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Top 10 Ideas When Pursuing a Long-Distance Job Search

The world has shrunk dramatically with the advent of the airplane, overnight delivery and the Internet. For example, diseases out of context are cropping up in faraway places, tracked by people moving across the continents by sea and air. Yet even with all this human movement, we forget how much we have at our disposal to help us when we chose to exchange our place on the planet for another.

 

TOP TEN 
     Here are some ideas to help you remember:

    1. 1. Before you get there, read all you can about what’s going on there. Have you forgotten? Every community worth anything has its newspaper posted on the Internet. You can read daily about the turn of events in that location. Not only can you scan the natives’ want ads, but you can begin to track businesses of note, corresponding with people within them before you move an inch from your present location.

    2. 2. Use your network in your current location to help you quickly build a network in a new location. One savvy career seeker we know sent post cards to every member of a professional association she belonged to, stating that she was planning on moving to San Francisco. She asked everyone in the organization to send her several names of people they knew who lived there to help her establish her network long before she moved. After all, we all have relatives and friends in San Francisco don’t we?

    3. 3. Don’t be shy contact people in the new area. Start an email exchange with people in that new area long before you arrive. They can plug you into what’s happening especially new businesses that are opening and other news you could learn best from those who are already on the scene.

    4. 4. Get your papers in order. Get your resume ready and any other credentials you'll need to communicate your skills to a potential employer. Be sure also to have on hand performance reviews and other documents that will help you best state your case for reemployment. With the advent of the Internet, you can of course post your resume online so that someone on the other side of the earth will have access to your credentials as anyone does in your present location.
    6. 5.Take a vacation. Another good way to get your bearings about a place before you pull up stakes and move there is to vacation there. Spend several weeks and see what it’s really like. Use your time wisely to set up interviews with potential employers and seek housing. Try to schedule your trip for a time of year that’s least desirable to this spot so that you are best prepared for what’s ahead of you.
    8. 6. Read what the experts say about the place Money magazine offers an annual ranking about various cities in the United States. You can also read books and travel guides compiled to help people get a grasp of popular places around the globe.
    10. 7. Don’t burn your bridges. Don’t throw away your overcoat too soon. While you may be eager to leave where you are now, you may find the new place does not have as green grass as you suppose. If the climate is drastically different than the one you are leaving behind, you may be grateful to have those warm clothes if you find the move did not work out. This also goes for relationships in your current location. Don't dispose of contacts that may be handy if you need to return.
    12. 8. Calculate the expense differential to estimate how much difference there will be between where you live now and where you are going.
    14. 9. Negotiate moving expenses. It is not uncommon today to get moving expenses added on to your salary and bonus for signing on. This is especially true if you are in a hot field with skills that are highly in demand. Estimate before you negotiate just how much it is going to cost you to relocate to this new area.
    16. 10. parents are reluctant to pull their children out of school and so give up the opportunity of living in a new location until after their children have grown. However, even though children may complain loudly about moving and leaving their friends behind (even as young as five years old), change is part of the equation everyone will be facing in the new century. You may actually be doing your children a favor by pulling up stakes and asking them to learn how to survive and thrive in a new location. And if you are giving up the chance to live the life you want in the place of your dreams because you will be leaving your friends and family behind, remember there are ways for you to stay in touch today as never before.