Finding Employment in Another City

If the time has come to make a change in your life and you are considering pursuing employment in a city other than the one you currently live in, it can seem overwhelming to know where to start. After all, even if you have a sterling resume and all of the enthusiasm for the move in the world, you still need to convince the prospective employer that you are a more compelling candidate than someone who is local. So, how do you go about finding a job in a new city?

One of the problems that many job hunters run into is that they are too broad in their search. It is easy to sit in your home and say that you’ll work anywhere in the world, but it simply isn’t feasible to dedicate the time, effort, and resources needed to conduct a truly comprehensive global job hunt. After all, if you’re looking for employment in hundreds of different cities in hundreds of different industries, you’ll naturally become spread way too thin. As such, the first step toward finding a new job in a new city is to narrow down your preferences. There is nothing wrong with keeping your eye on national job boards to make sure that you aren’t missing a great opportunity in a city that you never gave much thought to, but you’re far better served to identify a handful of places where you’d be willing to work and start from there. Alternatively, it can be helpful to identify priority companies that you want to work for, and focus your job hunt around them exclusively.

While not viable for everyone, sometimes the best thing that you can do is move to a new city and then start looking for work, because the employer wants to know that you’ll be able to come into an interview at their beck and call. If this isn’t feasible, you need to convince the company that you offer something that no one else can, that you’re willing to go to great lengths for an in-person interview, and that you’re eager to make a commitment to this job.

The internet has made job hunting easier than ever before, but it still can be difficult to find work in a city that you don’t live in. However, with patience and perspective, there is always an opportunity for a life change. You just need to be willing to put in the legwork.