Things You'll Need:
- $$$
- A Job in Montana
- A Destination
- A U-Haul
- Enthusiasm
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Step 1
Moving to Montana is not really hard, but be prepared for culture shock. Contrary to belief, you don't need to run out and buy yourself cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. But you do need to prepare yourself mentally for things like: a surprising Wisconsin accent, friendly people who chat with you in grocery stores, banks, the post office etc., a very high population of Native Americans, gambling casinos in gas stations, driving really fast to get where you're going, wild animals that wander through downtown traffic lights, extreme cold, extreme hot, wildfires every summer, hunting being as popular as football, no sales tax, poor wages, high property taxes, no jobs, really educated people, really uneducated people, small populations, people who argue with you, (Montanan's love to argue about everything ... its true. I don't know why) people holding anti-abortion signs standing next to people holding anti pro-life signs, artists, writers and musicians of every type, granolas, mountain men who are actually old burned out hippies, people who have never been out of Montana, beautiful sunsets, gorgeous mountains, high altitudes, an easy going take-it-as-it-comes attitude and many more unexpected things...
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Step 2
Did I present some of the best and worst? Good. So having mentally prepared yourself for that very different Montana attitude (laid back, I'll get to it tomorrow, And what's the rush?) You need to secure yourself a job! Yeah, its a bit cheaper to live in Montana than it is in other places, (depends on where you are living: Western MT is more expensive than Eastern) but the minimum wage is still around 6.50 last time I checked. And yes, employers actually pay that. Most people I knew had a day job and a night job and didn't think it was unusual at all. In fact, locals were often surprised if you only had one job. One summer, I had three jobs, just to pay my rent. So you see, you can live cheaply, but you have to budget yourself carefully. Be prepared for that!
Jobs are few and very competitive. You must be the best of the best if you want to get hired. With our fumbling economy, this is starting to become true in other parts of the country as well, but in Montana, it has always been true and will probably stay that way for a while.
So look for and secure a job before you pack your U-haul.
Some good places to look? Most of the small towns and cities have a local paper. Do a search for the town's newspaper. Many of them are online. Craigslist is a great place to find housing and jobs. There are other web sites, but keep in mind that Montana is about ten years behind the rest of the country, if its a new website, they probably haven't heard of it and don't use it. Locally there are usually Job Placement services...my favorite one was Workforce Inc. in Missoula. They always found me work. -
Step 3
Open thy mind:
The cardinal rule of Montana is learning to live with all types of people. There are cowboys, grizzled old ranchers, bible thumpers, hippies, Amish people, wealthy celebrities, wealthy retired land owners, college professors, gays, Native Americans, a variety of ethnic groups, artists, writers, trust fund babies, poor college students, backwoods people, rednecks, professionals ... the list goes on and on. Its surprising how much diversity you will find there. Equally surprising is how everyone manages to get along together. Montanan's are stubborn and argumentative, but they are also smart and perceptive much of the time. Don't insult their state. Like Texans, they have a deep rooted love of it and think there's no where like it anywhere. Once you live there a while, you'll understand. There's a lot of space, people are so nice and friendly its disconcerting at first, and there's something about the way the air is tinged with blue in the summer evenings or the silence of a frozen forest thirty miles from anywhere that gets into your soul.
