OT - Duluth Job Market

[bigshow]

Greetings - long time lurker....

My wife and I would love, love, love to relocate to the Duluth area. I work in information technology (LAN/WAN admin) and the mrs has a masters in secondary english education and also 10 years retail store management. From my intial searches it appears as though Duluth has had a gradual population decrease over the past 50 years, and i see talk of a high school closings. any residents feel that relocation is doable in our respective career fields? Or have insight to Duluth's future?

i apologize for breaking up the fishing talk - but this is about the only forum i've seen with Duluth residents actively posting....

thanks for any information you can share with me....

[Northlander]

Job market in Duluth isnt very good and I dont see it improving any time soon. Yes they were talking of closing Denfeld High School wich was one stupid idea.

If your looking for a good paying job in your fields I would look elsewhere. If your willing to work for less so you can enjoy the beauty of the area and not have to deal with high crime rates and crowds than give it a shot.

[CrappieJohn]

Bigshow....

Welcome to FishingMinnesota.com! We are happy to see you become visible and also hope that you continue to join in.

The Duluth/Range/Ely forum is perhaps the most agreesive we have and you'll find a lot of support here. Do some internet searching and see what's there.

Duluth itself is a wonderful city with a million things to get yourself involved with. I'm sure you would find the move rewarding. The job market is perhaps a bit tough there right now, but then the job market anywhere is going to be tough in the upper midwest.

Again, welcome to the boards here and make yourself at home and known. Good to hear from you!

[Northlander]

"Agreesive" Tom? Ok ya we agree we agressive up here in da Duluth/Bwca/Range forum. Thats a good thing right?

Bigshow Im sorry I didnt welcome you earlier. So WELCOME to the Duluth/Bwca forum and FM. Like Tom said jump on in and get wet. Lots of fun to be had in this neck of the woods.

[83walleye]

Don't sell yourselves short. Salary levels are lower up here, but there are jobs around. Monster.com is a good source to start. If you can find a full-time job, your wife could sub in the public school system at $115/day, or possibly teach at one of the colleges ad hoc. UMD, Lake Superior College, UW-Superior, Fond Du Lac CC(Cloquet), St Scholastica all ocasionally employ instructors on a per-course basis.

Duluth is a great place to live and raise a family. Sure late Feb - end of March sucks, but there's alot to do. People are generally very outdoor-oriented, and bad weather rarely slows people down.

[OUTDOORNUT]

I'm a transplant, making what I made driving to the Cities, plus my house payment is less than what my rent was. There is no traffic jams, no problems understanding the person behind any counter, and the fishing and the hunting is awesome!

The schools in Duluth seems to have a few issues, but there are plenty of options if your worried about the Duluth Public schools. (Proctor, Hermantown, Esko, etc.)

Don just look at the wages, you have to look at the quality of life and weigh that against the wage difference.

My wife was hellbent on coming here, now she wouldn't leave.

Like my dad said "It isn't like you can't come back, if things don't work out"

[Green&Gold]

Like others have already mentioned, you have to reconcile the wage differences with the quality of life and don't forget the cost of living up here. I think we often forget how cheap some things are up here compared to the metro areas. I don't know where you currently reside, but I can't believe what I purchased my house for compared to how much I would have to pay for the same house in say, St. Paul. Also has anyone else noticed how much a good mixed drink costs here (especially in "Soup Town") compared to your average bar in the Cities? I'm sure these are not the only 2 discrepancies.

As far as the job market goes, don't forget that SMDC (St. Mary's-Duluth Clinic) is opening up a large new cancer center. This will open up many new high paying jobs. I know neither you or your wife are in the health care field, but I would bet that SMDC will be looking to fill a few more IT positions. I work for St. Louis County and I know our MIS department is interviewing for several position as I write. I'm not sure about the teaching market, but a Master's is definitely not going to hurt. Oh and one more thing, my take on the school issues is that they are not as much of a result of decreasing numbers as they are of decreasing funds. I think we are all getting hit pretty hard by budget cuts. Anyway, just my opinion...

[Skunked-Rookie]

What kind of an education do you have? Also when you say you work in information technology (LAN/WAN admin) where and who do you work for. My Friend has worked for Compudyne in Duluth for many yrs now and it sounds like they have always been a pretty good company to work for. Heres their site if you want to take a look http://www.compudyne.net

Also like someone just said about SMDC and the new expansion they are usually always looking for somebody, I know a guy that used to work at Compudyne that went to go work there, I think that it has gone vica versa also.

If you are good at what you do sometimes these places will hire you even if they are not really looking, just because it is so hard to find good reliable help.

As for your wife there are lots of different schools for her to look for work at, Duluth, HermanTown, Two Harbors, Proctor, Superior, Esko, Cloquet, Carlton.

Good luck to you in your search.

