Any experience getting a job out of state/country?

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

How do you do it?

I feel like I have the plague; maybe one company out of 500 will bother calling or sending and email if they are not within driving distance. I've been looking around for almost a year now and the few interviews I have gone to wound up being management or sales jobs where they didn't mention any of that in their posting.

There's only two jobs withing driving distance of where I live and I have one of them. How do you get a job when you can't look them in the eye or shake their hand?

 

[ziggy29]

It can be tough. Here it feels like the only way you be hired into a halfway decent job is to be in the right clan. If you don't have a lot of family in the area, many of whom own the businesses and do the hiring, forget it, it would seem...

 

[bbbamI]

Are you willing to relocate, and if so, do you say that in your cover letter?

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

Yes, I'd actually even prefer a job where I didn't live anywhere specifically and stayed at the job site for a few months until a system got set up.

 

[Rustic23]

If the figure that '70% of jobs are found through networking' then finding a job where you can't look someone in the eye will be tough. You may have to take a job you don't like somewhere you do and begin networking for the job you want. A sales job, if you can do it, leads to lots of folks forming a larger network.

Anyway, the 70% figure alone should give you an idea why you are having a hard time.

By the way, can you explain the fact that there are only 2 jobs within driving distance of you home. Do you live on an island with the monkey that we see on the computer commercials?

 

[bbbamI]

Relocation bucks aren't out there like they used to be. If a co knows you can relocate without their help and that you are willing to travel while employed there, it would certainly be a plus.

Another idea is a headhunter. DH got a job three hours away by using one. Fast forward 23 years later, and in about two months he'll be retiring from the same job. We've had to relocate with the co once.

At that time, headhunters were paid by the hiring co. I'm not sure how they work now.

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

If the figure that '70% of jobs are found through networking' then finding a job where you can't look someone in the eye will be tough. You may have to take a job you don't like somewhere you do and begin networking for the job you want. A sales job, if you can do it, leads to lots of folks forming a larger network.

Anyway, the 70% figure alone should give you an idea why you are having a hard time.

By the way, can you explain the fact that there are only 2 jobs within driving distance of you home. Do you live on an island with the monkey that we see on the computer commercials?

I'm a chemical engineer and eugene is very unfriendly to industry. Take a look at the census data, there were 2 positions in 2000 with a projected 3 positions by 2010 though we've had a few plants driven out of business so we're not likely to see that third position pop up any time soon.

I don't know anyone in the sales industry so I'm not likely to get a position there, they usually want engineers to have 10 years of experience in an industry before an industrial sales company will consider you for a sales position. I wouldn't be good in sales anyway since I can't stand chit chat.

 

[bssc]

I did this twice, once to Texas and once to Arizona. For the Texas job, I had already done work for them and they were happy to pay me to move out so they wouldn't have to pay my airfare. For Arizona, I had a programming skill (Java) that they were looking for.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Frugality,

I have been relocating out of state from Western Pennsylvania most of my working life. I am a mechanical engineer but years ago I was a chemical engineering tech for 10 years.
The only useful info I can think of is that you have to relocate to where the growth in your industry is. See where they are advertising for your position and apply there. It has been my strategy to enter another industry when there is no growth in my current industry. This involves starting over with a new job in a new city and learning to adapt your current skill set to their needs. Sometimes you have to spend some money and retrain a bit. My engineering career followed this path: Integrated circuit manufacturing, semiconductor research, manufacturing / assembly, electroplating -hybrid circuits, chemical process equipment manufacturing, biotech equipment manufacturing, wirebonder equipment manufacturing, chemical container design, aerospace testing fixture / equipment design.
Focus on your skills and where they are used in other industries. If they need help they will fly you out for the face to face interview.

Personal contacts are the best but most of my jobs have been found through want ads in papers, trade publications and the internet.

Sincerely,

Free to Canoe

 

[tmm99]

I used to live in the middle of nowhere (population 15000 including all the little towns around it) and I did get a few interviews lined up out of state, but it was in 1994 and I think the tech industry was hopping then, but it's hard to say since I was totally removed from it all then. I got an interview in Omaha, Nebraska, and a couple in Denver, CO (my hope was to move to Denver). Some paid moving expenses; one didn't although their pay was very high. I ended up moving to Denver. I found all the job postings on the internet.

I also moved from Denver to CA (south bay) in 1996 - All moving expense paid, but things were definitly hopping in the tech industry then. I contacted a recruiter a friend of mine used and I got 7 interviews in one week once I decided to make the move. Had a few interviews on the phone (tech interviews and otherwise), 3 places wanted me to fly in right away. (People were hiring out of India then, so it makes sense that they would hire someone from Denver.)

