a lot of jobs, but the cost of living is sky high! I know some folks who are out there right now in the oil fields. I've heard of some making big bucks, but I have also seen ads for positions out there paying low wages compared to the high cost of living. $40k a year isn't much if it will cost you $2000 a month for room and board.

I'm in the IT world and jobs seem to be plentiful right now if you have the skills and experience.

[Ralph Boumenot]

I built, did quality control, maintained, and repaired medical blood chemistry equipment. I also built the computer (what I did in the Navy) to run the data base for the instrument. I was the only one in the shop that could do all the steps. When I was laid off I was making 27 and change an hour. I never understood it but the company took us off salary and made us hourly. I ended up getting a pay raise with that.

[Peter Kelly]

I hope there is a special place in hell for those employers who use the bad economy to leverage good, qualified people into taking jobs at insulting pay.You also end up doing 5x the work as they aren't hiring back the same number of people that those businesses laid off in the first place.

[Gary Hodgin]

It's kind of mixed around here. I hear of some people hiring (Amazon and it's new distribution center) and others laying off (American Airlines). Construction has picked up a bit but still not strong.

I can tell you from personal experience that telemarketing employment seems to have experienced a big rise.

[Myk Rian]

HVAC is a good field.

[Rich Riddle]

I built, did quality control, maintained, and repaired medical blood chemistry equipment. I also built the computer (what I did in the Navy) to run the data base for the instrument. I was the only one in the shop that could do all the steps. When I was laid off I was making 27 and change an hour. I never understood it but the company took us off salary and made us hourly. I ended up getting a pay raise with that.The first part of the job sounds like a niche type of employment for very select employers. Can those skills with medical blood chemistry be generalized to other machines to broaden your scope of potential employers? Unfortunately IT type jobs are seeing a huge wave of decreases in salaries. Too many people flooded the market because of high salaries, and now you have an overabundance of qualified people in IT. Many colleges are now dropping their computer degree programs started less than two decades ago. Have you considered the civil service side doing the same thing you did in the Navy? USAjobs will let you know if they have similar jobs.

[Ben Hatcher]

What's your concern regarding recruiters and placement firms? First, I'd never use one that required me to pay them for the service. The employer pays them when they hire you. Other than that, the only potential problem you might run into is if you apply to a place that has a contract with a placement service that you're using. You'll get the job via the palcement service which might affect your rate.

Have you considered a temp agency? Some companies use those as a way to test drive potential new hires.

Good luck in your search.

[Greg Portland]

Biff, typing "mechanic" into Oregon Live's search engine showed 4 pages of job offerings.

Have you tried any of the luxury RV manufacturers (Marathon, etc.)? I'd have thought that their business would not be impacted (rich folks still have lots of money).

[Brian Elfert]

If anything, there is almost a shortage of IT workers in my area. My employer had some IT employees leave two years ago and we had a hard time replacing them even with high unemployment. We had an opening for an IT employee with specialized skill set during the depths of the recession. It took forever to hire someone and the first guy left after a week for a better offer. The guy we hired after that left after 18 months for a better offer again.

I have recruiters contacting me about every other week. The problem is most of them are short term contract jobs. The problem with contract jobs is they expect you to be extremely sharp (Generally zero time to get acclimated.) and they have no problems terminating your contract if they don't like you. They can terminate a contractor much easier than terminating an employee in most cases.

[Bill Cunningham]

Alberta, Canada is in a job boom...they are crying for skilled trades...you would have a job in an instant.

Was just about to type the same thing... They pay good too.. But for American needing jobs, once the political BS is over, and the Keystone pipeline from the oil sands starts back up in the U.S. The jobs will be plentiful.

[curtis rosche]

If your spanish you could come work for the company that just fired me. The spanish foreman fired all the white guys off the crew and kept all the spanish guys. Cant prove anything cause unless you have it on camera how do you judge who worked harder,,,,
But, that particular company has been hiring for months because no one stays long.

