How to get a job in a different city
Do you have advice for trying to relocate across country and find a job? Does one need to lie and say you are actually in the new town? It seems like they can find that out in a background check. They seem to be more interested in local candidates, even when I stress I would pay for my own move.
I just cannot afford to quit and go live in the town in order to interview because of overhead.
People will not interview you if they think they need to relocate you themselves. Why would they do that? There are plenty of local candidates to hire and it’s easier. So you need to overcome this problem to get a job in a new city.
Step one: Put a local address on your resume. It’s not a lie to give a local address on your resume. Tons of people have multiple addresses. You are giving the address where you will get mail if you are in that city. The person reading the resume draws the conclusion that you are living in the city already. Your goal with a resume is to get an interview.
Step two: Fly to an interview if you get one. Tell the interviewer you will be relocating permanently in three weeks. Which would be true, if you got the job. So it’s fine to say it in the interview. If you have to go through a phone screen first, tell the interviewer that you are planning to move in three weeks but you will be in town the next week and you can interview then. This takes the pressure off the interviewer worrying that they are dragging you into town for an interview – they don’t want to feel that they are doing that.
If you do not have a the resources to get to the new city for an interview and you don’t have the resources to move without a job then you don’t have the resources to move. Only very, very hard-to-fill positions allow for paying for travel to interview a candidate.
Penelope
Thank you. I just was stalled on interview #2 with a company and so I sent them an email saying “I would like to fly there for a face-to-face meeting. What is your availability?” and then next thing I knew they wanted to interview me for a job in current city. I had to tell them “Sorry, would love to work for you but my goal is to relocate, I already have a residence and I am paying for my own relocation” Ughhh!
I made the move from Vancouver Canada to San Diego CA last summer. I applied to several hundred jobs using a San Diego address I had pulled from the internet, and managed to land 6 interviews. I scheduled them for the same week, put everything I owned in a U-Haul, and drove on down.
I landed 2 of the jobs, took my pick, and signed a lease. It can definitely be done. However, I had a contingency plan that included steel-toed boots in case I landed no jobs and had to work laboring somewhere until I got something legitimate.
Best of luck! Dive in head first, you’ll never no how it will work if you don’t try!
And if it makes you feel less nervous, I had a wife and son who came with me.
Wondering if my usage of “no” instead of “know” twice was some sort of Freudian thing…