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A mobile society is probably a good thing, but it isn’t an employers responsibility to facilitate this. Geographical location is not a protected status.
Your job history in terms of stability isn’t awful, nor is it great. As an employer I would be forgiving because of your age and presumably developing career, but that tolerance will go away as you become more experienced. Some of this is industry does any however.
As an employer, it may not be my business WHY you want to move, but it is my business to use my resources effectively. Out of town candidates often flake out during the interview stage, not replying to interview offers or not showing up for the interview. Others find that they cannot handle the move and drop out at that stage. Yet others do not successfully integrate with the area and move away.
The bottom line is that out of area candidates are more problematic than locals. Given two people if equal qualification, I will go with the local every time. When I need to hire somebody with special skills I will consider out of area, living with the higher failure rate out of necessity.
Here's the problem from the individual job seeker's perspective.
I worked at a call center from the time I graduated college to the time I left for Iowa. That was about two years. The Iowa offer was the same job (help desk), but my pay went up by a third over what I was making in Virginia, and I was at the company HQ in a much healthier metro area. With the economy the way it was in 2012, getting out of southwest Virginia back to mainstream America was priority #1.
If I had stayed at that office, I might be a team lead now, but the odds are I'd still be answering the phone when it rings in a nonprofessional role. The team lead position is just $40,000 a year job in that part of Virginia. Those types of jobs don't have transferable skills into the "real world." The odds of me having gone anywhere by "staying the course" for stability's sake are slim to none.
I don't even list the help desk jobs on my resume individually anymore. They're balled up under "various help desk employment" with a time frame. That was five total positions. Three of them were contracts - the shortest job was about three weeks. The help desk jobs are not relevant to what I do now, much less where they were physically located. I don't use anyone from any of those jobs as a reference.
If I had never taken that first "career track" job in Indiana, I'd still be in some low end job somewhere here. I stayed at that company for two years until my leadership started leaving, and it became clear no promotions were going to occur under the new leadership. I left that employer for a promotion in title and pay at a bank. I knew I made a mistake the first week with the job at the bank, and started pounding the pavement looking for a way out. I got an interview with a hospital system in my hometown, received an offer, took it, and moved back to Tennessee.
With that said, if I wasn't from this part of Tennessee originally, the odds of me ever getting that interview at the local hospital system would be incredibly slim. I had other interviews and two offers in rural West Tennessee at the time. Someone at a small business in rural West Tennessee is probably not going to hire anyone sight unseen from Boston or Seattle. They want someone who has a general idea of the local culture. If I were to move back to a big city, it would probably be easiest for me to go back to Indianapolis, simply because I've lived there and have local connections.
The out of area candidate situation is a catch 22. There are quite a few reasons to not hire out of area candidates from the employer's perspective, and many are legitimate. The problem, especially for small town and rural residents not commutable to a job center, is that if employers in the job centers are not willing to hire out of area candidates, you end up with large parts of the country where there are no jobs and from which people cannot escape. At some point, someone has to have the confidence to break the logjam.
As others have mentioned it's mainly about your field. I get offers of relocation to podunk areas and 2nd tier cities (in NYC now) and politely decline without thinking twice. The main reason I decline is that I don't know anybody out in these areas so what happens if the job doesn't go well? I'll be assed out in a State where I have no relatives, no friends and nothing to fall back on in case of emergency or legal problems etc.
There's basically nothing anyone could offer me to leave NYC career wise that wouldn't leave a severe dent in their departmental budget. I would need NYC salary or close to it, despite the cost of living difference. This is because it's highly unlikely my Wife would be able to find a job in TX, NC or some of the other states who have contacted me. So it would be a one income household for the most part. In addition I would need an employment contract to avoid aforementioned issues if things don't work out - And it'd have to be in my favor. If I serve 1 year and things change due to no fault of my own, at least 1 year severance. After all it is going to take me at least a year to get back on my feet at my level in my hometown and it sure as hell shouldn't be on my dime if it wasn't my fault why things didn't work out.
I think due to widespread "At Will" employment that you will have very few relocations these days except for very senior upper level management who get big compensation anyways. So it's not a big deal for them to add 50k to a guy who is making 500k a year and hopefully producing results that will more than make up for that in the revenue they generate for the company at that level.
you end up with large parts of the country where there are no jobs and from which people cannot escape.
This is most of America....
NYC and maybe SoCal are pretty much the only places which source at least 50% of the workforce from other States and cities. It is practically a cultural practice now which is good because it assembles the best and brightest from the entire country concentrated where major Fortune 500s need it.
