Do you wonder how other people get hired from out of state? (job offer, employment)

[GypsySoul22]

I know a lot of us want to relocate. I often check the forums of the states, areas we are considering.

Every once in awhile I come across someone saying, "I just got a job in such and such" (and they are from some other state). I wonder what these people do for a living that is in SUCH demand that they can just get a job WHERE they want to move.

The big thing we get told as 'unemployed people' is 'why don't you just move?'
Well, not everyone CAN get work from one state to another.

Do you need to be 'in demand' or at a certain skill level to get a job before moving somewhere? A person could be waiting MONTHS or YEARS...

I'm just putting this out there...what are your thoughts on the subject...how hard has it been for you to 'find a job' out of state/how long have you been looking?

[malamute]

I think there are various approaches one can take.

First if you know where you might like to be, you make plans to relocate there and the rest will fall into place. You start zeroing in on towns, and job openings. You aren't just throwing random darts that way, you're focused. You might choose a town midway between bigger cities so you can look in either direction.

Or you focus on your field, if you are in one line of work, and need a job, then you find job openings whereever they might be and zero in on them but then you have to be willing to go whereever.

I know a guy in his 80's from Michigan who is laid off - but he wants to work. He likes traveling south in an RV in the winter but that gets costly without a job. So he found a job as a campground host - not his same field by a long shot but it fits his needs for now. His strategy was that he wanted to be in a general area, he knew his age is a factor in finding jobs so he found a way around that. He actually plans to look around for other jobs when he gets there in case he and his wife decide to settle there.

Sometimes if one place is dried up and there's little activity for jobs and moving up, it's best to find a place with more potential, get there, get settled in and then work up.

People mention Austin - and what's good about Austin is that it's not a bad commute to San Antonio which also has jobs and a lot of smaller towns also close enough.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by GypsySoul22

Do you need to be 'in demand' or at a certain skill level to get a job before moving somewhere? A person could be waiting MONTHS or YEARS...

And no. Many people get too bogged down after working many years or even a few years at one place. They get a specific skill set that helps there where they are but to relocate and move to another area, sometimes you have to step back and call up your general skill sets.

You can't let age or experience get you -- you have to return to the place you were once at a different age and adopt the same mindset again.

Starting a new job in a new city isn't really that different than starting a new job in the same city - you will still be the new guy, you'll still have to learn their ways, how they do the job, the various personalities.

It depends on the skill set you have but almost all skill sets work in one geographical area as they do in another but it can be better to be more open and generalized when taking on any new job. What worked to get your foot in the door in the past can still work - and you can still move up after you get your foot in the door and get settled in.

The biggest problem is fear itself. What would you do if you weren't afraid? Or what would you tell your kids about getting a job - and then you tell yourself the same thing.

[malamute]

One other thing. Someone with an alias as yours has it in them. GypsySoul -- you have the free spirit and sense of adventure in you - you just have to free it. A gypsy isn't tied to one spot, a gypsy wants to roam.

[gotsomedata]

Originally Posted by GypsySoul22

...I wonder what these people do for a living that is in SUCH demand that they can just get a job WHERE they want to move...Do you need to be 'in demand' or at a certain skill level to get a job before moving somewhere? A person could be waiting MONTHS or YEARS...

I am seeing the opposite in many cases in my local area; and as someone who has worked in and been management for (what seems like) about 120 years and always been interested in the nuances of employment, I have long been interested in the question of how "long distance hiring" decisions (especially hiring someone from afar instead of hiring a local person) work. In the very late innings of my carreer, I am about to decide that the old joke: "The definition of an expert is: someone away from home with slides (should be updated to be 'with PowerPoint presentation')." is a good way to look at the issue.

Of course it's pretty obvious that there are many times when specific unusual skills are necessary, and there are only so many people who have those skills; and in such a case "remote recruiting" is the primary solution; BUT I have in my life seen (and just saw what I view as an incredible case a few months ago; but it is pretty high profile so I can't be specific) MANY situations where you can't tell me that there was no one who would have been an "as good fit" as the person hired from across the country.

In fact, I myself have several times in my carreer been the person from afar who has been hired, and once I got into the job I have noted that there were local/in house candidates who would have been as well suited for the position as I was, but "for some reason" I got the position. I know it may seem strange, but I really do think that many times it comes down to the "hiring company/manager" becomes enamored with getting someone from "somewhere else" simply because they are from "somewhere else". Hang in there and keep looking; companies are still very interested in hiring from a distance.

[GypsySoul22]

Thanks guys.
I'm not afraid of moving (we've done it so many times). We have an area we are interested in and it's just a matter of targeting companies or organizations and a bit of luck.