[Darcy Forman]

This has been a very interesting read for me to say the least. In my industry I can't find good experienced people to fill the jobs I am looking for. Seems like the only people out there that are applying here with any experience, are people that other employers don't want due to mental issues and such. As a result, I end up hiring many young kids out of tech school with no experience. What they lack in experience they make up for in attitude. It seems to be exactly the reverse of what all you folks down south are talking about. As an employee our economy is good. As a manager it has it's own challenges. I would like to see things here cool off a bit. A good economy also brings a crazy high cost of living as well. Houses are priced like mansions etc. Labour has goon through the roof. Here are some rates that I know of. Electricians here demand $80 dollars an hour and up. Builders want $50 to $75 per hour. Welders with a truck are about $150 dollars per hour. Stationary engineers are $40 to $55 per hour ( my industry).

[Jim Koepke]

I hope there is a special place in hell for those employers who use the bad economy to leverage good, qualified people into taking jobs at insulting pay.

There is. It happens when their department wage budget is set as the economy starts to pick up. All of there good workers leave for better jobs and no one will apply for the pittance they offer.

Biff,

Your profile doesn't show where in Oregon you are located. We live not too far from Portland. If you want to keep your work in Oregon, you might want to check with the transit companies. It might not be the kind of mechanic work you have been doing, but it should be stable. Here in Longview there is a lot of wood mill work. They have equipment and trucks that all need mechanics.

Good luck with the interview.

jtk

[Brian Elfert]

If your spanish you could come work for the company that just fired me. The spanish foreman fired all the white guys off the crew and kept all the spanish guys. Cant prove anything cause unless you have it on camera how do you judge who worked harder,,,,
But, that particular company has been hiring for months because no one stays long.

A friend of mine worked for a restaurant. All of the cooks were Hispanic and spoke Spanish. A white guy applied for a job as cook and the manager didn't hire him because he couldn't speak Spanish. It seems a little strange when you can't got a job because you don't speak Spanish.

[Rich Riddle]

A delicate balance exists between fair wages and fair amounts of work; many people fail to realize that. Employees deserve fair wages for their jobs, and employers deserve a fair amount of work for wages paid. Throughout history one side or the other has needed readjustment. Unions workers inspired employers to pay higher wages, but unfortunately they have become as greedy as the people they loath. Wages soared for most people, even those in semi-skilled jobs at best. The bubble popped; reality has set in. No one wants to pay someone $30 an hour to dig a hole.

Many of us here became proficient at skills to avoid overpaying for semi-skilled labor. With a few years experience working about half time around the house I have found only one finish carpenter more skilled and no rough-in carpenters. It made sense to work half-time and avoid overpaying someone else. The one area lacking for me was welding. The last welder I paid $150 for about twenty minutes work laughed and implied if I could do all the other work around the house with construction I could learn welding in a day. I enrolled in a class for about $500 and no longer need to pay a welder for the little jobs around here.

The truth is that if you want to be treated fairly with wages, work productively an invest in yourself to get skills that make you invaluable. When you do that then you will face fewer layoffs due to volatile occupations. If an occupation exists with high wages where many people can master the skill, you can bet the occupational area will get flooded and wages will plummet. Look at the fast falling salaries in computer fields. Don't tie yourself to a market with limited or seasonal employment opportunities.

The days our grandfathers enjoyed of working for the same employer for forty years have mostly passed; that's unfortunate. But in all honesty, I haven't seen the professionalism associated with work exemplified by my grandfather's generation.

[Brian Elfert]

One problem with invaluable skills is if you don't have to be physically present the jobs are going to other countries. Someone in India will do your $40 an hour job for $12 an hour and be the best paid person in their neighborhood. I've heard of people in India supporting an entire extended family on $12 an hour.

