Losing your job is a bummer, and an opportunity.  One of those opportunities can be finding a job in a place you’ve always wanted to live.  But, how do you do that?

The obvious approaches aren’t likely to produce great results.  Responding to postings on the Internet isn’t highly productive.  They are easy to do, but the competition is always fierce, and almost always overwhelming when you’re trying to compete with a local pool of candidates which is currently at high tide for most jobs .

How about recruiters?  Are they likely to be the answer?  Maybe, but the probability is pretty low.  All hires considered, recruiters account for only about 15% of placements.  Unless you are in the unique position of having a profession that is in high demand relative to supply, recruiters are looking locally first too.

So, what’s the best answer?  Two words: plan, network.  If the first response that comes to mind is, “Yeah, but…”, suck it up.  This is hard, but it isn’t it worth it to be able to move to the place of your dreams?

Plan.  What do I mean by plan?  Let’s say you want to relocate to Phoenix AZ.  First, list all the things you know about Phoenix, then all the things you need to know, but don’t.  Where would you want to live in the area?  What are the industries and businesses in the area for which you might work?  Where are they relative to the place you want to live?  Which ones are showing the best signs of hiring folks like you?  Use the Internet.  Use your local library–the reference section in particular.  Go there to Phoenix and do some on-the-ground research.  And, talk to friends you know in the area.

Once you have all this information, organize it and crystallize it into a page or two–a strategy document.  [See other posts in the Strategy category in this blog on for more information on this document.]  This will be your guide for action you take, and the elements of it become the agenda for a discussion with members of your network–both where you live now and in Phoenix.

Network.  This means use the connections you have now, however limited the list may be, and build on it strategically.  If you know people in the Phoenix area, great.  Start there.  But even if you don’t know a soul in Phoenix, think about what we all say so often, “It’s a small world.”  Tell your connections where you live now what you are trying to do for yourself.  Share your strategy document.  Find out what they know, and, more important, who they know in the Phoenix area or who are connected to the Phoenix area in some way.  Get introduced.  Repeat the above.

Remember, networking as I use the term is all about learning information, getting advice and expanding your network.  Stay clear of doing the traditional networking: asking for jobs or interviews, requesting ears be kept earthward.  It’s a conversation stopper.  Believe it, they will tell you if something is cookin’.  You don’t have to ask.

You will do yourself a BIG favor by stopping yourself every time you catch yourself finding a reason to not include someone on your network list.  I have learned after 18 years in the career consulting business, people in job search are very poor at predicting who will be the person to provide the initial connection to the eventual offer.  Put a list together of EVERYONE YOU KNOW and network your brains out!

We can all calculate certain costs of relocation–the moving van, closing costs, etc.  But what about the cost of capital–social capital?

Social capital is defined as the value of all the human connections you have.  The relationships you have in business, the neighborhood, the community and with family.  The comfort they bring.  The information you can access.  The opportunities they present.  The money they save you.  The enhancement they offer to the quality of your life.

If you relocate, some of it goes with you, but much of it is gone.  Some can be replaced.  But, how long will that take and what is the cost of having to rebuild it?

The value of all this is incredibly hard to assess accurately.  In my estimation, most people don’t give it adequate attention for this very reason.  But, just because it is hard to do doesn’t mean it’s not important or worthwhile.

You will be hard pressed to come up with a dollar value for social capital.  However, here is a suggestion for assessing its worth.  Sit down with your spouse or partner one evening after dinner and go through your list of human connections–your contact list in your PDA or Rolodex [does anybody have one of those anymore?].  Discuss the people who are part of your life, and what is lost if they are no longer part of it.   Of course, sometimes having someone out of your life can be a net gain, but I digress.  :O)

Out of this discussion will come a sense of value which you can factor into your decision whether to accept a relocation offer.  And, you can develop a plan for maintaining as much of your current social capital as possible if you accept the offer.  [Be realistic, it's very hard to maintain social capital at a distance ]  At a minimum you will develop a new degree of appreciation for the social capital you have acquired, even if you decide to stay put.

What I want to address today is how to handle the relocation question if asked by a recruiter or prospective employer. 

First, when asked about your willingness to relocate, be in or out, not half way.  If you are resolute that you will not relocate, say so unequivocally.  If you are undecided or certain you are willing, say you are ready to move.  Period.  No equivocation.  No weasel-wording like, …”for the right offer.”

Why do I say “No weasel-wording?”  Put yourself in the place of a recruiter or employer.  If you have two relatively equal candidates, one who gives a clear affirmative answer and one who says, “…if it’s a really good offer I would have to consider it.”, which one will you pass on to the next stage of the process?  Recruiters will tell you an answer like this is a big red flag, and it’s a LOT of work to convince a candidate and the family to move when there was trepidation expressed at the front end of the conversation.  And, most times the offer is turned down in the end.  Why would a recruiter go down that road if she could choose another path?

Remember, no one can force you to move.  You always have the ultimate veto in the situation–you can turn down any offer.  So, if you’re undecided, is it a big risk to aggressively compete for a job requiring relocation?  Who knows what you will decide in the end, and why.  But, until you have an offer in hand, you won’t have a decision to make.  So put yourself fully in the game unless and until you know absolutely that relocation will not work for you. 

FOOTNOTE: The vast majority of clients I work with don’t want to relocate, and don’t have to.  About 70% find a new job and commute to it from the same home they occupied as the search began.  About 20%  end up taking a job out of the area after choosing to do a broad-based local and national search.  And, only about 5% are truly forced to find a job out of the area.  These are people who have to move because the jobs they qualify for no longer exist in the local area, or they have such a poor reputation that no one will hire them locally.  These statistics have remained quite consistent over the past 18 years, through highs and lows in the economy.