Southern California Job Market : Wandering Far Afield : Be Forewarned: Finding a Good Job Elsewhere Won’t Be Easy
Want to widen your job search beyond Southern California? Dreaming of greener pastures elsewhere? Married to an executive who just got transferred to Ft. Wayne, Ind.?
Be prepared. Finding a job far from home is one of the toughest job-hunting tasks.
The good news, for those committed to the effort, is that it can be done. But first ask yourself three crucial questions. An honest “no” to any means stay put.
Are you moving for the right reasons? Can you afford to move? Is there a realistic chance of getting the job you want?
Consider Tamyra Wallace. In late 1990, she was so confident she could find a job in Seattle that she quit her $75,000-a-year post in Southern California, moved and even bought a home there.
A franchise sales executive, Wallace had worked in Seattle before and wanted to return “because I was tired of living on the 405.” Unlike most people who decide to look for a job far from home, she’d already cultivated a network of contacts.
But all she could find in Seattle were temporary consulting jobs and teaching work. So in February, when she got a good offer near Denver, she left.
“I guess Seattle and I weren’t a good match anyway,” says Wallace, now national sales manager for Pak Mail Centers of America, a mail-service franchise based in Aurora, Colo. “I didn’t like the rain.”
Moving to a new city, a new job and a new life tempts a lot of people, especially those yearning for a slower pace or anxious about the Southland’s economy. But for many it ends up a costly mistake.
Most people looking for a job in another location are doing so because their spouse has been relocated. They may not have much choice. But many others have unrealistic dreams of what a move will do. People often move back to where they grew up, only to discover that it has changed so much they don’t like it anymore. Others find themselves unhappy with the slower lifestyle they thought they badly wanted.
“A lot of people born and raised in Southern California have never lived anyplace else,” says Sandra Young, a partner with Career Focus, an outplacement firm in Tustin. “Until you’ve lived somewhere else, you don’t really know what to expect.”
If you do decide to find a job elsewhere, here are things to consider:
* Your finances. Many people simply can’t afford a move. For example, if you can’t afford to keep your home on the market for several months after you go (or can’t afford to cut the asking price), moving may pose an unacceptable financial risk.
* Your destination. If you don’t have to move to a specific city, it’s still probably best to focus on a few metropolitan areas where the economy is healthier or where jobs in your field may be found. Recession- hammered New England, for example, is only just beginning to show signs of economic life again. If you have a relatively narrow or specific profession and you’re willing to go anywhere, trade journal ads may help you figure out where to go.
* If yours is a two-income family, don’t assume that your spouse can find a job immediately, even if you’ve already landed one. Be prepared to live on less for awhile. (Hint: Try persuading your new employer to pay for employment consulting for your spouse.)
* Study the area you’ve targeted to see if you have a chance of landing a job there. Go to the library and read news stories about the area. Subscribe to the local newspapers. And use your head. If you’re an aerospace worker in St. Louis, don’t count on finding work in Southern California, where thousands like you are losing their jobs.
* Jobs overseas are among the most difficult to get. People snap up books and pamphlets about how to get jobs in foreign lands, only to find disappointment. “Even American companies overseas hire foreign nationals to fill openings,” says Bylle Snyder, western regional senior vice president at Drake Beam Morin Inc., an outplacement firm.
* Merely writing letters won’t work in this economy. “Unless you have a personal introduction, mass-mailing paper doesn’t get you anywhere,” says Lily Pratt, a career strategy consultant who advises Stanford Business School alumni.
* Pay a visit. Spend time in the new city checking out the schools, lifestyle, cost of living and weather.
* Spend time developing contacts through referrals from colleagues, relatives and friends. Someone is bound to know someone in the city where you want to go.
* Try the want ads, but don’t count on them. Because the economy is slow, there are fewer job ads. Openings often aren’t even advertised because employers already have so many prospects on hand. Moreover, an ad is likely to attract a huge number of applicants.
Some experts say it helps to create the impression that you have local ties. Many employers won’t even look at someone from another area, partly because they don’t want to pay relocation expenses.
As hard as it can be to find a new job in a far-off place, people do succeed. Take Gary E. Stark, an Orange County lawyer who confronted an avalanche of resumes for each place he sought. Persevering, he eventually landed a position as an attorney with a Tennessee nursing home company.
