Looking for a new job in a different location? Improve your odds

Despite all the tools at the modern job-seeker's disposal, there's nothing easy or risk-free about finding a job in a new locale -- but it can be done

Dear Bob ...

I'm going to be doing a long-distance relocation for personal reasons. I'd prefer to have a job in my new home city before actually making the move, but it's a bit difficult to have in-person interviews when you're 1,000 miles away.

[ Also on InfoWorld: "How to start a job search when you're out of work and out of ideas" | Get sage advice on IT careers and management from Bob Lewis in InfoWorld's Advice Line newsletter. ]

So I'm in a bit of a bind. I want to have a job before I move, but I can't get one until I move.

My current job has a decent possibility of letting me telecommute until some major projects are completed, but I don't want to have to rely on that when the time for the move happens.

Any thoughts?

- Moving

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Dear Moving ...

My thought is that it's actually quite easy to have in-person interviews when you live 1,000 miles away. It isn't necessarily cheap, but it isn't difficult. All you have to do is to buy a ticket and reserve a hotel room. (From your question, I infer you aren't looking for an executive position. Companies will generally pay travel expenses under those circumstances.)

What isn't easy is getting the interview in the first place -- which might sound like nitpicking, but isn't.

With tools like LinkedIn, it isn't as difficult as it used to be to make direct connections to hiring managers. It's never easy, of course -- just less hard. You're still relying on your personal collection of colleagues who know who you are and what you can do, as well as make good introductions for you.

I don't generally recommend job boards like Monster or CareerBuilder. Depending on what you're looking for, I do recommend using the career pages that hiring companies include on their Web sites. Those are real jobs the companies really do need to fill. Ideally, you'll find a connection between someone in your personal network and the hiring manager. Otherwise you'll have to do it the hard way and send in an electronic application. The odds drop dramatically when you take this route, but not to zero (if they did, companies wouldn't invest the time and effort to create the pages).