Author Topic: Starting New? To move or not to move...  (Read 3547 times)

Praire Sage

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Starting New? To move or not to move...
« on: August 21, 2013, 12:53:10 PM »
Thought I'd put this out the MMM community and get some perspective.

Situation: To move to a city we want to live in but don't currently have jobs in. Or to stay in where we are where mystery man has a contract (ending in August 2014) and I have a part-time gig.

We've been moving around a lot due to the nature of mystery man's work. I feel that it is better to work through this contract (though mystery man is not very happy with current work) and move in Fall 2014. I've more/less picked up odd jobs here and there to try to contribute to the household income. Will do the same if we move to Dream City. Not sure what mystery man will do, which is a little scary.

We are in our early/mid 30s. Some student loan debt but no consumer debt.

I know finding work via the internet is much, much easier these days. Still, I find that the job hunting tends to go better when you're actually living in that city/town.

Anybody been in this situation before? Moved and then crossed their fingers that they would find work?

Your thoughts are appreciated.



MsSindy

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Re: Starting New? To move or not to move...
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2013, 01:25:23 PM »
So, what are your goals?  What are you looking to accomplish?  are you looking to "settle down"?  are you trying to find a "career" vs just having 'odd jobs'?  Are you trying to payoff your SL debt and then amass an F-U nest egg or do you just want to skate along, take it easy with no pressure?  Either way is cool, just helps with context on what you're trying to accomplish and why you want to move.

If you're asking the straight-up question, can you find a job via the internet?  Depends on your skill-set.  Generally, I find that if you have highly-valued skills you can phone interview and then they'll fly you in for an in-person interview (or video conference) - I've done this as a hiring-manager.  However, for a lower-paid or lower-skilled job, it would be very difficult to even get an interview, as there are lots of candidates that are already local.



Johnny Aloha

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Re: Starting New? To move or not to move...
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2013, 01:34:27 PM »
Hard to say without comparing cost of living, salary, lifestyle improvements, etc.

MissStache

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Re: Starting New? To move or not to move...
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2013, 01:54:21 PM »
I've done it three times and it worked out well for me each time, but I'm not sure I would do it again.  I was in my early-mid 20s at the time and I value my financial stability too much these days.

If it was me, I would encourage him to ride out the contract while I did what I could to make as much money as possible so I could save everything and have a big cushion when I moved.

Numbers Man

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Re: Starting New? To move or not to move...
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2013, 02:42:56 PM »

 I think it's better to move to your desired location and then look for a job. I don't care if you're a $100k employee, I'm not going to fly you in for an interview if I was running the company. You need a bit of a 'stache to make that move work since you need deposits for rent and utilities and to meet you living expenses until you actually start bringing home a paycheck.

kh

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Re: Starting New? To move or not to move...
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2013, 04:23:09 PM »
Definitely depends on the type of job. A 100k employee is a big investment to make without meeting in person. My current company flew me to Bermuda from Texas to meet the team I'd be working with the most (even though my job is based in CT). My other interview flew me to New York. This is common in some fields, so think about the likelihood of there being a lot of local candidates. In highly specialized fields, there may not be many.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2013, 04:28:41 PM by kh »

Praire Sage

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Re: Starting New? To move or not to move...
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2013, 07:43:26 AM »
Thank you for all who replied. Everyone raised some good points. The nature of the move would be to settle down in a place we want to call home rather than constantly chase contract work after contract work.

Think mystery man and I will sit down with a nice bottle of wine ( and by nice I mean Costco wine-in-a box) and map this idea of ours to move back to the West Coast.

Will keep you posted.

Regards, PS