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Moving cross country?

ZekZek Registered User regular
edited October 2011 in Help / Advice Forum
Lately I've been pondering the idea of moving cross country(east coast to west coast, either California or Seattle), and I'm trying to get a feel for what it would take to make it happen. I have an okay job now and a decent amount of money saved up - obviously the ideal scenario would be to get another offer in advance, but I'm wondering how much the distance will affect my chances of getting an interview, and naturally I can't be flying out there all the time. The other possibility I was thinking of is to tell my boss that I have to move for some good reason(girlfriend, family, whatever), go out there and work remotely while I job hunt. I think they would let me do that for a little while(pretty small team, non-negligible inconvenience of cutting me loose) but certainly not forever.

So, couple question for you guys:

1. How bad of a disadvantage is a big distance like that in a job application? Will companies that don't want to pay to fly me out for an interview and/or relocate me just ignore me entirely, causing me to burn possible bridges?

2. Worst case scenario, I end up out there without a job - how much extra money should I expect to need to last me while finding something new?

3. Any suggestions on cover stories to tell my manager to pull off the move, or ways to find out if he would do it without putting myself on the chopping block?

Thanks.

Zek on

Posts

  • vonPoonBurGervonPoonBurGer Registered User regular
    edited October 2011
    Zek wrote:
    1. How bad of a disadvantage is a big distance like that in a job application? Will companies that don't want to pay to fly me out for an interview and/or relocate me just ignore me entirely, causing me to burn possible bridges?
    It depends a lot on the job market in your target destination and how marketable your current experience and skill set are. I moved from Toronto to Vancouver in 2002 to be with my girlfriend, who had moved there to get her Masters degree. This was during the hiring hangover that followed the dot-com crash, and I had maybe three years of full-time work experience in the tech sector at that time, with a lot of that being pretty low-level tech support type work. It essentially meant that my chances of scoring an interview remotely were sweet fuck-all. I did try to apply to places before I moved but had absolutely no success, not even a callback. Even after I got there, it was a good two months before I managed to get an interview. Luckily that one single interview became an offer, which became a good five-year job where I learned a much more valuable job skill (Oracle database administrator). So that was my experience, but your situation could differ drastically depending on what's on your resume and where you're moving.

    I don't know what your skill set is like, but I can speculate on your chances of finding a job remotely on the west coast. My guess is: pretty low, unless you have very sought-after work skills. Lots of people want to move out west. Places like LA, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver are constantly getting an influx of new bodies from the east coast or flyover country. I knew a lot of people in school who's life plan was to graduate, then move out west. The left coast is sexy I guess. Anyway, that constant stream of fresh potential employees means that it's fairly rare for west coast employers to be hard-up for job candidates. And if they can find the candidate locally, they're not going to waste money flying in an out-of-town candidate for an interview, never mind paying for their move.

    Which is not to say that it doesn't happen. The company I'm currently working for has an office near a major US city. We've had a hell of a time finding a good Oracle DBA for that office because it's not in a very good location. Either the applicant has to be willing to live in a less desirable part of town, or they have to be willing to put up with a pretty terrible commute. We've had good local candidates apply, but they're not willing to take the job unless we pay them $texas. In the end we found a DBA a couple states over who was from that area originally and was content to take the job at the pay grade we were offering, primarily because it'll put them closer to family. So in that instance we couldn't fill the job locally so the company paid to fly this candidate in for the interview, and will also be paying for their move I believe.
    Zek wrote:
    2. Worst case scenario, I end up out there without a job - how much extra money should I expect to need to last me while finding something new?
    I had a few grand when I did my big move out west, but I was living with my girlfriend when I got there, so my expenses were as minimal as could be expected. Even then, covering my half of the rent and bills meant that I as getting pretty worried towards the end of that second month of job hunting (Vancouver is an expensive town to live in). My advice would be to figure out how much you'll need to cover rent, bills and food in your target city for three months, then pad that by at least 20% as a contingency fund.

    Have a fallback plan, whether it's moving in with friends somewhere else, moving back to your old city, or moving back in with your parents temporarily. Figure out how much it would cost to pull the trigger on that fallback plan and make sure your contingency fund can easily accommodate it. My fallback plan was to move back to Ontario and live in my Dad's basement. I was at most 60 days away from pulling the ripcord when I finally got my job offer out west. Just thinking about that period of my life makes me feel nervous. Before I moved, I had some sense that the job market in Vancouver wasn't great at that time, but I didn't fully appreciate just how bad it was. Wherever you plan to go, do your homework and know what you're likely getting into. This forum would probably be a good place to ask locals in city X what the job market is like for particular jobs / job types.
    Zek wrote:
    3. Any suggestions on cover stories to tell my manager to pull off the move, or ways to find out if he would do it without putting myself on the chopping block?
    Honestly? I wouldn't recommend lying to them. It might allow you to do the remote work thing for a while, but setting up some cover story might come back to bite you in the ass. You'll probably want to use your current employer as a reference for local job hunting, and they might give an unfavorable one if they feel you used them to make your relocation easier.

    I also moved from Vancouver to Montreal about four years ago, again to be with my girlfriend, but this time for her PhD (which she finished two months ago! And it's video game related! Dragged my ass across the continent twice now for this girl, still glad I did). A couple months prior to the move, I had a sit-down with my managers at my Vancouver job and told them what was happening. Because I was doing remote support Oracle DBA work, I could effectively do it from anywhere. They arranged for a one-year contract and set me up with an IP phone, so for the first year I live in Montreal I worked from home, and I am supremely thankful for that. It made the Vancouver -> Montreal move so, so much easier than the Toronto -> Vancouver move I'd done years earlier.

    If you do get your current employer to agree to let you work from home after the move, that's awesome! BUT... let me tell you, you're probably not going to want to work from home forever. I did it for a year, and by the end of that time I was pretty sick of working from home. Being in your house all the time makes it hard to meet people in a new city. It can be hard to keep yourself motivated when you know that no one can see you slacking off. And finally there were physical repercussions. As in, I got chubby, and also discovered that my digestive system don't work too good when I don't get enough exercise. Some days, the extent of my physical activity would be to move from my bed to my PC, which is not a healthy lifestyle. I can be pretty sedentary though, and I can also be hardcore introverted, so perhaps someone more outgoing and more inclined towards physical activity would have managed it better than I did.

    Well, shit... sorry for the wall of text! I've done this twice now though, so I feel like I've got valuable stuff to say. I'll give some TL;DRs:

    For question 1: do try to apply remotely, but don't be surprised if you get absolutely no replies, and don't let that dissuade from the move itself. Chances are local job hunting will have a much higher likelihood of success.
    For question 2: if you can't find a job ahead of time, try to have enough cash for three months in your new home, plus a contingency fund that will let you bail on that city if you're completely unable to find a job there.
    For question 3: I'd recommend being straight up with your employer, and if they're amenable to letting you work remotely, try for a six-month contract or something. There's some risk being on contract (no benefits), but it'll give you a great cushion to do local job-hunting.

    vonPoonBurGer on
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