LOL And of course 4 people post right after me: I did it, I did it...
Yea, making it look easy. It's NOT.
Nobody said that it was easy, but it is not impossible. The last time I tried it, I did a couple phone interviews and a Sykpe interview and received a job offer without ever stepping foot in the state or meeting anyone in person. So, it can be done but it takes extra effort compared to a normal local job search and it helps to have experience and skills in a field that is in demand. I have no idea where you have been trying to relocate to, but my best luck has been with closely held businesses in large cities.
The out of area candidate situation is a catch 22. There are quite a few reasons to not hire out of area candidates from the employer's perspective, and many are legitimate. The problem, especially for small town and rural residents not commutable to a job center, is that if employers in the job centers are not willing to hire out of area candidates, you end up with large parts of the country where there are no jobs and from which people cannot escape. At some point, someone has to have the confidence to break the logjam.
What you describe is a different situation entirely. There are issues for an employer to consider when hiring someone that lives in a different urban area. Those issues are exponentially increased when you are thinking about hiring an employee that lives in the boonies or a small town. Not only do you have to consider how they will work out in the job but you have to take into account how they are going to adapt to living in a city with a different culture. I personally would never take a chance on hiring someone from a small town or rural area looking to move to a city. I would let another employer take the chance instead.
My best advice to someone in a small town is to get out as soon as you get a chance. The longer you live there as an adult, the more skeptical people will be about your ability to handle living somewhere else. Unfair perhaps, but it is what it is.
What you describe is a different situation entirely. There are issues for an employer to consider when hiring someone that lives in a different urban area. Those issues are exponentially increased when you are thinking about hiring an employee that lives in the boonies or a small town. Not only do you have to consider how they will work out in the job but you have to take into account how they are going to adapt to living in a city with a different culture. I personally would never take a chance on hiring someone from a small town or rural area looking to move to a city. I would let another employer take the chance instead.
My best advice to someone in a small town is to get out as soon as you get a chance. The longer you live there as an adult, the more skeptical people will be about your ability to handle living somewhere else. Unfair perhaps, but it is what it is.
This is starting to get more into theory and speculation.
I'm from northeast TN. Is Nashville or Charlotte so culturally dissimilar that I wouldn't be able to handle living there? Absolutely not. I'd like to think I have some amount of life experience and worldliness. I have a couple dozen friends and acquaintances that went to school here and moved from this area to Charlotte, Nashville, Raleigh, or Atlanta. It's not uncommon. Someone, somewhere took a chance on these people.
The job I moved to Indianapolis for was at a satellite office of a metro Boston based company that makes software for the investment banking industry. My division was probably 2/3 immigrant - 1/3 US natives, all shoved into the pressure cooker investment banking culture. Everyone was under extreme stress at all times. The stress was part of the reason I left, but the locals and the immigrants who worked there were leaving for similar reasons.
It would take a lot more money than I made that job to get me back into that culture.
I'm from northeast TN. Is Nashville or Charlotte so culturally dissimilar that I wouldn't be able to handle living there? Absolutely not. I'd like to think I have some amount of life experience and worldliness. I have a couple dozen friends and acquaintances that went to school here and moved from this area to Charlotte, Nashville, Raleigh, or Atlanta. It's not uncommon. Someone, somewhere took a chance on these people.
I don't know anything about TN or NC, but what you describe I would call regional relocation. Moving from rural TN to a mid size city in TN is not the same as moving from rural TN to NYC or Los Angeles. If I was an employer in NYC, LA, Miami, Phoenix, etc. there is no way I would take a chance on a employee relocating from rural TN to be able to adapt to living in a crowded city while getting used to a new job on top of the normal stress of a move. Not saying that someone from rural TN can't do it or that you specifically don't have life experience, I am just saying that playing the odds would make hiring a person in that situation a very risky venture. If you were young and living in the rural area due to a choice your parents made or you spent several years attending college before going back to your hometown, I may reconsider. If an adult willingly chose to move to or stay in a rural area, I would be very skeptical that a job in a large city would work out well for them or their employer long term.
I added "Relocating to the Milwaukee area fall of 2017" at the top of my resume. I also explained I was already planning to relocate to the area in the cover letter. I was able to be confident because we were relocating due to my husband's job but I still feared finding myself in your situation.
I don't know if those measures helped or not but I landed a good paying job within a week while still living in Michigan.
