Good luck!!! You and your husband should have no problem finding work. Everywhere you look there are help wanted signs. There is so much going on that it seems that every trade or occupation is short of help. Anyone can get a job.

Cheers Al

Good luck with the move!
At least you will be still in the Far North zone wise.

I get the Calgary country station at work via satellite.
If I know anything about Calgary it is that there is plenty of work.
Finding affordable housing may be another matter.

BTW mining is going through a boom and is scrambling for employees.
A lot of the miners where I work are, like myself, baby boomers and there are now guys in their twenties coming in. There arenÂt a lot of guys in the ages between those two groups. A lot of us baby boomers will be retiring in the not too distant future.
Ian

How exciting! Any idea what line of work you're looking for? There certainly are plenty of work opportunities here right now, everything from service industry to techinical to skilled labour. The housing situation is a bit tight right now, you might want to look into that closly before you get here.

We are moving too, but not until the end of the year, we are building a house (woohoo!) so will have a new yard (mud and all) to deal with come next spring.

Keep us posted on your progress & if you have any questions just ask!

Let me be the first to say "Welcome to Alberta"!! There is a lot of work to be had out here. Ian mentioned mining. There is also a lot of oil field related work (big surprise right??)

From DH's experience, the small companies can be good or bad. Some can be really good and offer competitive wages, and they get to know you so you're more than just a number, but others sometimes lay off newer/excess employees during spring breakup (the months where the frost is coming out of the ground and the road bans are in effect and the lease roads are to muddy to get in/out of), and some of the smaller companies tend to pop up and then go under or get bought out. The big corporations usually offer competetive wages, good benefits, and most keep their employees on through the spring break-up, but they can have their issues too. DH has spent almost all his working life in the oil field. Currently he's with Halliburton, they've been pretty good to us, and even found a replacement and sent a plane to the arctic circle last spring, just to bring him back when the Dr. thought our little guy might come early. (He ended up coming four days late instead.)

I've heard that the housing market in Calgary is really high. Have you considered moving to central Alberta? Red Deer is booming. Lots of construction, trades & oilfield work (among other things). The city is growing like mad (population 72,691 in 2003, and a lot of new subdivisions have gone up since then), so the housing is up there too, but I believe it's still better than Calgary or Edmonton, and some of the smaller surrounding communities have less expensive housing options. We're in Penhold, which is an 8 minute drive to Walmart (on the SW edge of Red Deer), 6 to Costco and 20 minutes to the far side of town, so it actually takes DH less time to get to work than when we were right in town. We bought an older 3 bedroom bungalow on three lots (the selling feature for me ;-) for $90K, where a similar place in Red Deer, with a lot 1/2 the size is worth as much as 2-3 times more depending on location.
Just some food for thought.

Good luck and I hope the move goes smoothly for you. Keep us posted.

Verena

Oh, too bad we're losing you from NWO, but it's true that the opportunities are a lot better out west. One of my sons wants to go to the Edson area, and my son-in-law too (kind of means that i "lose" my daughter too, which makes me sad). Any feelers that they've put out have come back positive. Adam checks the job bank and there are always lots of listings.

We have friends in the Calgary area, and several years ago they moved away from the city to one of the small towns outside. It isn't far from the city for them to go to work, but is apparently a much nicer area, and a better place for kids, which was what they wanted at the time.

Will you have time for a nursery visit and get-together at the end of the month?

Good luck to you Cindy. I moved to Calgary in the early 80's, during that boom. Prior to that I was living in Saskatoon where clerical jobs were extremely hard to come by. On the way up we stopped somewhere and I picked up a Saturday edition of the Calgary Herald. There were five pages packed solid with clerical positions. Monday I visited a placement agency, Tuesday I had a couple interviews, Wednesday I worked a temp job, Thursday I had a couple more interviews, Friday I had 3 job offers, and I started work the following Monday. It was unbelievable. I love Calgary, and if not for my DH (who I met at the Ranchman's, my favourite hangout at the time) being a military man, I'm sure I'd still be there.

Wow, thank you so much for all the responses!

Al - Thanks for the encouragement. Coming from an area that is economically depressed, it's hard to believe that good paying jobs are really that plentiful. I can't wait to see it with my own eyes!

