How the Hell Do You Get Paid Employment in Oregon?

In 1989, I gave up a good paying job in California to move to the Coos Bay/North Bend area of Oregon to raise my son in a small, friendly community. I spent the next nine years going broke on $10 an hour jobs, in spite of my experience and knowledge as a controller in the construction industry. After my son graduated from high school in 1997, I was offered a well-paid job by my former California employer. Being desperately broke, I accepted the job and spent the next seven years financially stable, yet miserable in a job that I hated, in an environment that I hated even more. In 2006, I moved back to Oregon, and have been broke every since.

Upon my return to Oregon, I spent the first couple of years in the Philomath/Corvallis area focusing on my Business and Life Coaching consulting business. It didn't take long for me to realize that it was going to take a lot more time and resources to get this enterprise going than I had available. So I began splitting my time between life coaching and looking for viable employment.

While my lack of success at securing a paid job might be blamed on the bad economy, the fact is that there have been numerous jobs available, of which I am highly qualified, that I have applied for and received not even an offer for an interview.

So now I'm thinking about doing a survey of individuals in my area who have been hired into well-paid jobs over the past three or four years to find out how they went about it. What did they say in their cover letters? Did they already know somebody? Did they take a job that they were well suited for and are now enjoy? In short, I want to know how the hell to get a paid job in Oregon.

Now just to confirm that I am as qualified as I claim to be, I have lots of job offers to perform feats of greatness on a volunteer basis. For instance, I spent a year organizing and running a youth camp for teenagers in Oregon. I am at the end of a year as editor of a monthly online newsletter for my service club. I was a frequent contributor of photographs to my local paper until it went under. And I helped save an historic theatre in downtown Corvallis. And the list goes on. (Resume available upon request. LOL)

I thoroughly enjoy working and helping each of the organizations where I volunteer. And I will continue giving to my community and the world. But damnit, I need a little cash to pay the bills. In 2008, I sold my van for $10,000, trying to keep from losing our house. We lost it to foreclosure anyway. For several years, my partner and I shared a single vehicle until it broke down last winter. Now she walks and rides her bike, while I take the bus, which is not an easy feat in Philomath, since buses don't run all that often and there is no service on the weekends.

This is the point where people suggest that I leave the area and seek employment in Portland or Eugene. But again, I say "damnit." I know there are jobs in this areas. I have applied for many of them. I grew up in Los Angeles County, and I refuse to return to a life of living like a sardine. Even if it means not making mass quantities of money.