I think people are generally more willing and inclined to look further if 1) the company is doing great and/or 2) the company is in such a remote area that they cannot hire people locally.

The company I was at in the middle of nowhere - got just about everyone (except for the entry level positions) from out of town or out of state.

tmm

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

Maybe I just need to give my resume a once over. Probably misspelled, "Aye knead eh Jourb," or something.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

How do you do it?

I feel like I have the plague; maybe one company out of 500 will bother calling or sending and email if they are not within driving distance. I've been looking around for almost a year now and the few interviews I have gone to wound up being management or sales jobs where they didn't mention any of that in their posting.

There's only two jobs withing driving distance of where I live and I have one of them. How do you get a job when you can't look them in the eye or shake their hand?

I have had many out-of-state job hunts and interviews. Come to think of it, I have not had a local job hunt in years. The last time that happened was when I interviewed for a government job the last year of college. Oh, and McDonald's before that. I don't think that an out-of-state interview is any different than a local interview. Of course, you'd have to have a good fit with the job for them to take the trouble to even consider you.

When the economy was good, they used to fly you out for an interview. Then you can look at them in the eyes and ask some pretty tough questions. Likewise, they you. I have had interview trips where I was literally reading and studying the whole day before, interviewed the entire day of the interview, and then high tailed out of there early next morning. People asked me what I saw, and all I could say was that the hotel was decent.

These days the in/out state may not be your problem. The economy is in bad shape, so I find that even local interviews are hard to get.

 

[W2R]

I got my previous job in Louisiana while living in another state (that state with so many chiggers, scorpions, and rattlesnakes etc).

Getting a real job with substantial pay as an oceanographer isn't as easy as it is in some other fields. I also have a B.S. in electrical engineering, and when I applied for engineering jobs right out of engineering school I was flown all over in Lear jets for plant trips and that kind of thing - - but later on, after I got two more degrees I found that in oceanography, the red carpet treatment was not the norm.

Networking was the key for me. I wanted a job in my teeny-tiny area of expertise and none of the jobs advertised seemed to be a very good fit. So I called up a very senior professor and colleague at LSU that I knew from meetings and various research interactions, who was tops in my area of interest, and asked him if there was an opening coming up that might be a good fit for me. He said no, but he would try to create one for me though he didn't know if he could or not. A month or two later I had the offer, and negotiated the salary up considerably. I took the job and moved to Louisiana the week after I completed my Ph.D.

 

[billman]

On the out of country aspect it's not as hard as you might think. What languages do you speak? What countries interest you? Countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Qatar, New Zealand, & Australia are quite easy in terms of getting visas. I do sales in UAE & Oman for example.

Check out the recruiter in those countries that interest you, send your Resume/CV, and then take a plunge for a face to face to show you are serious. The worst that will come out of it is that you had a vacation.

Billman

 

[harley]

I spent many a year trying to get a job in Oz, NZ, or Western Europe (preferrably Holland). It's not easy. I even had a fairly desireable trade (network security). Most countries have a requirement, variably enforced, stating that they can't hire out of country unless no one in-country is qualified to do the job. My search was made harder by me wanting to work for a US company overseas, with them paying relocation, finding a job for DW, and me having a job back here if I came back. I never made it, although I got a couple of short-term visits out of the attempts. However, a couple of friends stumbled into opportunities, both in Holland. It seemed to be a matter of luck and right place/right time.

I know it can be done, and since I wasn't willing to go balls to the wall for it, I may not be the best source. There are a lot of resources on the web. Good luck. Now that I'm FIREd I'm going to visit those places without working, and stay as long as I want to. So there.

 

[Rambler]

There aren't many jobs out there right now. Companies aren't hiring much to begin with and with the economy souring even faster, employees are hanging on to the jobs they have, causing a bit of stagnation in the free flow of labor. I have two points of advice for you: 1) if you have a job, keep it! 2) if you are out of work, move (as lightly and temporarily as you can) to your target city. In these economic times, I think most companies aren't going to be looking too far afield for employees. It is more likely they'll try to do without until this mess blows over. Showing your commitment to the location is more likely to raise interest than will a plea from hundreds/thousands of miles away. (I moved from California to Tokyo 25 years ago on a whim, & got a job there). Still got the job...its bigger now, after being transferred around the world for a bit.

R

 

[billman]

Harley and Rambler, couldn't of said it better. Harley, "Balls to the wall" is spot on.

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

Sounds like I'll just have to wait to get fired or save up my time off and take an extended vacation.

Another year and I can get my license so I guess I should just wait.