Am I overanalyzing our economy in relation to jobs/rent in Portland? :O

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Permalink Reply by Lorri E. on October 25, 2008 at 7:07pm

You might contact a few of our temp agencies and consulting firms to put a toe in the water on the job market. At least then you will have an idea before you take the leap. I would think there is always some work for good IT and data entry people, but it is usually a matter of getting your foot in the door first. Let me know if you want a few agency names. This is how I got started when I moved to Portland years ago, and it worked out well for me.

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Permalink Reply by Johnny on October 25, 2008 at 7:17pm

Domo arigato for the quick, thoughtful response! Yeah, I'm currently temping with Kelly Services for AllState here and while I'm not nuts about insurance companies, it's better than nothing and would be up there as well if I can't find something more art-oriented, or failing that, IT-oriented.

I'd definitely be very grateful for some agency names over there. Now I'm just looking to find out where to move before rooms/apts become too difficult to get ahold of(unless that's being exaggerated greatly.) The forums on that subject seem to have very mixed feedback.

See? I say people are friendly up there and they immediately offer help. Why can't most of the country be like this? :)

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Permalink Reply by Lorri E. on October 26, 2008 at 8:39am

Portland is just a good place :-) We attract like minded people, I guess. Yes, so it's been a while since I was temping, but here are some agencies (it's been years since I used one, so I can't vouch for them personally):
Monster link to Portland data entry listings
Volt
Ajilon
ATSI (staffs IT positions)
Kelly Services
Manpower

And...I don't know if you use LinkedIn.com, but that might not be a bad way to start building local business connections and contacts. Like I said, it seems like half the battle is getting your foot in the door someplace, and once you've proven yourself, lots more opportunities open up. So, if you are willing to temp a few jobs until you find the right "gig" to settle into--if it gets you to the city and lifestyle that you want, it really could make it worthwhile. I don't know what sort of art job you want to get into, but with a large and growing Portland creative class, again, I would think once you were here, and started meeting people and networking, that would become easier. IT jobs are probably better at paying the bills, though ;-) Or at least, paying the bills until you are settled and have more choices.

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Permalink Reply by Johnny on October 29, 2008 at 11:02pm

Hey,

Thanks so much for all the instant help with this! This all looks good, and it's really just an issue of waiting until I feel I've saved up enough that I can't possibly have to move away from there should I go very long without work at any point after moving up there. I do hear you can't really be hired from out-of-state there on top of seeing some charts listing employment outlook in Portland as "very weak," but I might as well update my resume and start getting at least *remotely* testing the water. I just wish I could be there tomorrow morning instead of in 2-4 months, which is my estimate right now.

I do currently work for Kelly Services, and once worked for Volt for nearly a year, so that could be an easier ticket to employment than a lot of other options.

In my case, "art" mainly just means acting, no-budget filmmaking, and making music of many kinds(usually falling into indie rock/electronic somehow.) I don't expect a million-dollar contract right after I'm off the plane, but the scene there feels very genuine to me on a level I don't see in many places and if it'll click with me anywhere outside of Europe I'm sure it'll be here.

And yes, I'll probably put some effort into the IT jobs while I wait to become a rich, paid artist of whatever type, but I hope that doesn't require me having a degree yet because this is where I'd like to start going to school. :)

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Permalink Reply by Lorri E. on October 30, 2008 at 7:41am

You can usually get a job in IT with some technical certifications and a little experience (degree is helpful, but not always required). The MCP, MCSE, Comptia Network+ and basic developer or Sys Admin certifications would probably help you get your foot in the door even at a temp agency. You can usually study for these on your own, then go take the exam. Or, Portland Community College offers some courses that aren't as outrageously expensive as other schools. The job outlook for network engineers and software engineers is continued to be projected higher and higher, so it is not a bad thing to learn. Start with Network + (N+), and go from there...

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Permalink Reply by Johnny on October 30, 2008 at 3:22pm

Haven't heard of these, but maybe they'd work for my field (I only did QA in IT, which was pretty basic software testing and sometimes required little more than playing games to measure average player movements or taking screenshots of different things, but did sometimes require a creative role, and this included in-game ads at one of my jobs.) I have no developer experience or anything like that, but it still looks better on my resume that I helped with QA on bestselling games than it would if I'd never done anything but enter missing zip codes into a website! :)

I'll dedicate some time to figuring out how those sites work and if they'll utilize my experience. Thanks another billion!

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Permalink Reply by David Mitchell on November 28, 2008 at 9:49am

I just joined here yesterday and am very impressed with how helpful the people are here. But I shouldn't be I'm originally from Oregon too, I miss it. I got relocated to FL five years ago and sure miss the progressive vibe of Oregon, as well as the mountains, the coast, Portland and Eugene.

I never lived in Portland, but it is where I want come go back to. If I could I'd already be there, but finances are tight. I'm working for Kelly too and thankful to have a job right now. I'll be working on online some extra income online after the holidays and hopefully be able to get that built up enough by Summer to move. By fall I hope to be in Portland Community Collage, for the basics to move on to an advanced degree.

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Permalink Reply by Johnny on December 4, 2008 at 10:26pm

Well, good luck with that. I hope that now that I'll have saved up around $7k instead of my original intention of $3k which escalated to $5k I'll have enough to counter any temporary trouble I have finding work right away. The crash isn't making me any more certain it'll be easy, but I've already bought my plane ticket and am not at all regretting that. I want to live there badly enough that I'll do pretty much anything not to have to leave Portland.

One of my best friends lives in Tallahassee and despite coming from a very southern family in every sense of the word is the exception among them and doesn't belong there at all. He's stuck there so he doesn't risk losing a huge inheritance though so I see his reasoning I think.

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Permalink Reply by David Mitchell on December 10, 2008 at 4:13pm

I'm be working on getting to the point where I don't have to find a job for income, so that I can live wherever I like, and that is Portland!

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Permalink Reply by Laura on November 1, 2008 at 4:06pm

ATSI group is good for Software type jobs - temp and temp to hire

It wouldn't hurt to sign up with more creative firms, like Aquent.com and RightBrainResource.com - if they don't handle your particular specialty, they will know an agency that does

Intel has *lots* of contractors/subcontractors out in Hillsboro - one is called CDI -
http://www.cdicorp.com/

Also post your resume on Dice.com - that will get recruiters calling you - my advice is only deal with local recruiters, never give them money, and a current resume/cover letter is all that they need.
Well caveat with CDI because i think they're headquartered in North Carolina

you *may* want to try Robert Half (rht.com) tho I've heard their practices are shady

And don't forget Craigslist :)

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Permalink Reply by Johnny on November 1, 2008 at 8:03pm

Hadn't heard of most of those. Creative firms definitely sound good to me. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Kelley on November 5, 2008 at 1:29pm

Have you considered a roommate? You and I are in the same boat and maybe we could help each other out for the first couple months while we both get settled up there. Just a thought.

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