Applying for jobs out of state

[jjkoestler]

Does anyone have experience applying for jobs out of state? Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated. The job I had lined up in NOLA fell through, but I'm jonsing to leave WI. I enjoyed Colorado when I visited so I decided to start my search in the greater Denver area.

 

My professional background is in non-profit, development/fundraising/sales, politics, and marketing. I have a BS and MBA.

[jerichoholicninja]

There's a thread about this somewhere around.

[GAME05]

i think i actually made that other thread. good memory. i don't think it got too deep, though.

 

i have a lot of experience trying to find jobs out of state. you find someone interested and they give you this sinking "oh" when they find out you still live 1,000 miles away. higher-profile jobs that would pay you to fly out are one thing, but not for entry-level type stuff. the interviewer doesn't want to fork out $300 for just an interview, and they also don't want to have to face watching you spend $300 to get out there only to turn you down for the job. so the "i'll come out to interview at my own expense" line doesn't really do much good. and i haven't found a lot of employers yet who are willing to do a Skype interview.

 

the current economy doesn't help, either. there's usually a pool of very qualified and underemployed people living in the area, so why go to the effort to accommodate someone out of state?

 

one trick i've done is to use a friend's address who lives in the destination city on my resume. and when they call, just say i'm currently visiting my parents, and that i'll be back the following week. but still, if it takes 10 interviews to land a job, that's a heck of a lot of money to be traveling out there and back so often. or you could say that you'll be visiting town X week and then try to schedule four or five interviews during that time.

 

i don't really have the best advice for you. usually what i've done is just move out there on a wing and a prayer. but i can't say that's always worked out. even with savings, money burns quick when none is coming in. if you want to do the 'fake local address' thing, my brother lives out there and i think i could lend you his mailbox.

 

i've also tried getting the $9/hr garbage job to get me by until i landed something real, but that's also hard since taking a year to find a real job isn't out of the ordinary these days. any chance you know how to be a barista? is it "baristo" when you're a dude?

 

if it means anything, i lived in the Denver area for two years and it's awesome.