Hello my name is Luis and I live in Puerto Rico. My dream is to move to New Hampshire and start a new life. I’ve been there once and had an amazing time. Climbing Mt. Lafayette is unforgettable. Im a free state project signer and found out about Keene and this movement through Wikipedia (leading me to this forum). Im here because I am a voluntaryist and just wanted to introduce myself and ask a few questions. Since a few of you live there I wanted to know more about the job market especially concerning people without college degrees (me). How easy is it to find a job? This is really what’s kept me from leaving. Internet job searching and applying isn’t really productive, thousands do it and I don’t really stand out.
Welcome! From the people I’ve talked to over the years, they say it’s easier to find work when you actually get here. Obviously it helps to have savings to get you through the downtime. Retail jobs are available in all the cities, so if you’re not picky and have a good work ethic, you should get hired quickly if you’re actively applying.
Some have said it can help to apply from a distance if you can acquire a 603 area code phone number in advance, but that otherwise, it’s best to be here.
Feel free to shoot out any other questions.
I was thinking about staying for a while over there to see if I could land something for those same reasons. Any idea of how much time I should plan for? Also is there any place one can go to for job advertisements or is just better to move around looking for help wanted signs?. Thanks for the phone number tip Ill see if I can change it or get one.
Getting a job without a college degree is quite easy. Getting a good paying job without a college degree is - harder - but not impossible. What are your skills and interests?
Check the usual venues, Craigslist, Indeed, Monster, Classifieds, and walk around. Every now and then if we spot something we’ll post in the Jobs subforum here, but there aren’t enough people on this forum to make that truly useful.
I’ve had a couple roommates who do CNC machining. They both found jobs pretty quickly. One came with enough saved to live without working for six months. He enjoyed his time relaxing and meeting people then found a gig in Manchester. The other came and found work literally within three days, but in northern Mass.
Nether has a degree, but then again they are skilled so your mileage may vary.
Then again living in NH is pretty darn affordable.
Holy crap, Mackler - are you still around the Shire? Haven’t seen you in forever.
Well my work experience is not vast. I worked a summer job in a pharmacy for 2 years. I was mostly tasked with orders, stock, the cash register, and the floor. Im also fluent in Spanish and English. In terms of education I have a few college credits in business administration. My top interest would have to be nature, economy, history, politics, and philosophy. Im not picky I just want to get something so I can start earning more job experience and work up from there.
Yeah I read that if you’re skilled you can find something pretty fast.Unfortunately that is not my case, I need to earn more experience. 6 months of savings is a lot haha. Id probably be able to scrounge up enough for something like two months. I have never heard of CNC machining before, there are so many things out there that were never told about in the supposed prep for life that is school.
Unemployment rate in NH is lowest in nation. If you try, you will have a job in < 30 days. http://www.nhes.nh.gov/elmi/statistics/laus-data.htm
I moved to nh for the FSP in 08. I, and a few other free staters, are currently in Puerto Rico. Message me if you want to get together for lunch.
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I think if I were younger in a low pay job I’d save up a bit and just move. There is some risk involved, but if you are motivated chances are you’ll do just fine. If your not the motivated type… eee might be a bit harder. We have a number of unmotivated types here and they manage to get by going six months or more without employment. That just boggles my mind… but the point is people do get lower paid jobs easily enough that I wouldn’t worry about moving in and then not being able to get something (again- provided your motivated- and actually start submitting resumes, calling about jobs, following up with resume submissions, etc).
When I say “low” pay I mean $9-12 / hr which is enough to live off if you are single and in the Keene, New Hampshire area. New Hampshire has jobs that pay $75,000+ / year too, but that often is going to go a really long way here. Like, two cars, a house, kids, a non-working partner kinda far. When I moved from New Jersey to New Hampshire I got nearly twice the house I could afford in New Jersey. I downgraded slightly from a 4 bedroom two car garage to a three bedroom two car garage. The house I have currently here would probably fetch close to twice as much in New Jersey… the only downside to Keene is the high property taxes. I pay less here none-the-less, but it’s more than I was, but that’s mostly due to the fact I only actually owned half the house (thus I paid half the property tax bill) that I owned back in NJ (which was also worth twice as much).