How can I get a job 3,000 miles away?

Question

I am currently working in the San Francisco Bay Area but want to move to the Philadelphia area (where I was born and raised), but responding to job ads and sending resumes just doesn’t seem to be doing it for me. So, what in your opinion is the best, quickest way to search for a job 3,000 miles away?

Nick’s Reply

Cut the distance down. Go to Philadelphia.

To get a job, pick specific companies

I would select a handful of companies in Philly; companies you would love to work for. Do not use job postings to do this. Pick out your own targets. (See How do I know what jobs I want?)

Research these companies in depth. Find out who’s in charge of the department you’d want to work in. Learn about each company’s problems and the challenges they face. Talk to their vendors. Talk to their customers. (Call their sales reps — sales people love to talk.) Talk to the associations they belong to. Find and study the pertinent industry journals. Learn enough so that you can describe exactly how you could contribute to a company’s bottom line — and be ready to tell it to the boss.

Make it up-close and personal

This isn’t easy — but what good job is easy? Effective job hunting is not very different from tackling a major project in the job you’re doing right now, so use the same common sense and business skills you use every day. Take control and talk directly with the right people. Make it personal.

Once you’ve identified the right managers and prepared something to discuss with them, call them.

Explain that you’re going to be in Philadelphia on business (you will be, if you use this approach!), that you just read about them in XYZ publication, and that you’d like to stop by briefly to learn more about their operation because you may be considering a job change soon.

Offer something: tell them that you have some ideas about how to [fill in the blank]. Ask for advice: who would they recommend that you talk to? Remember: you’re discussing this with your prospective boss, except they don’t know that yet. (See Get In The Door – way ahead of your competition.)

Make the investment

If you can schedule three or more such casual visits, you should consider making the investment in the trip. Do not ask any of these companies if they’d pick up the tab. That will turn them right off, because then HR has to be dragged into the picture, and your proposed casual meetings — not  job interviews! — are likely to get cancelled. The point is to go around the system by engaging a manager in a discussion about their work and business — in other words, get a job without applying for a job.

Or, attend an industry event in your target city

An Ask The Headhunter subscriber shared how he pulled off a move from Connecticut to Austin, Texas by attending — on his own dime — two professional events in Austin.

Here is the breakdown of how I got this job. Prior to meeting you, I wouldn’t have done any of these things. They are all outside my comfort zone. You gave me the tools to get out there and do it. Thank you so much.

• Attended an industry event in target city.
• Introduced myself to founder of the event.
• He introduced me to a local industry consultant.
• Attended second industry event in target city and had in-depth conversation with industry consultant.
• He introduced me to his friend, the president at the company where I eventually got an offer.

Go there

This is risky, and it will cost you something. But if you prepare properly before calling these managers, and if you have something valuable to offer them in your meetings, it can pay off handsomely. Remember: you must pursue companies you have selected carefully and with purpose. Before calling a manager, know their business. Finally, have something valuable to offer in your meetings.

You’re right: job hunting from 3,000 miles isn’t easy. But the approach that’s necessary quickly reveals the weakness of most job hunting methods: they are impersonal. Resumes and online job postings won’t cut it. You must get close to the people you want to work for — both physically and in terms of your knowledge about their business.

How would you attempt to get a job thousands of miles away? Have you ever pulled this off? What’s the best way this long-distance job seeker could optimize chances of success?

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