Ian - Housing is a concern, for sure. We haven't decided if we're going to rent or buy yet, but if it comes down to it we do have a couple of friends in Airdrie. I'd rather not, but if we had to we could stay there if it was an emergency. Also, some of the companies that are recruiting are offering relocation assistance and temporary housing. We'll figure it out when the time comes I guess.
Never knew that the mining industry in BC is short on employees too... interesting. Hmmm, maybe they all went to Alberta, lol.

Garden Chicken - My husband will be looking mostly for work as a welder. He isn't ticketed but he has 15 years of welding experience. A lot of employers in Alberta are willing to offer apprenticeships.
I've done a lot of different jobs. Everything from customer service/cashier to travel agent to my current job as a dealer in the casino here. I also took a venipuncture/phlebotomy course a couple years back. This teaches you the proper techniques and procedures for drawing blood for testing, donations, etc.
Congrats on the new house and yard! That's so exciting and you have a blank slate for a yard. You're gonna be a busy girl next spring, lol. Are you living in Calgary now and just moving to a new house or are you moving to Calgary from somewhere else?

Wow, this is starting to get really long-winded, lol. Think I'll make this response a two parter so that it doesn't get rejected. Be right back!

Cindy

Ok, where was I??? Ah, yes....

Verena - Thank you so much for the warm welcome :)
Thank you also for your insight into the industry, it's really appreciated! It seems like a lot of the employers there are very accomodating. I'll have to google Halliburton and see what they're all about.
Calgary and the surrounding area is our first choice, but nothing is written in stone. We had thought about Red Deer, but it seems like there are more employment opportunities in Calgary? Basically, whoever makes the best job offer wins, lol. I'm not interested in freezing my butt off in Northern Alberta, but we are definitely open to suggestion.
I'll have to look a little closer at Red Deer. What a great deal on your house! Three lots? I'd be thrilled to have all that room! I like both big cities and small towns. They both have their pros and cons. As long as I have room to garden, I'm good to go,lol.

Marcia - So sorry to hear that your kids might be moving away. You'd be able to go visit them right? That would also mean that you might get to meet some of your other GW friends from Alberta while you're there! Gotta look for the silver lining, lol.
As for the nursery run at the end of the month, I'm not sure. Everything is kinda day to day here right now. I would love to meet you and I will do my best to make it if we're still here. Have you decided on a date for your visit? Keep me posted on the details for sure.

Pudge - Wow! You make me want to get in the car and head to Calgary tonight, lol. I can tell that you really loved it there. Sorry that you weren't able to stay. Ahhh, the things we do for love:) The opportunities there absolutely amaze me and you make it sound so exciting!!!

I'm not a patient person by nature, I want everything to happen NOW, lol. I know that this is going to take some serious planning and research. I'm so excited at the prospect of this move that my head is spinning. I sincerely thank you all for listening to me go on about it and I value all your thoughtful responses. Thank you for taking the time to respond, your insight is greatly appreciated!

Have a great night everyone,
Cindy

Cindy, our nursery run will be the afternoon of the 29th. I'll email you later in the month with further details, okay?

Btw, our friends that moved out of Calgary are in Airdrie now. Small world, eh?

"I'm not a patient person by nature, I want everything to happen NOW" Oh, I know that feeling! Waiting until Dec. to move is NOT FUN! lol Yes, we are in Calgary right now, but moving to Okotoks (small town 15 minutes south of Calgary). If you can wait that long I know a great little bungalow in a wonderful neighbourhood with lots of big trees that will be going on the market! ;)
Gotta figure out what to do with the plants I want to take along...

Cindy,
Resource prices are up and mines, which were closed, have reopened & new ones are planned.
The oil sands projects also use many of the same skills and people have been going there as well.
A problem in mining is that when the resource plays out, as it always does, housing prices in that area takes a dive.
Ian

Let me also chime in with "Welcome to Alberta!"

We have friends that live in Calgary and they are very very busy with work (new home construction). Yes, the economy is very good.

I understand the feeling of coming from a slow economy. We moved here from the Lower Mainland (BC) 5 years ago and could not believe how abundant work was around here. We have not regretted our move here at all -- actually we are very happy that we decided to just go for it and make the move.

~Ang~

Thank you for the welcome, Ang! No matter how many times I hear it, I love to hear from people who really know that things are booming there. I'm also happy to hear that you have no regrets about moving.

