I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it is about Alaska so I posted it here.

What types of industry jobs are available in Alaska? It looks like my fathers plant is closing sometime in the future, as they have started construction of a facility in India. My father has been in engineering since before I was born, and has been management for the last 20 of that. Anyway, the last time this happened (2000) My mother refused to move unless I moved my family also, because she don't want to move away from her grandchildren. I told her as long as they moved some where with better hunting seasons (I was sick of the 2 week rifle deer season and only being able to get a bear tag every 6 years), and/or weather I would go, and I ended up moving from northern Michigan to South Carolina in 2001. Now that the same thing looks to be happening again, I was thinking of putting the Alaska idea out there if they have to move. My uncle was stationed there for a little over 12 years and loved it, the Army actually had to threaten to discharge him at 19 years to get him to leave. And truth be told, after 7 years of living in the south I am starting to miss some of the little things like salmon fishing, pike and musky fishing and northern lights (although MI didn't have northern lights nearly like alaska), and I haven't heard a loon in almost 8 years (they don't have loons down here, I think the alligators ate them) or seen an Elk or Moose.
Ice fishing....

I don't think it would be to hard for me to find some sort of job, I'm a law enforcement supervisor, and training officer, and a firefighter. Before that I worked in a saw mill, and did logging. I keep hearing that the Alaska state police and Dept. of Corrrections are always hiring. But what about my father? Is there really anything for a Chief Design Engineer/Maintainence department manager up there?

Do you all know how hard it is to explain what a snowmobile is to someone who has absolutely no idea?

PM me a email address and I'll send pics of quality sledding!
Make sure you tell them that it's easy to dress for the cold!

There is always need of a skilled professional! I tend to believe that Alaska has many opportunities in the Oil Industry, Mining just to say a few. Competition is just that, the jobs go to either who you know or how qualified you are.

Life is fully off chances, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Loons are a neat bird, they make their sounds in response to another or they see "moose". I like to think they see moose when I hunt and hear there call.

Jackfish or Muskys or Pike call them whatever you like but they sure taste just mighty fine filleted and breaded.

best of luck!

.............Ya ,.,;;;;;;A big move is a tough show ,,,,,,If everyone involved has the right attitude and all work together it can be the most fun and adventure a family can have .....................It,s not too hard to get on some smaller department in law enforcement ,.,.,. if you are willing to work for it .......Mining is going pretty strong .,.,., Oil is king ,,,,,,,,,,,,But in Alaska we see LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of new people ,,,,,Often the women can,t stand it and flee south ...,.,.,But ...If the attitude is good ,.,.,., you can usually make it ...............

You and your father could be employed in Alaska tomorrow.

The Alaska State Troopers are near desperate for new Troopers.

No matter what the Alaska State Troopers tell you about recruiting, they only real want ex-Marines.

I went through the Academy in 2000 and was suprised by the number of Marines that work for the State Troopers. If your not a Marine it will affect your ability to get promoted in the State Troopers.

I worked for North Slope Borough so not being a Marine had no affect on my career.

There are tons of law enforcement agencies in Alaska, you will find that they are very intolerant of corruption in Law Enforcement. I had hire offers by 3 other agencies in Alaska (including the troopers). During the NSB hire clinic they only kept 10 out of 45 of the applicants. Several of those non hired 35 were currently serving as police officers in their home states.

The problem was that they had done things like taking "free lunch in a resteraunt for being police officers" or accepting "free snacks at a gas station" that in the Western US law enforcement circles would be considered illegal.

I had never been a police officer anywhere when I got hired, but I had been in the Navy for 6 years and had a good record.

They also really liked education and paid a bit more for prior experience, military service, and education.

Out of the active police officers they hired one was from Oklahoma, two from Idaho, 2 from California, and 1 from Wyoming, they also hired 2 civillians, and 2 active duty military (one of which was me).

They didn't hire 2 cops from Florida, 2 from New Jersey, 4 from Texas, and 1 from Georgia because all of them had done things that were not acceptable in Alaska law enforcement circles like "phonebook interrogations and the afore mentioned protection for patronage stuff above."

Here's a few more Alaska law enforcement tidbits.

