thinking of relocating

[Andy in NY]

I am origionally from Springfield, MA and moved to upstate NY in 2002 for this job in radio (they are far and few). when i was 22 the low pay was fine, but now that i have a family, its not cutting it anymore. my wife and I have been talking about moving to springfield, but i havent the first clue how to start looking for work there!

basiclly ive had this job for 10 years, and its the only profession ive ever worked in... started out as a club/party/wedding dj when i was 17.

my biggest problem is i have no job hunting skills. any suggestions on how to look for a new job 300 miles away?

 

[robert graham]

Re: thinking of relocating

I've been a personnel recruiter for 30+ years and maybe can offer some advice. Put together a good resume, get the names of all the TV/Radio/Media companies within a 50 mile radius of where you want to move, check their web sites for possible needs and corporate information, get names of management/hiring officials, send them a letter of introduction with your resume, follow up with phone calls, talk to everyone you can regarding yourself and career desires/goals, be very pleasant and persistent, keep records of your calls and contacts. You'll get there! Good Luck!

 

[phwrd]

Re: thinking of relocating

Unfortunately, I have been at this for the last month.

The internet is the best way now to search for a job. Put together your resume with the mind-set that while you are very capable in your current field, a lot of your skills can be valuable in other areas of the job market.

You may have to think ?out of the box? in order to find something. You have good communication skills, look for things in that area, you probably have very good organization skills, look in these areas also.

Obviously, check in with the local radio & tv stations, they all have web sites now.

Check to see what recruiting companies are in that area and contact them. They will have a line on a lot of jobs that you won?t find listed anywhere else. They are hurting like everyone else so they seem to want to go the extra mile to find you a job (and earn their commission on it).

Also check the big sites, Monster, Career Builder, even Craigslist.

Good luck !

 

[ezmobee]

Re: thinking of relocating

One thing to consider is that few companies are interested in relocating people these days. There's just too many good candidates already available in their location. Even though you may not require relocation *****istance you don't want your resume to get tossed out with other non-local candidates. Considering getting a P.O. box or using a friend's address in the area. For all they know you're moving there already due to your wife's job or something like that.

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: thinking of relocating

I am also open to the possibility of other careers. i hadn't considered the aspect of companies not wanting to hire out of the area candidates...


Robert, wheres the best place to get resume information? as in putting together a good one...

also is it worth it to get in with a recruitment center?

 

[nlain]

Re: thinking of relocating

My wife has been looking for a job all this year and of course locally, some things she has found out are, as stated the internet is the place to go, she has walked in places to apply, they tell here go online. When you are working on the resume, get a good solid base resume, then as you send them out to the various people modify each one with things that will make you appealing to that particular company. Make your cover letter be to each company you apply to. Do the follow up calls, if possible take a day or two off and actually go see some that you have sent your resume to. Make yourself fit what they want. Be pleasant and professional in the way you present yourself both on paper and in person both on the phone and in appearance.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: thinking of relocating

The best web sites are monster.com and careerbuilder.com. Surprisingly, Craigslist is really picking up as a job site as well. I know a number of other sites but those are more for the tech jobs I apply for.

One thing to watch for is recruiters. They do a couple things I really can't stand. One is for them to want to "interview" you, take you to lunch, etc. when they don't really have a specific job in line for you. Waste of time. Another thing is they claim to represent jobs that they don't actually represent just to fish for resumes. They'll grab a job description from a local larger employer's job posting and rep it as though they were contracted to fill it. All they are really doing is fishing for resumes. Not too much I can tell you in how to get around this but just wanted you to be aware of it.

 

[nlain]

Re: thinking of relocating

ezmobee is correct on the recruiter/agency thing, I forgot that in my post, my wife has found jobs on the company website and then the agencies show them also, they even show them well after they are gone.

 

[eavega]

Re: thinking of relocating

I can give you some advice having gone through the process a few months ago; NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK. Get on any and all networking groups you can find; Facebook and reconnect with old acquaintances, LinkedIn is a particularly useful professional networking tool. If you can't find people you directly know, join professional networking groups within the applications (I am sure NAB has a networking group on LinkedIn). When I was looking for work (I'm a software QA engineer) I joined networking group such as "Atlanta Area QA Specialists, "Southern Computer Professionals", my fraternity back in college, my high school networking group, etc. Then, go look for jobs or companies that you would be willing to work for. When you find a good prospect, then cross-reference your network against this company. You'd be surprised the connections that you are able to make; old friends that may have a neighbor who works for this company for example. Follow the chain from your connection to the company with introduction letters or calls, resume,etc.
My path to a job went something like this; working with a recruiter for a particular position, she mentioned to me that they may possibly have another position they were recruiting for with another company that I was somewhat familiar with. I went on the company's web site, and sure enough I found a QA Engineer position listed. I looked up the company on LinkedIn and found that I had a connection to a manager in the QA department. He happened to have gone to college with a guy I worked with at my previous job who was in my list of personal contacts. I contacted my former colleague to see if he could contact his former classmate about the job, and it turns out that this guy was the actual manager looking to fill the position. My resume was sent to him via my former colleague, so it made it to the top of his list and he gave it more than the typical 4-second glance that hiring managers give unsolicited resumes. That landed me an interview, and after that point it was in my hands (of course I'm sure my former colleague gave me a glowing recommendation). I was hired one week later.

One other thing to note; the best time to look for a job is when you are already employed. Hiring managers tend to assume if you are unemployed that you were fired from your previous position, and thus they are getting some other company's cast-offs.
Relocation is always negotiable. Its getting harder to get, but its always negotiable.

Good luck.

-Eric