Portland Job Market (how much, minimum wage, young professionals)

[Swan Dive]

How is the Portland Job Market doing in the economy. Im originally from BC Canada. I have a dual citizenship. I am currently in Florida post MBA, out of work 2 years and counting. Im think about going back to the PNW how are you guys holding up right now? is everyone doing ok or is there mass unemployment?

[hamellr]

The economy depends on what kind of job you're looking for. General IT, minimum wage jobs (except for Christmas Season,) Law jobs, Architects, web developers, some types of Nurses are all still pretty bad. On the other hand if you have certain specific skills like Engineering or Java/IOS/Ruby programming skills you'll have a job within a few weeks at most.

An MBA is in the middle, and a two year hole in your resume is going to put you at the bottom of the pile. You should look into Networking and Volunteering to fill that hole, Young Professionals of Portland is a good way to do both here in PDX.

[Swan Dive]

Well like allot of people if you haven't noticed have a jobless problem, it chronic here in the US it's on the news every night

[Swan Dive]

Originally Posted by hamellr

The economy depends on what kind of job you're looking for. General IT, minimum wage jobs (except for Christmas Season,) Law jobs, Architects, web developers, some types of Nurses are all still pretty bad. On the other hand if you have certain specific skills like Engineering or Java/IOS/Ruby programming skills you'll have a job within a few weeks at most.

An MBA is in the middle, and a two year hole in your resume is going to put you at the bottom of the pile. You should look into Networking and Volunteering to fill that hole, Young Professionals of Portland is a good way to do both here in PDX.

my mother has 30 years IT experience and was out of a work for a year. I think you're under estimating how bad things are

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Swan Dive

my mother has 30 years IT experience and was out of a work for a year. I think you're under estimating how bad things are

I have 20 years of IT experience and was out of work for almost two years. General IT experience (help desk, desktop support, Server Admin,) jobs are still hard to get, but starting to get better.

But specific skills, Ruby, IOS, and Java programming are very easy to get, I'm hit up at least once a week by a recruiter looking for one of those skills, so if your mother has those skills and needs a job, PM me her contact info.

[Beenhere4ever]

First, there's a huge difference between unemployment in different job markets. A lot of people target the location rather than the job. I think that leads to very long periods of no work. I always worked in IT, and my contract jobs pretty much filled all the time between my permanent jobs. I didn't WANT a two year period where I had to "explain" what I was doing in that time frame. Longer you do nothing, the worse interviewers are going to look at you. It may be unfair, but they may not themselves have those long periods and wonder about your real ambition. And just moving around the country regardless of conditions at your destination may also be interpreted as a lack of seriousness and practicality. So you can go ahead, do what you want, and gamble. But if you draw poor cards, then don't forget you gambled. Don't blame it on a "poor economy". Because over 9 out of 10 people nationwide are working. People with no work are a small, shrinking minority.

[Steve Pickering]

I am pretty sure those in the 10% don't consider themselves a shrinking minority.

[Swan Dive]

Originally Posted by hamellr

I have 20 years of IT experience and was out of work for almost two years. General IT experience (help desk, desktop support, Server Admin,) jobs are still hard to get, but starting to get better.

But specific skills, Ruby, IOS, and Java programming are very easy to get, I'm hit up at least once a week by a recruiter looking for one of those skills, so if your mother has those skills and needs a job, PM me her contact info.

She found something in OCT. I want to know how is Oregon doing in the economy, some states are doing better than others

[Swan Dive]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

First, there's a huge difference between unemployment in different job markets. A lot of people target the location rather than the job. I think that leads to very long periods of no work. I always worked in IT, and my contract jobs pretty much filled all the time between my permanent jobs. I didn't WANT a two year period where I had to "explain" what I was doing in that time frame. Longer you do nothing, the worse interviewers are going to look at you. It may be unfair, but they may not themselves have those long periods and wonder about your real ambition. And just moving around the country regardless of conditions at your destination may also be interpreted as a lack of seriousness and practicality. So you can go ahead, do what you want, and gamble. But if you draw poor cards, then don't forget you gambled. Don't blame it on a "poor economy". Because over 9 out of 10 people nationwide are working. People with no work are a small, shrinking minority.

have you not been paying attention the past few years?. I send out resume daily I get nothing this is all over the country.

[kyled]

Originally Posted by hamellr

But specific skills, Ruby, IOS, and Java programming are very easy to get, I'm hit up at least once a week by a recruiter looking for one of those skills, so if your mother has those skills and needs a job, PM me her contact info.

Out of curiosity, how much skill do you need to have in those in order for it to become easy to get a job? I've been working as a freelance web developer lately, starting a couple iOS apps too, and should my current success continue for another year I'd like to move to Portland. However, it would be nice to have the option to get a more stable job should the need arise.