Pay is good to excellent $40K to 80K starting.

College and airport cops are real cops.

State troopers are also capable of working game laws. Fish and game cops are also state troopers. Same outfit they just wear a different color uniform.

Anything else you need just let me know, and good luck.

A heavy accent will close doors for you in much of the west including Alaska, work on yours if you have one before you start calling departments.

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
Pay is good to excellent $40K to 80K starting.

Damn, I started in 2001 in South Carolina at $19K, even as a supervisor I'm only up to $29K with overtime and holiday pay included.

An accent wouldn't be a problem, I've only ever gotten a little ting of one, having moved so much. Spent most of my childhood bouncing around the country like a ping-pong ball. 7 years is the longest I've ever lived in one place,

I had to suspend one of my officers, and the Sheriff ended up firing them, over a lunch check. The officer had heard that the place only charged public servants half-price, and when she got the check at full price she actually threw a fit. We are barred from doing that here also, but I'm sure there are those that do.

Your father could seek work as others have said in the oil and mining industry. Law enforcement, Corrections, and fire fighting jobs are usually available. I have two friends both retired Air Force who are happy as state troopers, my brother-in-law works corrections as did I...briefly. There are jobs available.

Just check Monster.com. Last week there were nearly 500 jobs in Alaska listed on that site.

Great, another cop...

Trekker I started at $32.84 an hour, but remember where I worked gas (in 2000) was $3.00 a gallon, and a gallon of milk was $9.

Most of the non-native born Alaskans are from the West, and probably the last 3rd are from Minnesota or Michigan, and the last tiny part are from the South with the occasional New Englander thrown in occasionally.

There is actually a ton of Filipinos, Russians and Canadians, and quite a few Brits and Germans, and a few full time Japanese. Though about 98% of all Japanese are tourist.

Fishing is fantastic, scenery is second to none (well there are lots of beautiful places in the world, and Alaska doesn't have them all but it sure is nice), hunting is all about variety not quality. I would say hunting is feast or famine we have lots of wolves, and bears, and in 26A we have lots of caribou.

quote:

Originally posted by trekker111: as they have started construction of a facility in India.

DAMN I'm getting tired of hearing this crap!! When is the U.S. going to learn that you have to keep YOUR OWN countrymen employed or nobody is going to be able to afford to buy your product....

Ken....

http://www.thetundradrums.com/news/show/1060


So in the final days of his three-year career in Bethel, he took a moment to explain why he chose to leave the police department. As he spoke, he steered his patrol SUV on Bethel's short network of streets....

If you can break into the oil industry, they are having trouble hiring enough experienced people, and the pay doesn't suck.

quote:

Originally posted by BW:
http://www.thetundradrums.com/news/show/1060


So in the final days of his three-year career in Bethel, he took a moment to explain why he chose to leave the police department. As he spoke, he steered his patrol SUV on Bethel's short network of streets....

...................................................................Yup,,,,I think it has something to do with the powers that be working up to the native sovrinty issue ......... ....Well the Bethel problem ...........Villages can be that way .....We have that problem here .................................Lets not get into the govamint emmmmployyeee thing .. ..........................The double retirement types ,,,,both of which come from tax dollars ......

Thank you for all the replies. At this point it is still a pipe dream, but whats wrong with dreaming.

I mentioned the possibility to my wife last night, she just shook her head and said she would rather move back to michigan. All of her family is still there, but there aren't any industry jobs.

Law enforcement jobs in Michigan are about like here, they hire on the good-ole boy system. I've maxed out my law enforcement career here, not that I'm worried about advancement, but you can't get anywhere if your not related to the right people. No lie, I applied for a transfer which wasn't really a promotion but was more money. One of my probationary officers also applied. Even with my 6 years of experience at the time, and numerous certifications, he got the transfer. He was born and raised in this county, and his wife is the Sheriffs cousin, he had 2 months with the agency and no certifications, not even for the position he already had. Thats all he had to offer. I've flat been told that as a yankee, I'm lucky to have made it as far as I have.

