Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Work and Employment
 [Register]
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.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-22-2013, 12:28 PM
 
17,815 posts, read 25,512,221 times
Reputation: 36262

Advertisements

[quote=bande1102;29671560]How do you reassure future employers that you will actually relocate? It has come down to me and a local candidate and the employer has picked the local--twice. They even tell me that I'm a better fit and they'd hire me--if I were local. Ugghhh. I seem to interview very well, have the experience and the skill-set, great rapport, etc. I also don't hide that I'm out of state with fake mail boxes or cell numbers or anything. During the interview process, I'm often asked things like....am I sure I want to relocate? Do I have kids and how will they react (didn't think this one was legal, but I do try to reassure the interviewer)? Do I have family in the area? Will I pay my own way? (yes, I will). Do I realize that the pay is lower since I'm moving from the DC area to the South? (yeah, I do) I mean, seriously, how much reassurance do they need?

I am committed to moving, but I can't do it without having a job lined up.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, do you have any advice?[/quote


You need to really get across that not only do you want the job, but you also want to relocate to the new area.

You mentioned this move is from DC to the South. So when they bring up lower salary, you bring up lower cost of living. Say something like " DC is one of the most expensive parts of the country to live in, while the salary may be lower I have done a lot of research on the COL in your area, and even with a lower salary I would be economically more feasible".

You can bring up wanting a more "laid back" lifestyle that their area offers compared to DC, more moderate winters, etc.

Show some interest that you not only want the job, you want to live in their area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-22-2013, 12:31 PM
 
26,694 posts, read 14,461,580 times
Reputation: 8094
Quote:
Originally Posted by 313Weather View Post
Agreed.

Logic would dictate that you would want to know where an employee lives early on in the process, that way you can easily rule them out if they live too far before getting into the more expensive/time consuming part of the hiring process.

In fact, I bet those god awful Taleo systems can be set by employers to filter the applications they want to receive by location.

But what do I know?I'm just a lowly rank and file employee from Detroit, not some HR guru.
You can agree all you want. The employer also wants to know your sexual orientation, if you are preganent, your political party affiliation and whom you voted for in last election. That does not mean you need to disclose that.

Use a PO box as your address or just ignore the street and zip code. If they ask, just say that you are in the process of moving and it will be somewhere close to the company. What more are they going to ask?

Don't bring those irrelevant things into the interview. The interview should be purely about your technical skills, experience and some people skills.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-22-2013, 12:38 PM
 
17,815 posts, read 25,512,221 times
Reputation: 36262
Quote:
Originally Posted by caradvice View Post
This is why others claim to be already local. You shot yourself in the foot. If you are gunhoe on moving to a particular city you should do what others have done and that is come up with a local address. People do this to avoid the rejections that you have gotten. Having a local address would alleviate the problem that your facing especially if you are willing to come out of pocket for interviewing and relocation expense.

If you are not exclusively interviewing for a specific city then just keep doing what you are doing. I and many others have gotten offers for out of state, out of country opportunities using a non local address.

When the topic of relocation comes up in your interviews you need to be beyond confident and let the employer know that you are familiar with the city, you have close friends or family there, your spouse is on bored, you have nothing holding you back in your current city.... Also be willing to state that you can come on board immediately (w/i 2 weeks) and housing problems are not a concern

Really HR is probably more concerned then the HM. Thats who you should focus your efforts on. HR is the true culprit in killing deals many time over trivial matters....

Good luck.

There is another side to this. If you're in Boston and pretending to be in Phoenix, and you get a call to come in for an interview in Phoenix on short notice, you have a problem.

And let's say you can get to Phoenix buy purchasing a full fare ticket last minute, if you get a job offer you need to than plan your move.

If they think you're already in Phoenix, how do you explain that you need a month before you can start your new position? That you actually live in Boston and in addition to giving two weeks notice at your current job, you need to drive across the country and find a place to live?

Unless someone is unemployed and has the car packed and ready to go at the drop of a hat, it would be near impossible to be pull this off.

There is a downside to lying about what city you live in.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-22-2013, 01:41 PM
 
7,380 posts, read 15,620,794 times
Reputation: 4975
Quote:
Originally Posted by seain dublin View Post
There is a downside to lying about what city you live in.
seriously, BIG downside. you could easily end up in a ridiculous, seinfeld-esque web of lies using this tactic. and leaving your address and the locations of your employers off of your resume is basically screaming "HAY WHATS UP I HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE" to an employer and if they have any brains they WILL ask you about it. if they even call you for an interview.

for chrissakes, people relocate. they do it every day. yes, searching long distance makes things harder, but it doesn't make them impossible. just be open about it and make it clear from your very first contact that hiring you is not going to make things any harder for the company than if they hired a local candidate.

like it or not, the logistics of you starting work (and sticking around) ARE of concern to hiring managers. all you can do is do your best to convince them that they shouldn't be worried about those things, either because you are so awesome they can put up with them, or because you've eliminated the possibility of them happening.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-22-2013, 01:58 PM
 
400 posts, read 1,504,533 times
Reputation: 414
Quote:
Originally Posted by seain dublin View Post
There is another side to this. If you're in Boston and pretending to be in Phoenix, and you get a call to come in for an interview in Phoenix on short notice, you have a problem.

And let's say you can get to Phoenix buy purchasing a full fare ticket last minute, if you get a job offer you need to than plan your move.

If they think you're already in Phoenix, how do you explain that you need a month before you can start your new position? That you actually live in Boston and in addition to giving two weeks notice at your current job, you need to drive across the country and find a place to live?

Unless someone is unemployed and has the car packed and ready to go at the drop of a hat, it would be near impossible to be pull this off.

