How did people find jobs across the country prior to the internet? (college, move)

[allenk893]

It's so easy now to move virtually wherever you want to go just by looking through the internet and applying for jobs in that area. I'm curious how this all worked with cross country jobs and even internationally prior to the internet?

[WorldKlas]

We mailed hard copy resumes in the mail either as a cold/blind offering to employers, or in response to classified ads in newspapers and trade magazines. Or we worked directly with headhunters. And we answered every single phone call — since our phones did not give us any inkling who was calling — and we checked our answering machines 10x a day to make sure we didn’t miss a call. We were always so grateful if an employer out of our area code had an 800 number to save us the expense of a toll call. We also attended conferences and workshops specific to our professional wants/skills in order to network.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by allenk893

I'm curious how this all worked with cross country jobs and even internationally prior to the internet?

People with genuine skill sets and professional degrees & licenses?
Networking. Same as now. The only difference is in the mechanics.

Instead of google you had professional association member lists, out of town phone books at the library
direct personal contacts from your current and past work or college etc. and twenty other similar low tech sources.

It seems that everyone today seem to think that HOW they conduct business
somehow or other makes the underlying dynamics different. They're wrong.

[luv4horses]

Newspaper and trade journal advertisements.