As far as hunting seasons go, how many days a year could a person spend hunting in Alaska for some sort of big game animal? I checked out the resident and non-resident hunting fees, the resident fees seem about the same as here, given the variety of game available. I was surprised at the non-resident fees, I expected them to be alot higher than they are.

.......Unit 4 deer opens August 1 closes Dec 31 ....Our Deer herd took a Very Heavy hit last winter and this winter it,s not nearly as bad but it ain,t good Bear season ,weather black or Brown lasts for most of the year depending on the area.wolf is open most of the year and are the prefered targets .....If you move up here you have to promise to kill as many as you possibly can .......No Joke ,,.,you tell a bush resident you passed up shooting wolves that were with in range and you might get sugar in your gas ........Kill Wolves .....actively hunt bears .........Don,t just come up here wanting to help eradicate our prey species and not do anything to help them out ..........Essespecially in the spring .....The bears really prey on the new born fawn ,kid ,and calf populations ....Thats the nice thing about bears tho is they sleep most of the winter so they arn,t eating ...Wolves on the other hand eat all year long .... .........You ought to be up here for quite some time and kill lots of predators before you attempt to take a sheep or goat ....In October I will be here for 30 years and I haven,t shot a sheep or goat yet ........You can pretty much hunt all year long ...But remember Wanton waste gets severely prosecuted ...........Spring bear make excellent sausage .....And Ham .......

So, you all have the same policy on wolf that we have on coyote then. Can you hunt them over bait? Best I've found for hunting coyote is to come back to a gut pile with my AR-15 in the evening, pop in a 30 rnd mag and start shooting.

Goats and sheep don't really interest me as a game animal, I like to hunt, and meat is my primary trophy. Don't get me wrong, if I'm standing there with 2 deer in front of me, one with horns and one without, I'll shoot the one with horns. Mainly interested in bear, and moose, but mainly bear. I know this is probably a stupid question, but can you eat a wolf? I'm sure it's edible, but is it palatable? Am I correct in saying the main reason for hunting wolf is to be able to hunt everything else?

Hunters who waste animals piss me off. This year I found the remains of over 20 deer that someone had shot, and left. 1 had the hindquartrers removed, about half had the backstraps removed, the rest just the antlers.

If you have the time and money, you can hunt big game year round. I forget which GMU it is, but one of them allows 5 caribou a day, and is open year round.

But realistically spring bear season runs late May to early June, then you want to go fishing for the summer, and most big game is Aug-Sep depending on the GMU, and deer is pretty much Aug-Dec.

Sheep and goat are excellent meat, don't discount them as trophy only animals.

Bring your wife up in June, she might have a different opinion of the state if she spends some time up here.

I have killed dogs in the line of duty as a police officer I have never killed a wolf. I just haven't had the chance.

I ate dog mistakenly in Vietnam 5 years ago, a mistake I hope to never make again. I wouldn't eat wolf by choice either.

I don't know any whites in Alaska that eat wolves.

I can relate to your story on being an outsider. I have been in several military commands where if you weren't from the South you weren't in the game. Michigan and Minnesota and Wisconsin are a big source of a lot of new Alaskans.

You should fit in fine.

Is there any chance of getting a job with unskilled labor that pays decently? I'm in college right now, but I don't know how well a degree in economics could be used in AK, maybe I'm way off there, but living in AK is something I would really like to do someday. Anyway, I've thought about spending some time in the coal mines around here right after I graduate, but after a few years there I think I'll be ready for a change of scenery.

There's always the fishing fleet to consider as to unskilled labor. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is married.

I would recommend it to anyone, not that I have worked the fishing fleet (but I do have 25 months of working on the flight deck of an Aircraft Carrier an equally dangerous job).

It's lots of work, but the pay is outstanding. They will not just hire anyone, but it's worth a shot.

You will have to pay your own way to get to one of the fishing centers like Unalaska and you might get a job.

Justin, check your PM

A few thoughts on the unskilled labor thing. You're much better off getting skilled if you want good money.

As to fishing, the money isn't what it used to be. The top boats do well, but they aren't going to take on someone that doesn't know what they are doing. So that leaves the boats that aren't so hot at catching, and likely aren't the safest to be on.

