Immigrating under skilled worker insurance claims examiners

First off I have been doing a lot of reading on Immigrating to Canada but I am very new to this process and this forum and I have a lot to learn still. We live in the US right now in Alaska. We would be applying for permanent residence status under the skill worker class. My husband works in the insurance industry doing claims and adjusting and has 8 years experience. His field is one of the 29 fields. We both have bachelors degrees and are proficient in English. He has done everything listed under the claims examiner position and has moved up ranks to a higher level adjuster and worked in both property and auto.

One problem I am running into is that he could get a job but it still would take months to a year to get permanent residence status and no employer would wait that long. We want to secure work before moving. We don't have a big net worth. It looks like you can do both a temporary visa and a permanent residence under dual intent. Would he be able to start the application process for both then look for jobs then work under a temporary viisa while he is applying for permanent residence? Would a company hire a non Canadian?

Does anyone know if an immigration attorney is worth it. What do they cost?

We want to look for jobs all over except for Quebec and other small select areas because we don't speak French.

It looks like the application process is 2 years from the US based on the CIC site but the waits are supposed to be getting shorter. Is that true? Will it really take 2 years to process? What are the chances of him getting in under this occupation? Is it really competitative? i'm worried they reach the cap before we were proccessed.