[bigshow]

HA HA HA HA...wages, you guys are killing me. I live in South Dakota i dont ever believe i've seen a 'decent' paycheck in my life, not to mention the lowest teacher salaries in the union. I'm simply interested in Duluth b/c i believe that area to be the 9th wonder of the world - beyond gorgeous. I begrudgingly went on a family trip with the inlaws 6 years ago to Lake Vermilion, have been sold on the landscape ever since - i usually spend my month of vacation up in the BWCA sitting back or brushing up on log building. A fair wage is all i'm looking for. I appreciate the responses! looks like a good bunch here...

Oh and to answer a question - I'm a network admin for a college - i do absolutely everything except programming - i havent coded since college.

[Steve Foss]

bigshow (or should I say Grizzly Adams?):

Welcome to the best board on FM.

I moved from North Dakota to Superior over 4 years ago, and lived in Superior about two years before moving to Ely. My wife and I took big pay RAISES to come to Duluth from North Dakota, where salaries are low. Duluth only looks low compared with the Twin Cities and other, bigger metropolises.

Your and your wife's fields are both in demand in general, and in Duluth you'll find it's no different, even though the economy is not booming. The key is that you need to find out about those openings and be confident and prompt in replying when you do. If you do that and have talent, good things will come your way. My wife, who works as a computer graphic designer and pre-press technician for print publications, got a great job offer in 2001 just two days before I got mine, and east we came. It was the best move we ever made, and you can do it too. As far as I'm concerned, people make their own luck.

The Duluth News Tribune (where I got a job as city editor supervising coverage of public safety, local education and state politics) posts most of its classified ads online. It also wouldn't hurt to buy a weekend DNT subscription (Sunday's the big want ad day of the week) to get a look at the ads not online. Do a Web search and you'll find the DNT Web site. You should also do a Web search for the Duluth Chamber of Commerce and contact them to see other ways to find out about open jobs.

With your specific computer experience, you'll find there will be jobs opening up around Duluth now and then, and the education and retail background your wife has is a good fit, too.

Don't worry about the schools issue. Duluth has a history of wanting small classrooms, lots of elementary schools nearby and three (yeah, three!) high schools. What they're going through is not growing pains, but shrinking pains, and no one wants to lose their school as the district drops facilities to come more in line with population. The public schools are good schools in Duluth and Superior, and if they're not good enough to suit you, there are plenty of private schools and academies around. In fact, that's one of the reasons enrolllment hasn't been so good in the public school system.

Good teachers are always in demand, and duluth also has as thriving retail market

[evntam]

Too much info to post here, and too little time!

For starters, if we talk St. Louis County only, check out their website. Look up the Planning department, and find the information from the 2000 census for SLC. In 2000, the County had 20,000 less people than in 1970, I'd bet that the revamping of some of the mines had a lot to do with that. There are lots of jobs in Duluth and the surrounding area, in my opinion. Its an "apples to oranges" comparison if people want to compare our area to the metro Mpls/St. Paul market.

The world of work is continually changing, adn St. Louis County's workforce is getting older (aging in place) - Not just the employer, but the whole County. Also, I saw a stat that only 17% of jobs actually get posted in newspapers, so get creative. Start with the different area Chamber of Commerce, and to get listings of businesses. Since you won't find them all there, get a local phone book, and start inquiring with companies.

I work in Human Resources in St. Louis County, by the way.

I wish you luck.

[Animal]

The Duluth area is a regional retailing, medical and educational center for the surrounding area. The job market here is very strong for skilled workers. Housing is very reasonable with 250K getting you a really nice house. 175K will get you a nice place just smaller. The Duluth population is falling and the schools are losing students because the economy in Duluth does not provide entry level employment with decent wages so the young people move south to the Twin Cites area for employment. They are also the group that have the children which explains part of the decrease in enrollement. The other part of the decline in enrollment is competion by Charter and priviate schools. Home schooling is also on the rise.

On the other hand many of those that moved away at age 20-25 move back 10-15 years later when their job skills match the available employement in the area.

The Duluth area has negatives and positives. The negatives include declining a city infrastructure like streets, sewers and water systems that will require a couple 100 million to fix. Politicians that tend to invest public dollars in development projects that return little in real improvement to the economy and they continue to fail to address the infrastructure problems. The Duluth area has a property valuation system that in many cases over-values homes much higher than the actual cash value. This results in annual property tax increases of about 10%.

On the positive side the crime rate is very low and most areas of the city are safe to walk around in. There are signs that new age developers are starting to get there hands around positive development ideas in housing and retail. The big plus is that they are providing the financing for these projects. There is a new aviation industry that is booming and I hear they are looking at manufacturing jets. Retail is getting more deverse and the big box stores are getting lots of compitition from small businesses who are targeting the savy shopper. Living near Lake Superior is the big bonus. There is never a day that the lake doesn't provide a new experience. If you like to fish, hunt, ski, snow shoe or just walk around the woods then Duluth is the place.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate the Duluth area a 7 for quality of life mainly because of the declining infrastructure, and a 4 for thoughtful progressive economic development.