There are plenty of folks from 3rd world countries, both with visa and illegals that are working in the fishing industry, so they have driven down wages.

There are plenty of skilled trades that would allow one to make over 6 figures once you have about 5 year experience.

Energy business is hot... but you have to be willing to work long hours and work hard, physical tasks. Try Nabors Industries for a start. They are a drilling contractor always looking for workers.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul H:
Sheep and goat are excellent meat, don't discount them as trophy only animals.

Paul,

If he wants to eat bear and wolf, but not sheep and goat, let him go for it. I'm trying to locate a bridge for him to buy...

I wasn't meaning to insinuate that I was against the idea of sheep and goats, or that I was thinking about trying wolf, just that as game animals, sheeps and goats don't interest me that much. I have eaten both domestic sheep and goat, and desert bighorn sheep, I just don't have any drive to hunt them over anything else. Bear on the otherhand is A+ tablefare, and I think about bear hunting on a daily basis.

I was just wondering if anyone ate wolf is all. I hunt coyote, I don't eat it, but have heard of those that tried it and recomend against it.

People eat at McDonalds, so I don't see why there wouldn't be some folks that would eat wolf.

But, by and large furbearers are not eaten, nor are brown/grizzly bears. Folks generally don't eat black bears that have been eating fish.

The hunting reqs tell which species have to have their meat salvaged to eat.

Black bears are excellent eating, as well as blacktail deer, caribou, moose, sheep and goats. Oops, forgot musk ox and elk.

I understand the mentality of not killing things you don't plan to eat, but there is something to be said for keeping the predator/prey species balanced to increase the prey heards. And sadly AF&G hasn't done the best job of maintaining those numbers. There is a long political diatribe of why it occured which I won't get into. I will say that hunters can help by shooting/trapping wolves and shooting bears.

trekker, you have mail!


D99, I've eaten fox and it wasn't bad at all. Wolf should be similar.

Is there something different between brown bears and black bears that would affect their quality as game meat? I know some people don't care for the greasyness, my wife is one of them, but I asuumed that there would be little difference from black bear to brown bear other than size, as far as the meat was concerned.

Is there any real difference in the meat in moose/caribou than deer/elk? I've always figured they were all about the same. I've never noticed enough of a difference in the deer and elk I've eaten to really separate them. We had the odd moose in Michigan but never enough for a season, and I've never had the opportunity to try it. I've never even seen a caribou.

A moose during the rut can be horrible, a moose shot well after it is fine.

Same for a lot of game species. Moose really benefit from being hung for a month or at least 2 weeks after they are killed.

Yes, there are jobs. Lots of them. But it ain't move to Alaska and make twice what you are making in the lower 48...

Jobs in demand depend on where you want to live, it's not level across the state. Maint manager gigs are available. Engineering jobs are available - especially with Pebble and the gas pipeline in the possible future. There is a lot of civil engineering work available depending on what you dad does, exactly.

If you are in school and want to move to Alaska, think about where you want to live as much as what you want to do. For rural AK, teaching, law enforcement, and medical folks are in demand. Hell, almost all you'd have to say is 'I'm a nurse and I want to live in Dillingham' and I could probably get you a job. May not pay what you want, but it's available. Tech gigs (network engineer, database admin, help desk and the like) are in fairly steady demand in rural AK, but pay is not significanly differentiated from Urban AK and the cost of living really keeps folks from signing on the dotted line.
If/when Pebble kicks off, there will be demand for a lot of skill sets - not huge numbers of folks to be sure, but jobs none the less. Same with the gas pipeline - though there will be a shorter lifespan on those jobs.
For rural AK, the biggest employers are generally the health corporations - BBAHC, YKHC, Norton Sound Health Corp, Maniilaq, SEARHC, and EAT. Following on those are the schools, State Gov, and local gov. The health corps may have moving assistance for many of their open positions - same with the schools.

Job openings can be found on these web sites:
http://www.bbahc.org
http://www.ykhc.org
http://www.nortonsoundhealth.org
http://www.maniilaq.org

I'm looking for a Database Administrator, a Sr. Programmer Analyst, and possibly an additional Clinical Application Coordinator some time in the next year.

TTFN