ALT-2 Dos and Donts of Long Distance Job Hunting
There are, of course, several dos and dont's, many of which are self evident. I have recently had a lot of experience in this endeavor. I can only tabulate the "dos and dont's" gleaned from my own experience.
After eight years in one state, (New Jersey) I decided - after much pressure from my children -to move to Virginia, where we would be closer to them in our so-called "golden years". Since my husband was way past retirement age, and working in a job which involved a lot of physical work, it was time for him to finally call it a day. This left me as the prospective sole income-provider for the two of us, and the necessity to try to find a job in Virginia before we left New Jersey. This would provide a seamless transition job-wise, and no hiccup in monthly paychecks. My reasoning was that once I had a definite offer of a job in Virginia we would then put our home on the market, leave my husband behind to take care of the closing of that sale, and to organize the moving of our household to a new home. The plan was that I would stay with my daughter, start the new job, and start the house hunting for that new home.
I tried all the job search websites, and registered my resume as required. I also registered for job alerts to be sent to my computer on a daily basis.
Thus the plan was put into action:
My mistakes here would add up to a list of "Don'ts", and a few "Do's.
Don't assume that the business culture in one State is necessarily the same as another. In my case, it certainly was very different. New Jersey is densely populated, and very "fast-track" in the business world - particularly given its proximity to New York City. Virginia has a "southern" flavor, and time tends to go by at a slower pace.
A definite "Do" here is to try to find a new employer that is national, with a culture similar to that to which you are accustomed. Always research the company website before clicking on that 'APPLY" button.
2. Don't apply for jobs if it is not clear from the ad. exactly where your working location will be. In my case, the only point of reference I had was my daughter's address, and as it happened when it finally all came to fruition, we bought a house in another town, quite some distance from where she lives.
A "Do" - research the area to which you are going. Use Mapquest and Google driving directions from the proposed place of work to where you will be living. Virginia is well-known (but I did not know this) for very long commutes.
A "Dont" Do not, I repeat not, be satisfied with a "telephone interview" even if it culminates in a job offer. Hold back from accepting the offer, however great it may sound, until you can actually make a trip to the proposed actual location where you would be working, and meet the people face to face. Do this at your own expense, if necessary. My experience here was that I did just that, and found afterward that I would be working in a part of town where crime was rampant, and unsafe. (I quit after four months).
Finally, research, research, research. The Web is wonderful, and definitely a place to start, but at the end of the day, a far better way to go about that research is to actually spend some time in your proposed location, read the local newspapers there, try out a few churches (the people will welcome you and be only to happy to talk about their community) and spend a lot of fuel and time just driving about. Believe me, the time and cost in dollars will pay handsomely when you finally make that move.