The Chamber of Commerce offers a relo package, and the City of Duluth has a job sevice. Monster has lots of Duluth area job offerings.

[upnorth]

Bigshow, I too work in IT, Windows AD/Exchange and LAN/WAN design and administration. I used to live in Duluth but I moved north to find decent paying work. Been trying to find something comparable in Duluth for a few years, there are some openings in Duluth but with the few openings in IT and the amount of colleges graduating people with IT degrees in the area it is pretty hard to find decent work.

If you decide to move to the area I wish you better luck than I have had finding decent work in the area

[chunkytrout]

BigShow. welcome to FM and one of the finest boards on the site. My wife and I transplanted to Ely from MPLS about 8 years ago and will never go back. Yes we took pay cuts, but that pales in comparison to what I wake up to every morning. Duluth has much to offer and we love visiting "the Big City" when we get a chance. Good luck and you came to the right place.

Up North, you at NWA?

[WB make the CUT]

BIG Show

Try Cirrus Design, growning IT Department.

Also St Mary's

Check Monster.com

Good Luck!

And welcome

[bigshow]

Cool..thanks for the advice all...sounds like pretty much my current situation - IT is a tough market here too, but a skilled fella can pretty much find something if he looks hard enough at the right time...i'm more worried about my wife..just the potentially shrinking High School situation - but any of the surrounding towns work too...well i guess i'll find out first hand spring/summer....

[chaffmj]

Chunkytrout,

If you don't mind, what do you and your wife do for a living now and before you moved to Ely. I live in St. Paul and my wife and I are planning on moving to Ely in about 5 years. I design printed circuit boards and she is a pharmacist.

[upnorth]

No, I work at the hospital in Hibbing.

[chunkytrout]

Oddly enough I was a trim carpenter in the cities but had a background in electronics. My wife has always been a waitress. When we moved here, there wasn't any openings for trim carpenters and ended up getting hired by a security system company.I did that for four years and moved on to become an electrician. It's been a good job for me up here. We tried to move up here a few times before it actually happened.

[chaffmj]

Thanks for the reply Chunkytrout. I am hoping to make it up to the B-Side bash and meet some of you guys.

[Jiffy]

I like the picture bigshow. Is that a portrait of yourself?

[bigshow]

Quote:

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I like the picture bigshow. Is that a portrait of yourself?

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haahahaha oh god no.. thats dan haggarty aka Grizzly Adams.

looks like my dad though!

[Jiffy]

ya, I know. I like it!

[Papa Woodie]

I work for a company in Duluth called 50Below Sales & Marketing (www.50below.com).

We have the following positions open, and number of people we are looking to hire for each job...

5 x Data Stewards

4 x .NET Developers of varying experience

1 x Network Engineer

2 x DBA

1 x Visual Designer (XML, XSL, CSS)

If anyone is interested, see the MN job bank to apply @ www.mnworks.org or send a resume to [email protected]. For any specifics on job descriptions etc, please email me @ [email protected] honestly is a great company to work for with excellent work ethics and excellent starting salary! Where else in Duluth can you start out a job @ 9.00 an hour by hitting CTRL C and CTRL V all day (copy & paste) entering data into a custom built program by our developers....viewing ATV Accessories, Snowmobile Accessories etc...(powersports)! Perfect job!

Serious inquiries only please!

Resume = [email protected]

Question on specific job description = [email protected]

[upnorth]

You got mail

[Papa Woodie]

I received your email, and will respond tomorrow with the job description and extra info you are looking for once i receive it from the manager of that departmnet.

Thanks for the interest!

FYI to all: 50Below Builds/hosts/maintains websites for the financial (Baird, Smith Barney, Piper Jaffry, American Express), powersports (Arctic Cat dealers, Polaris Dealers etc & also their dealer locators...see www.arcticcatdealers.com ... this is put up, maintained, and hosted by 50below in duluth..we also work in Medical industry, and tire industry.)

We do custom built websites or templated websites for different dealers, and also provide ecommerce to these dealers if they purchase that product. We custom build all our programs (ecommerce, online dealer website editors etc) in house.

That is a very brief description of what the company does, with that in mind, you can imagine all the departments we currently have (Creative to build the sites, sales to sell, customer service to do edits, data to load yearly parts/accessories catalogs for ecommerce, Tech Support to support our many servers located on our premis, as well as a secure location away from our property, marketing group to do marketing of our products, Flash, and many levels of programmers with different languages...

[Steve Foss]

Papa, my wife is a Web page designer with several clients. Does your company need designers, and, if so, what's the pay?

[Papa Woodie]

Let me pass your post and email onto the Creative Manager and have him respond to you!

Who knew alot of folks on FM are actually Computer Geeks!

I'm a self proclaimed computer geek. All my jobs since i was 16 have been working on a computer. Makes ya nice N plump for the winter!