Career Coaching
in Cedar Rapids

Employment Landscape

Job seekers in Cedar Rapids will encounter a labor market that is both anchored by long‑standing industrial employers and strained by repeated workforce reductions. Collins Aerospace, the region’s largest private employer, has executed multiple rounds of layoffs over the past 18 months, from 160 positions in March 2025 to another 102 cuts slated for mid‑2025, and further reductions of about 68 jobs in October, reflecting a cautious corporate restructure despite national aerospace demand softening. Meanwhile, the grain and food processing sectors remain a relative constant; the Quaker Oats facility continues its operations downtown with about 740 employees, and the city remains a major corn‑processing hub with firms like Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, General Mills and ADM sustaining thousands of local jobs. New developments are modest but notable: in early 2025, the city announced a major investment from Quality Technology Services toward a $750 million data center, though that project will yield only about 30 permanent jobs. Additional smaller‑scale commercial development in the southwest side promises tens of new roles in logistics, though still limited relative to the scale of local need. That mixture of stability and contraction means most applicants will navigate a competitive and uncertain market.

Dominant Industries

Typical Roles

Hiring Patterns

Hiring is cautious and uneven. Healthcare and logistics roles remain relatively stable, but aerospace manufacturing is contracting amid organization‑wide realignment. The food and grain industries continue hiring intermittently, though at modest pace, while the new tech infrastructure segment is still nascent and not yet a major source of jobs.

"Finding a job here often means balancing few openings in big sectors with stiff competition—it is a reality that job seeking around here can feel steady in one industry and precarious in another."