Long Distance Job Search Tips (employment, debt, applying, interview)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
About me: I'm 24 years old, currently living in Sacramento but planning to move to Seattle in July/August when my lease is up. I'm still working on getting my degree (I'm a few classes away from obtaining my Associates, but I'm only taking Community College classes that I can pay for out of pocket - not planning on accumulating student loan debt until I get to University), but I've got about 6 years of Customer Service experience, over 5 years of which are call center jobs. I'm fairly sure I can get a job after I move regardless, and I've been looking online to get a feel for the types of jobs being advertised regularly, but I have some questions that I could use some help with:
- How far in advance do I start applying for jobs? A month out? 2 weeks?
- Aside from the big websites like Craigslist, Indeed, etc., what resources do you use to look for jobs?
- Do you have any recommendations for how to approach employers? I.E. What to include in a cover letter, initial email, etc.?
I'm planning on saving about 3 months living expenses no matter what, but if I have the job on hand before I move it really reduces the stress of having to start over anyways. Plus, having an idea of where I'll be working will help me figure out what neighborhood I should be looking at for apartments.
Start applying a few months out and list a local address. Unless your job is hard to fill, they won't interview non local candidates. The other option is to write in your cover letter that you will be moving soon. I always just use indeed to look. You can also find the top or largest employers and go directly to their websites. sometimes their jobs aren't posted on indeed.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,096 posts, read 80,136,113 times
Reputation: 56911
Quote:
Originally Posted by jman07
Start applying a few months out and list a local address. Unless your job is hard to fill, they won't interview non local candidates. The other option is to write in your cover letter that you will be moving soon. I always just use indeed to look. You can also find the top or largest employers and go directly to their websites. sometimes their jobs aren't posted on indeed.
This is good advice. Customer service and call center employers are not the kind that would bother with people outside the area, they get plenty of local applicants. Finding the website careers page of the actual employer is far more productive than the big employment sites, which may be out of date. You also get the opportunity to see more about the company and use that to tailor your resume to them and make a better impression.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.