Have YOU: moved w/out having a job first? (Albuquerque: sale, motel)

[JimCarey]

Conservative, common-sense friends say it's a bad idea.
I know not to seek out THE job but only "a" job till getting established.
It is easier to get a job when you already have a job, but that scenario doesn't fit every situation.
I picture myself still living out of a Motel 6, still, weeks later!
Do you have a similar story ending on a good note?
Tell me it'll be okay...

[WasSoggyInSeattle]

JimCarey,
For better or worse, husband & I are moving from Seattle to New Mexico sans jobs. We are planning on settling in Albuquerque and job hunting once we arrive. My parents are in Eastern NM & In-laws are in Dallas so we are moving to get closer to family... and sunshine, although as we sit in Colo Springs listening to the rain on the roof...

I think (hope/pray) it will be OK. We do have a nice nest-egg from the sale of our house in SEA to ease that burden. We joke (we hope it is joking) that if all else fails we'll move in with my parents & grandparents and raise cattle on Grandpa's ranch.

There was some one on the forum but I can't remember who that also moved without a job and said they were employed within 2-3 months. We are planning on that timeline. That's when we'll start to panic.

I really think it all depends on what sort of job you are looking for. We felt, in our case, that it would be easier to job hunt from here than 2000 miles away. We got the same comments as you from family & friends. Some were so excited & envious and others were like "you are crazy and will be on welfare in 2 weeks" etc etc. We are both professionals - no kids, no debt now the house is sold so we felt we were in a good position to do this crazy-a$$ stunt. I'll let you know how it turns out in a few months. Maybe we can all share your room at Motel 6! haha Or you can help us chase cows in Pep, NM!

Good luck! Post back to let us know how you fared.

Sogs

[TexasRandi]

Jim, I do not think you are crazy because finding a job in one city while living in another is almost impossible unless you have connections or some other specials means of acquiring a job. You can't always wait for just the perfect moment. Sometimes you just gotta do it! Now or never!

I don't know what kind of experience you have or what kind of pay you need to live off of, but definitely try the temp agencies first. You are almost guaranteed to get a job right away unless you have absolutely no skills. I am employed with Accounting Principals in Albuquerque and I wish I had known about them when I first moved here. They have kept me busy with jobs ever since they interviewed me. This company deals with office type jobs only but there are other temp agencies out there that have temp jobs in other fields like health, engineering, etc. Just google temp agency and the city. The good thing about getting a temp job is that you can have a short-time job while looking for "the job".

Good luck and go for it!

[yukon]

I've moved lots of times without a job lined up. The only place I had any real difficulty finding a job was when I moved to the FL panhandle in 1997. The job market there was horrible (and still is, unfortunately). So far, I've always managed to find employment fairly quickly. I usually apply with the temp agencies when I move somewhere new since I have good computer skills.

[JimCarey]

for your words of encouragement.
I know your answers to be true in the long-run. Sometimes you need to hear it from someone who threw caution-to-the-wind and just did it.
Let's maybe compare notes down the line!

Regards,
David

[santafescribe]

I moved to Santa Fe without a job, and gave myself six months to find one. It took all of that, and I'd never managed a bakery before (!) but I met some very interesting people along the way.. Whatever your skill set, the advice is always the same - network, network, network. Find a group with the same skill set as yours, join things (gym, church, newcomers club, whatever). Talk to anyone who'll listen! Temp agencies are a great idea - interview *them* rather than the other way round, and focus not just on your technical skills, but your very NM-marketable work habits, like showing up to work on time and sober, that kind of thing ;-}

[truckzter]

My sister moved from Cali to Portland without having a job lined up. She's screwed. Needless to say there are hundreds people vying for minimal job openings.

In some instances it is OKAY to move before a job is lined up ... in my sister's case, it was a bad idea.

[ApartmentNomad]

I moved without having a job lined up first, and it's not going so well. Of course, I have only been looking pretty narrowly within my field, until today (when I filled out an application at a temp. agency).

I still don't regret moving without a job lined up, since I absolutely had to move.

[JimCarey]

the not-so-good with the good.
Since my present job in my present state is nothing to write home - and I understand the possibilities - I'm think'n it'll be okay in my case.
Thanks for your input though...

[zztopp]

unless you are in a special field all employers are going to trash your resume when you live outside the area and have no local commitments. My company gets hundreds of internet resumes everyday from every desperate job seeker in the nation and trash all of them. Some are even creative and use a fake local address thinking we will not look at the last employer to see if it is local to the area and the ip address of where it was sent from. We also look at the postmark on anything mailed in before we even open it.