Nothing too exciting to report yet. We've been going through the house and sorting/tossing and cleaning. DH spent the day out in the garage deciding the fate of all his "stuff", lol. He actually did really well and is willing to let a lot more go than I thought he would.

We put our second vehicle up for sale the other day and we'll be selling off some tools and larger items as well. We are going to have one seriously large yard sale in a couple of weeks, lol.

We want to get some stuff sold off and do a couple of small things to the house before we put it up for sale.

I'll keep you all updated. Thanks so much for all the support, you guys are great!

Cindy

Cindy, I just realized I hadn't put my two cents in to this thread, yet. A big, warm welcome comes from me and I know you won't regret moving to sunny Alberta. I have to chuckle when you say that you don't want to freeze your butt off in Northern Alberta. Does that include Edmonton? The absolute coldest I have ever been in my life was when I lived in Calgary. (No offense to my Calgary friends.) We do, as a rule, have a colder winter than Calgary because they get the chinook winds to warm them up the odd day. But, I froze my tush for the two winters that I lived there as a starving student walking everywhere.

Edmonton might be more conducive to the welding field. Not to say that they don't have lots in Calgary, but I know there is tons and tons and tons of work for welders in Edmonton. There are portable signs up on just about every block in the industrial and light industrial areas looking for welders. Don't know whether you've made up your mind yet, totally, but Edmonton is certainly worth looking into. Housing is a bit more reasonable here, too, than Calgary. Now don't anyone get mad at me - I liked Calgary when I lived there. But I'm a native Edmontonian and I always will say it is the best city on earth - maybe next to Singapore. It's pretty nice, too.

The casino I worked at here also has one in Calgary. I know they are always looking for dealers. Not sure how this works but they ended up unionized last year (only the Calgary casino) and went on strike in the late fall last year. Got a bit messy, but I think everything is OK now. There are several other casinos in Calgary, too.

When I worked as an x-ray tech. in Ottawa, many of the clinics employed venipuncturists. I just looked up the Med. Lab. website for Alberta and they , like x-ray, are now a college. A bit of bad news is that I don't think that course is recognized here. To the best of my knowledge, you must be a licensed medical laboratory technologist/RN/MD to draw blood in Alberta. Someone correct me if I am wrong. There is also a combined lab/x-ray tech. that does limited practice in rural areas. But they are also certified. However, you might be able to get work as a lab assistant. There is lots of work in the medical field here, too.

Anyway, wherever you decide to settle, it is a booming province right now and forecasts are saying it's going to stay this way for awhile. And the best thing of all - we don't have provincial sales tax. : D

Shauna

Forget it Cindy, come to Winnipeg! Bring your winter sowing. Bring your daffodils. It's a short drive and there's lots of jobs here too. And none of those gross mountains... blech! LOL Ok I'm just kidding. But we need more GW'ers in Winnipeg! Most of the time there's just me & Glen.

Best of luck wherever you end up.

We need more regular posters from NWOntario too, and now we're losing one! At least there are several from Manitoba. My big gripe on this forum is that a lot of the regular posters live in other time zones, so i have to log on in the morning to see what was said the night before! LOL

Grrrr.....I typed a nice long response and it vanished off into GW limbo. OK let's try again.

Shauna - Thanks for the welcome and all the great info. When I said "northern" I was referring to places like Fort MacMurray, not Edmonton, lol. Edmonton is not out of the question, if the right job comes along...who knows! Good to know that there's lots of jobs there too.
So you worked at a casino before? Interesting job isn't it? LOL, ya see aaaalllllllll kinds, lol. What did you do when you worked there?

Gillian - Winnipeg is a great city! Always have a lot of fun when I'm there. We won free tickets in the bar (I think maybe Goodfella's?)to see U2 in concert. That was awesome!

Even though it's a great place, I'm sorry to say that we're still Alberta bound, Yucky mountains? Lol

Marcia - You just need to drink more coffee, then you can stay up half the night like me, lol.

Take care,
Cindy

Cindy, I just attached this website so that your DH can have a look. These are the classifieds that are in the Edmonton Journal right now. I've heard rumor that "crews" are moving from company to company to get the best pay and conditions that they can in all of the trades. My DH is a civil engineer and says all of their contractors are just going crazy trying to entice/keep tradespeople. I could almost guarantee that your DH would have a job in Edmonton/Nisku within an hour.