My life has been very miserable since moving here in 2007 and trying really hard to fit in, get a job, whatever...

We've decided we need to live closer to 'more things' and more opportunities. We regret having to move our middle school child again to a new school but we're convinced this is not the place for us.

[FarNorthDallas]

Come on down to Texas, Gypsy. Live in Frisco. It's a new suburb full of people moving from other places. The schools are full of "new" kids from all over the country, so no one is really the new kid. You can buy a nice new house for $125,000. It seems like there are jobs here. (I have had multiple interviews.)

I was talking to a friend and as we were talking she was getting email after email - unsolicited - from people all over the country trying to get a job where she worked. "Hi, my name is Jane and I just graduated from UCLA and I have always wanted to live in Texas...."

My friend says she gets so many of these every single day. She just deletes the emails. It's basically spam. First, they are not hiring as it's one of these jobs where there's only 1 in each company and its my friend! They are emailing the person they would be replacing. Yeah, right. Now if they ever decided to hire an assistant for her, they would go through industry organizations or local colleges who have the right degree or someone who interned there (as they do take summer interns from college programs for college credit).

Second, why would they entertain the idea of someone from 1000 miles away when there are plenty of local people who are just as qualified? My friend said, Maybe Jane is sending that email to lots of cities and states, "Hi, my name is Jane and I just graduated from UCLA and I have always wanted to live in [insert state here]..." It's just so spam like. The issue is Jane can't find a job and she's scrambling. If she moved to Texas, it would help her out so much. She could get out and meet people and start networking.

[highway29south]

We have been looking to move to Virginia for years now (I'm from there so this isn't a "yankee tired of the cold weather" routine- I just want to go home!). My husband must have applied to hundreds of jobs now in the education and mental health fields and so far, nothing. He did get one job offer but it was in a dying town and the pay was so ridiculously low and the health care cost so high, we could have never survived.

I wish I understood why some people are able to get jobs so easily. I don't mean to complain, it just gets so frustrating when you put in all the work and no one even calls.

[GypsySoul22]

Originally Posted by highway29south

I wish I understood why some people are able to get jobs so easily. I don't mean to complain, it just gets so frustrating when you put in all the work and no one even calls.

Exactly.
We don't have months and months...our son finishes school in June (I'd even let him miss the last few weeks and homeschool if we got offers). We have May, June, July and part of August. That's it..then another year starts.

I've given up looking for jobs here. They are non-existent. I look as new people keep coming to this area (which is dying IMO) and they go to work and I have been here 3 years getting 'sorry, thanks but no thanks...'

FarNorthDallas, we kicked around the idea of Texas but I don't know....it would be such a radical difference....and are schools ANY good there?

Then there is the overt 'religious' aspect in Texas...(and the South in general).

I hate to have the North vs. South bias but I don't want my son sitting in school being lectured about 'creationism' and how 'evil' he is because he's not 'religious.'

Maybe this isn't the case in big cities. I am not trying to be ignorant...I think this and 'worries about the quality of education' are what keeps my husband and I from relocating down south.

[kodaka]

Well I think one thing to remember is that when you hear or read 'I just got a job in.....' you are only hearing a brief snippet of the story.

One key is how long it took them to get that job. They may have been interviewing for years before they landed the job they are referring to. I understand that you don't have time for a prolonged search, but that doesn't mean these other people you hear about don't.

Another, what level are these people at, and in one field? Some fields are very small and any recruitment will involve a national or international search. Scientific research fields, for instance. Academia is another where typically applicants are from all over the country or the globe. At a certain level of management, it is also pretty common for companies to recruit from other locales.

Yes, I do think there are times when companies deliberately to hire 'outside'. Generally not because they become 'enamored' of the idea but because they recognize that they need an outside perspective. Maybe to resolve some problems they are having or maybe to expand the business in some new way. Hiring from within won't address these issues, and oftentimes the local labor pool is small and intertwined enough that it doesn't offer the needed perspective or skills.

I would suggest you reconsider whether or not it is absolutely necessary to only move during the summer because of your kid. My family moved more than a dozen times when I was in school, and moving mid-year was always easier. If we moved during the summer, starting school was very lonely--everyone was so caught up on lockers and class schedules and getting their books that I got lost in the shuffle and never really met anyone. At least if we moved mid-year, I got an introduction in the classroom so people at least knew my name, usually I got paired up with someone to help me navigate the new school, and teachers would make an effort to find out what my previous curriculum and learning was. It might work out better for everyone involved if you don't put a deadline of August on yourself.