I'm living in New York now and would really like to move to the West Coast. Have you any advice that would help me conduct my search more effectively?
A number of executives have advised me that they found it extremely difficult to conduct a job search from a distance. Not surprising, since it makes sense for any company to look first at local candidates for positions that might be open, rather than to explore opportunities with someone one thousand or two thousand miles away. Keep in mind that if a company invites you to fly three thousand miles to meet with them, it has to pick up the tab for your travel expenses. It makes a lot more sense for them to talk to all your competition who can travel to the company on their own, first! If they can't find someone worthwhile, then is the time to search further afield. Given this perspective, the New York job-seeker who responds to opportunities on the West Coast usually finds he does not get many positive replies.
There are several things you can do about this situation, however. One technique that works is to use a local address for your long distance job search. If you have a friend on the West Coast willing to accept mail and calls for you, and who will phone you immediately if anything positive comes up, you can conduct your job search as though you are already a local resident. Of course, a local address has its drawbacks. You are not immediately available for interview. Nonetheless, I've seen this technique used effectively.
Another technique that works is used in conjunction with your broadcast campaign. In this case, you send out one hundred or more letters to companies in the area of the country you wish to work in. Your letter is the same in all respects as the broadcast letters, with one exception: your letter concludes with a statement to the effect that you are planning on a business trip to the area of the country where the company is located on such and such dates, and would particularly like to meet with the recipient of the letter during that period of time, if there is interest on his part. If your broadcast letter has turned on your reader, the final paragraph indicating you are coming from afar can work strongly to your advantage. Quite obviously the reader can't put your letter on the pending file! If he wants to meet you, he knows he must set up an appointment with you while you are in his city. One job-seeker I recommended this technique to wrote one hundred letters-fifty to companies and fifty to executive recruiters and employment agencies in the L.A. area. His efforts netted him fifteen interviews, all in the space of a week, which led to three job offers. His cost: $614 including air fare, motel, and car rental. A small investment versus his return-the job he wanted. And incidentally, the company picked up his moving expenses.
Time gap for accepting the offer
How much time do I have between saying "yes" and joining my new firm?
Most job-seekers expect prospective employers to pressure them into joining a company immediately-to leave their present companies in the lurch, to take no time off before they join their new employer. The amount of pressure that's applied to job-seekers once they've said "yes" is amazing. It's understandable that a company that has been searching for nine months or a year would want you right away. But it's unreasonable. You should be given the opportunity to wind up your business at your present firm; to take a well-deserved vacation. You can easily take six weeks between saying "yes" and joining your new firm-a minimum of four. Two weeks' notice to your current employer, and two weeks for you to unwind and relax. And you really owe it to yourself to do just that, to take a vacation, to look at new surroundings, to think of no work at all. So that when you join your next company your mind is fresh and your senses are keen, and you are ready and willing to tackle the new assignment. As you move up the organization chart, two weeks' notice may be too little. You may want to give four. Hence your prospective employer should expect to wait six weeks.
There is no doubt that this delay will frustrate your prospective boss. He wants you now. He needs you now. But remember, your best opportunity to unwind completely is between jobs. Don't let it slip through your hands. Whatever you do, don't leave your former company on a Friday and start to work at the new company the next Monday. Every executive I know who has done this has regretted it. A weekend is not enough time for yourself. And, since it may be a year or eighteen months before you can get away on a vacation from your new company, take the time between jobs for yourself. Don't succumb to the pressure. You deserve to take a break.
