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I am currently employed, but am extremely unhappy in my job. The stress level and frustration are extremely high, and it has begun to affect my overall health. So I have been preparing myself to leave the position for something else (both financially, gathering resume tips and info, etc).
In this job search I would also prefer to relocate to another city, to be closer to family.
My question is, how is the best way to approach this?
In the best of times, it is generally a difficult task to get interviews and offers in a different city. In the current recession, I have to imagine it is even more difficult due to the increase in qualified local candidates. However, if I am going to make a switch in jobs, I feel it is also the time to get to where I want to be too.
So what are some good strategies to go about this? With the recession, I would prefer to not quit and move ahead of time, since it may take a considerably long time to locate a new position. Financially I could do this, as I have sufficient savings to survive a long time (especially since I can stay with family). Still, I hate to really burn through the bulk of savings too.
What other options would prove successful? Does it help to explain in cover letters that I intend to relocate for family reasons (as opposed to firing off resumes to distant cities on a whim?) Would it be helpful to spend a week or two in my destination city, and virtually go door to door to try and get my name and resumes around? Or to attend a job fair (although I am skeptical on whether those help much!).
Using a local number gets very confusing to a potential employer if you are still working elsewhere. I have first hand experience with this, and even though I owned a home in the area I wanted to be hired in, most employers wanted nothing to do with me until I was there full time.
Unless you are in a degreed proffesion forget about getting hired in another state . Why should they spend the money relocating you when they can get a local candidate already and not have to pay them what you would cost them ? it does not make good business sense . good luck though and it is hard out there .
I'd use your family's address/local phone #. Can you fly out there if you get a job offer?
When you get the question of do you live here:
You should always mention you are not expecting the company to pay for you to move.
Why not write a cover letter and not address the 'where are you' until they contact you?
If they call you for a job, you're half way there if you can start within a few weeks.
Nice to see good info on this board.
If you know you will be moving there in the future, you may want to consider getting a cell phone for that area so the employer will be able to contact you directly.
Unless you are in a degreed proffesion forget about getting hired in another state . Why should they spend the money relocating you when they can get a local candidate already and not have to pay them what you would cost them ? it does not make good business sense . good luck though and it is hard out there .
You have to state you do not want any $ to relocate.
It didn't matter. I already had a home here--not just a place to crash with a friend but a house with a mortgage. I had a local phone that was in my name. I didn't need relo money. I could start with the typical two weeks notice to my current employer. I was willing to pay all my travel expenses to go to interviews. No dice. They knew I wasn't living here because my resume clearly stated that I was working in another state. I had four legitimate interviews before I finally just quit my job, packed up, and moved here. (With over a years living expenses in the bank and no moving costs except a few tanks of gas for my car.)
Bottom line, they wanted "local" candidates, and because my butt wasn't living here full time, I wasn't local. End of story. This was in a hot job market four years ago. It hasn't changed. If anything it's even harder to land a job if you aren't a local candidate because the labor pool is so large now.
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