I worked in the monitor room (yeah, one of "those") and I really liked the job and literally, yes, you certainly do see all kinds. Did I tell you about the one . . .? LOL Funny how no one that works in a casino is surprised about anything. But, I just couldn't handle the hours. My shift was from 3AM to 11AM, weekends included. There's another place, Cindy, that you could have a job within an hour.

Seriously, check out Nisku as a place for DH to work and Edmonton, Leduc or Devon as a place to live.

Shauna

Here is a link that might be useful: One source of Welding jobs in Edmonton

Shauna is right, Nisku is the place to look for welding jobs. Beaumont is a really nice little town too, not even a 10 minute drive to Nisku (I have a sister in Beaumont). PLUS... you would be soooo much closer to Hole's Greenhouse... need I say more. ;)

How could I forget about Beaumont? Sorry, Konrad. It's only a few minutes down the road from me. Very nice town. We looked there when we were starting to plan for building our house. The only reason we didn't build there was that my dh and my two younger sons wanted to stay in the hockey zone they were already in. So we built in the far southern edge of Edmonton. I love it out here. We're away from the hubbub of the city and it's so quiet and peaceful. And actually, one of my favorite, favorite greenhouses is just a bit further south of Beaumont, between there and Nisku. Personally, I like it better than Holes (blasphemy). But, maybe it's the fact that Holes is a 45 minute drive for me and this one is only about 15 mins. and it's a bit less busy. Very nice selection, though.

Here's another link to look at, Cindy. It tells you a bit more about Nisku and dh might find it as a place to start his search. Let me know if he finds a job in five minutes. I've heard that it is getting that easy. It's more like your dh would be interviewing the companies to decide which one he wants to work for.

Shauna - who's not trying to convince Cindy and her dh to move to Edmonton or anything . . . who, me?

Here is a link that might be useful: Nisku Business Park

Ok Shauna, don't hold out! What is the name of the greenhouse?? Sounds like a good excuse to head north and pay a visit to my sister!

LOL...way to go you guys! Shauna you got my DH's attention. He checked out the links you posted and then he wanted me to check out real estate prices. So, we go look at the listings for all the places that everyone mentioned, prices definitely look lower. They also seem to be larger properties and more of them seem to have a big honkin' double garage like the one we have here. DH looks at me and says....Hmmm, maybe we should look a little closer at the Edmonton area!

Great, more choices to make and more options to consider. Sighhhhh....you instigators are supposed to be making this easier, not harder! Shame on you !!!

Lol, just kidding! Seriously, as long as we make it to SOMEWHERE in Alberta that's not too isolated and has plenty of jobs I don't care if it's Edmonton, Calgary, Nisku...whatever. Whoever makes the first good job offer wins! Do I hear any offers out there? Hey, you never know...well you can't say I didn't try, lol.

Shauna, you worked in surveillance? That must be such a cool job. We always talk about how you guys must be up there in your little secret room laughing your butts off at all the things you see us screw up:) I don't even want to think about what you see the patrons do...yuck! We see enough gross things and they KNOW that we're watching! So, tell the truth...you have a bloopers tape that you show at the Christmas party, don't you? Put all the best ones together and have a glass of eggnog and a chuckle or two, dont'cha. Come on Shauna you can tell meeeeeeee:)

Take care,
Cindy

See, see, I knew it. I knew it. LOL

Hey, I really just made it easier for you. Where else can you get a job like this. Seriously, tell dh to start searching the job market. No promises, but with 15 years of experience and willing to get a ticket, you may find someone willing to move you out here. It's certainly worth a shot in trying.

Oh, the stories I could tell from surveillance. But, I'm sworn to secrecy. LOL. It was alot of fun watching people and yes, I saw many weird things in a very short period of time. I only lasted 4 months before the hours did me in.

BTW, my "secret" and favorite greenhouse is . . . drummmrolll, pleasssee . . . J & C Gardens. I may really splurge and get a mandevilla this year. DH will shoot me, but they were soooo pretty last year. I just find they have really nice stock, a wide selection and are very friendly. Plus, they always have something that I haven't seen before or that gets talked about here that I am unfamiliar with.

Shauna

We had our first (of many to come) yard sale today and it went over really, really well. Still lots of stuff to sort through and get rid of but it was a pretty good start.