There is a downside to lying about what city you live in.
Please reread my messages to the OP above. I gave more than one option for advice...

Having moved several times for professional/ corporate jobs throughout my career I feel more than qualified in this topic. I have done just what you advised and provided my address at the time and got jobs in other states and got the full relocation package and such...

However, there has also been an instance where I was moving to a particular city no matter what. In this case I like the OP wasnt having any luck with the employers in that city. I used a local address and phone number and things changed. Responses, reactions changed. I got a job and yes I had to fly out to that city on my own dime with a weeks notice but so what, I was getting interviews and got a job.

Many employers discriminate against out of towners so if someone can just use a local address and phone number to get the dream job there is no problem with that.

In regards to requesting more time - he can get coorporate housing, stay at an extended stay or simply say he needs a month....

Good luck to the OP.

Either way he/ she will eventually find something but like I originally suggested in my messages above he can
1. do like most people and use a local address/ phone number if he she knows that he she is definitely moving to that particularly city
2. use his her current address as ive done before....
3. if he she needs/ relocation assistance, travel reimbursement for interviewing he she would not use the local address option....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-22-2013, 04:23 PM
 
7,237 posts, read 12,689,405 times
Reputation: 5657
Quote:
Originally Posted by lifeexplorer View Post
You can agree all you want.
Thanks, but I don't need your approval.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-22-2013, 04:27 PM
 
Location: In the city
1,581 posts, read 3,838,612 times
Reputation: 2417
Quote:
Originally Posted by bande1102 View Post
How do you reassure future employers that you will actually relocate? It has come down to me and a local candidate and the employer has picked the local--twice. They even tell me that I'm a better fit and they'd hire me--if I were local. Ugghhh. I seem to interview very well, have the experience and the skill-set, great rapport, etc. I also don't hide that I'm out of state with fake mail boxes or cell numbers or anything. During the interview process, I'm often asked things like....am I sure I want to relocate? Do I have kids and how will they react (didn't think this one was legal, but I do try to reassure the interviewer)? Do I have family in the area? Will I pay my own way? (yes, I will). Do I realize that the pay is lower since I'm moving from the DC area to the South? (yeah, I do) I mean, seriously, how much reassurance do they need?

I am committed to moving, but I can't do it without having a job lined up.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, do you have any advice?

Some of these inquiries are not legal to ask during an interview. Employers are not allowed to ask questions about whether or not you have kids much less how those kids may react during a move. That is in no way related to whether or not you can do the job.

I would say that you are dodging a bullet by not working for these companies. These inquiries are unprofessional, and their insistence on a "local" smacks of the good ol boy network. I have been through this too. Keep looking. Tell your next interview that you have family in the area (even if its not true) and that will squelch a lot of these inquiries.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-22-2013, 04:53 PM
 
7,380 posts, read 15,620,794 times
Reputation: 4975
employers are allowed to ask if you have kids, and they can ask anything they like about your kids. they are just not allowed to make their decision based on whether you have kids. so asking is a very stupid thing to do, but it is legal. that goes for most protected statuses except for, i believe, health/disability.

i dunno, while i get frustrated running up against the barriers that long distance jobseekers face, i can understand why employers would be concerned. they don't want to hire someone and then have them change their mind before they start (after the employer has already cut all the other candidates loose), or worse, after they move and have started work.

i don't usually advocate lying (beyond the lies everyone is kind of forced to say in interviews, like why you left a cruddy job or what your biggest weakness is), but in this case maybe it does make sense to say you have family in the area. that seems to have worked for me, although in my case it's true.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-22-2013, 06:29 PM
 
2,712 posts, read 5,337,905 times
Reputation: 6182
Quote:
Originally Posted by groar View Post
i dunno, while i get frustrated running up against the barriers that long distance jobseekers face, i can understand why employers would be concerned. they don't want to hire someone and then have them change their mind before they start (after the employer has already cut all the other candidates loose), or worse, after they move and have started work.
If employers are that concerned, they should discard the resumes of geographically undesirable candidates, not have them travel to an interview for a job they won't be getting because they are not local. The OP was pretty clear that the business knew where he lived when he applied for the job.

I get that sometimes you have to go local. If the job needs to be filled quickly, maybe the business cannot wait a month for a new worker to move and get settled before beginning work. That's fine. But don't lead them to believe they are in the running and then pour salt by saying "You were the best qualified for the job but are not getting it because you are not local." That's just ridiculous. I still am having a hard time believing that is what happend to the OP because I've never heard of such a thing in many, many years of interviewing and hiring employees. And the OP has indicated that this has happened on more than one occasion.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-22-2013, 07:06 PM
 
Location: In the city
1,581 posts, read 3,838,612 times
Reputation: 2417
Quote:
Originally Posted by groar View Post
employers are allowed to ask if you have kids, and they can ask anything they like about your kids. they are just not allowed to make their decision based on whether you have kids. so asking is a very stupid thing to do, but it is legal. that goes for most protected statuses except for, i believe, health/disability.

i dunno, while i get frustrated running up against the barriers that long distance jobseekers face, i can understand why employers would be concerned. they don't want to hire someone and then have them change their mind before they start (after the employer has already cut all the other candidates loose), or worse, after they move and have started work.

i don't usually advocate lying (beyond the lies everyone is kind of forced to say in interviews, like why you left a cruddy job or what your biggest weakness is), but in this case maybe it does make sense to say you have family in the area. that seems to have worked for me, although in my case it's true.

Sorry, I do employment law. Questions about kids most certainly are illegal. I have won cases against employers for this.

Job Interview Questions That Are Illegal
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
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.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Work and Employment
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top