A friend of mine was an IT contractor making big bucks per hour. The company he was contracting for thought he was costing too much so they hired another firm to take over the contract. The new firm hired four or five people from India to do the work. The silly thing is they moved these workers from India to America so they had to pay American wages. It would have cost far less for them to work from India. It turned out the new firm couldn't do the work so my friend was kept on anyhow. I heard later that the firm who hired the Indians lost a lot of money on the deal, but they were willing to lose money to get in the door at a Fortune 500 company. Not going to get much future business if you can't do the work on the first contract.

[Rich Riddle]

One problem with invaluable skills is if you don't have to be physically present the jobs are going to other countries.
Invaluable skills most times can't be outsources to other countries. For instance, one cannot most likely outsource jobs that must be done locally whether it's repairing one's automobile or performing surgery. If you hang your hat on the information technology or customer service occupations, you didn't pick the right occupational fields.

The people who complain about foreign residents taking their jobs are the same people who will purchase the least costly items produced, soap for instance. Soaps are only worth x amount of dollars to most people, nothing more. Manufacturers of soap know that. Buyers know it. It's my belief that greed got into the mix and tried to replace fairness. Greedy employers and greedy employees never mix well because they will out-price themselves.

[Brian Elfert]

The days our grandfathers enjoyed of working for the same employer for forty years have mostly passed; that's unfortunate. But in all honesty, I haven't seen the professionalism associated with work exemplified by my grandfather's generation.

This is a two way street. Are you really to give it your all and do your best if you knew the company had no loyalty and would lay you off in a heartbeat?

Companies years ago recognized that employees are valuable and would do their best to keep them employed even if it meant losing a few bucks. Now days employees are seen as liabilities.

[Brian Elfert]

Invaluable skills most times can't be outsources to other countries. For instance, one cannot most likely outsource jobs that must be done locally whether it's repairing one's automobile or performing surgery. If you hang your hat on the information technology or customer service occupations, you didn't pick the right occupational fields.


At the time many of us got into IT field it was very difficult to have someone on the other side of the world do IT work remotely. A lot has changed in recent years that now makes it possible for a lot of IT work to be done anywhere in the world.

I'm sure a lot of might choose differently on a career path if we had a crystal ball. Mechanics are always needed, but it is hard on the body. I know a few mechanics who got out of the business early to save their bodies.

[Rich Riddle]

At the time many of us got into IT field it was very difficult to have someone on the other side of the world do IT work remotely. A lot has changed in recent years that now makes it possible for a lot of IT work to be done anywhere in the world.

I'm sure a lot of might choose differently on a career path if we had a crystal ball. Mechanics are always needed, but it is hard on the body. I know a few mechanics who got out of the business early to save their bodies.
I had no crystal ball and was in the IT field but changed when it became evident the direction IT was moving. All that old knowledge needs continual training it didn't much matter since I was either going to continually study to stay in the IT field or learn a new skill. Either choice required extensive education. You are correct, many people leave blue collar jobs because of health reasons.

[Rich Riddle]

This is a two way street. Are you really to give it your all and do your best if you knew the company had no loyalty and would lay you off in a heartbeat?

Companies years ago recognized that employees are valuable and would do their best to keep them employed even if it meant losing a few bucks. Now days employees are seen as liabilities.
It would be interesting to review the professional journals and literature supporting the claim that employees are seen as liabilities. You could always be loyal to yourself and start a company and keep all the proceeds. That does involve some risks though.

[Brian Elfert]

I had my own business. I got out while the getting was still good. There used to be over 50 businesses in my local area doing the same thing. There might be 5 local businesses that made it. Over time most of the 50 businesses sold out as they all saw the writing on the wall. I decided to sell well before I was forced to do so and made out pretty good. The cable companies and telcos now dominate the business.

I decided working for someone else is easier as I don't have to worry about making payroll and all that.

[Rich Riddle]

I had my own business. I decided working for someone else is easier as I don't have to worry about making payroll and all that.That's a decision many people render. People routinely want to complain about employers and jobs but rarely want all the responsibilities associated with working for themselves or hiring others. It's a very eye opening experience to become the employer.

[Montgomery Scott]

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20121028/BIZ/710289993