snowy – right. that’s the ugly duckling syndrome; there are working guys out there, but your family doesn’t know how to find them. There are also all types of working guys: yeshivishe working guys (they work, but still would want to live in Lakewood and send kids to yeshivishe schools, etc., out-of-town working guys: who generally are planning to work and be kovea ittim – there are certain yeshivas who have a number of guys like that – classic example is ner Yisrael. and then there are YU guys, and even there the field is diverse, such as black hat YU guys, black knitted kippas YU guys, and regular knitted kippas (sorry, I hate defining people by what they wear on their head, but ’tis simpler). All of them may have different ideologies and different thoughts on how they would want to raise their families, send their kids to school, etc.
I think it would be important for you to clarify for yourself exactly (or as much as you can) what you would like in terms of hashkafa and personality, and then do research as to where you would most likely find that type of person.
Then tell EVERYONE you meet in DETAILS, what you are looking for.
I told this modern orthodox girl, PhD student of Columbia University, who just 2 seconds before was making fun of black hats, exactly what I was looking for, including the black hat, and she said, “Oh, I know exactly who you are looking for”. it’s a whole crazy story of how she knew him and knew all these details about him, which I am not going to go into, but she described completely what I wanted.
Also, if you have any ways of getting to know people/shadchanim in Queens, Baltimore, Chicago, etc. where there tend to be more of the type you’re looking for, very wise to do so. Good luck in your hishtadlus and may Hashem help you find what you are looking for very soon.