I added "Relocating to the Milwaukee area fall of 2017" at the top of my resume.
I don't know if those measures helped or not but...
But I bet you added more detail on your husbands situation such as the company name
and maybe a contact name too that they could back-channel with before they offered anything.
If you want to be hired by a company in another area of the country, you can do so if you meet his one simple requirement.
You have to bring something to the table. You must have a unique education/experience background, that the employer needs but cannot easily find locally. This person will get interviews, and relocation allowance.
If you only have to offer education/experience background that they can get 100 local qualified applicants (or even 10), there sure is no reason to hire you. Bringing in a new employee from out of area, is always costly, and you have no way of knowing if they will be happy and stay with your company.
A true story. Years ago, I knew a man in California. He never even went to college, but had taught himself rocket weapons when there were none. He started a company, and they built a lot of rockets for the US military. The money people got hold of some stock and proxies and took over the company. They fired him and put in someone with a college education as head of the company. He was a widower and had a about 10 years old daughter to support. Due to lack of a college degree no one would talk to him. He told me his story about 3 years after the following happened.
One of the real big corporations was building a big factory to build a new rocket weapons system that we still use. He went in and applied for a job as a technician. They looked at his resume and apparently recognized his name. The made a phone call, and told him to sit in this room, and wait for someone to see him. This was 3.m. At 5.m he gave up and was walking out of the room, when 2 very high vice presidents from the corporate office came rushing in. They apologized and said they were in a meeting in the big city an hours drive away when they heard he was there. They shut down the meeting, and due to traffic had taken 2 hours to get there, and told him they were going to dinner their treat. He had known them very well for years.
He soon realized, he was being wined and dined for something better, so he made one glass of wine last all evening. By the time they broke up the dinner meeting, he was the new plant manager and in charge of the development of that rocket system.
The rest I learned from the man living across the street from me, that was #2 at the plant. He had been in charge of the program from the start, knowing someone else may get the job permanent. He was angry enough to quit the next morning when the announcement was made, and he knew the new boss, did not even go to college and was replacing him and he was now #2. He was going to quit, but thought he would wait till after lunch. He said the first thing the new boss did, was ask if there were any problems. There was one they had been trying to solve for 6 months. They told the new boss, and he asked for a set of blue prints. At about the 5th page, he said her is the problem and pointed at one of the smaller parts, and said this needs changed to another part. He realized instantly this new boss was right, and made a decision not to quit for a while and see what else that new boss was going to find. After a very few weeks, his boss called him to his office, and told him to be ready to leave for a trip to the Pentagon, on a mid night flight. The first thing next morning they went to the Pentagon and asked to see a certain Admiral, and when he said he did not have an appointment they were going to rush him out the door. He told them they had better call the Admiral and ask him first. Someone did, and to their surprise they were told a guide would be there in minutes, to take him to see the Admiral. A high grade officer walked in and escorted them into to bowels of the Pentagon. The Admiral was waiting for them in the hall, and it was apparent they were very old friends.
He told the Admiral, he wanted to change to a 3rd generation of the Missile, and laid out the plans. The Admiral saw what he was wanting to do, called some engineers to his office, and in two hours what usually takes a year to get something like that approved, the contracts were change for the new one. The first missile was tested, and fired over a long distance, hit the target dead center. He said after that Pentagon visit, he knew why the other man was the boss. He not only found their big problem in minutes but upgraded the missile by a couple of generations before the first run started, and got it approved in hours not a year. He was going to stay with his job as #2, because when the other man retired he would be the best trained missile engineer in the country.
This story shows how if you have a unique talent, you can get any job you want, and can get jobs anywhere in the country. On the other hand, if you are a run of the mill person (not meaning you are not good) and there enough local talent to fill any companies needs, you are not going to be hired for jobs across the country. There is always someone local to fill the job needs.
A lot of people on these threads, complain that they companies are looking for a Purple Squirrel in other words the absolute perfect person for the job. They complain that people like them do not even have a chance at some of the jobs they really want and apply for. Of course they are, and always have done so. Why hire someone, that is going to need a lot of training, when they can find someone that can take over the job immediately.
They complain that the companies do not want to hire someone that needs a lot of training. Of course they don't when the average young person today, only plans on staying with them until they can get trained and find a better job. They feel, why go to the time and expense to train their competitions employees.
Employers have to look out for their company, and are no interested in what you want. They have to make the decisions that are less costly to them, and will always go for the already trained local employee as long as they are available.
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