We sold a few bigger items and made enough money today to pay for most, if not all, of the home improvements we want to get done before we put the house on the market. Add to that the fact that it was mostly sunny all day (rain was forecast for the whole day) and it made for a pretty darn good day. Feels really good to finally do something that gets us closer to reaching our goal.

Happy, happy day:)

Cindy

Shauna,

You mentioned that your DH is a civil engineer. So is mine. What field does he specialize in? My DH has his own business. He designs subdivisions right from a bare piece of property to completion of the subdivision. Everything from the original surveying and getting approvals in place to tendering to the construction. What does your DH do?

My one son is going for a mechanical engineer (just finished his second year of studies out of 4) and the other son has just been accepted into the U of M for this fall and will be going for a civil engineer.

Brenda (who can't imagine selling all my stuff and picking up and moving to another province, knowing no one there, finding work and a place to live all over again.)

Brenda,
Mine works for a large firm (sr. proj. mgr.) and does, mostly, municipal design (roadway, sewer, curb/gutter, parking lots, etc.). I know he would have loved to start his own consulting firm but the timing was just never right and now, with me not working anymore, I just don't see it feasible.

Not sure how things are in Man., but Alberta has LOTS of jobs for engineers, too. Every winter/spring, they are really busy, but this year seems even more so. I think he could work every night until midnight and still not catch up.

Shauna

Shauna,

My DH does the same thing with designing. He was the Manager of Public Works for the City of Brandon before he went out on his own. He is sooo busy here.

I bet if your DH wanted to start his own business he could. It is a very big jump and we did have a few lean years. I was also not working outside the home. Somehow, when they are engineers the desire for their own company is so strong. Thankfully it has worked out for the best here. My DH is swamped with work. If your DH was to start his own company and that does not work out... with the amount of work that you said that Alberta has for engineers... would he not be able to go out and get a job for another engineering firm?

And the advantage that he has as a senior project manager is that his name is familiar to the municipalities that he already works for and to the contractors.

Just a thought. (Bad thought?)

Brenda

Not a bad thought, at all. He got home tonight at 10 PM and is looking so tired. We ate supper at 11 and he went to bed. "Hi, dear, how was your day?" "Busy, really busy . . . goodnight." Welcome to our life lately. Maybe now is a good time while the boom is so good. We'll have to talk about it.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Cindy, any more news?

Shauna

No news yet, Shauna. We're having another yard sale this weekend. We still need to get rid of a lot more stuff before we put the house up for sale. Hopefully we do as good as we did on the last one.

I'll keep you all updated. Thanks for asking:)

Cindy

How 'bout now??? Do you have any updates for us now???

:)

Lol, okay I guess it's time for an update GC. The renovations are coming along slooowly but surely. We've done the majority of the painting and yard work. We have picked out the ceramic tile we're going to install but we want to finish painting before we start that. So, we still have to finish some painting inside, paint the exterior trim, install the ceramic tile in the kitchen, hallway and bathroom and a few other odds and ends. The list seems endless and it's taking soooooooo long, lol. With work, gardening and life in general, there never seems to be enough hours in the day. DH seems to think we'll have the house up for sale by July 1st - cross your fingers for me! Everyone we talk to seems to think our house will sell in a matter of a couple days or weeks. God, I hope they're right!

Lunch is ready....I'll finish the update in a few minutes!

Cindy

Well, I'm back! Long lunch, lol. Just kidding, wandered outside to eat lunch and got started on a major overhaul in one section of the yard. Looks good and we can cross another thing off the "to do" list!

So to sum it up, we're still plugging along here with the renos and trying to do ten years work in a couple of months and not kill each other in the process. So far, so good, lol.

We're still not sure if it will be Edmonton or Calgary. We're kind of leaning towards Calgary but both places have plenty of pros and cons. Whoever makes the best job offer is where we'll go. DH just had an interview with a company from Edmonton (McCoy Corp, I think)a couple of days ago and it went really well. Who knows, time will tell I guess....

Thanks for askin' GC!

Take care,
Cindy

And now? How are things coming along? WoW! Has it really been over 2 months since the last update?

Is your "to do" list just a memory now? Hope everything is going well for you. Any word on the job situation?

A quick update would be great if you have time. :)