Three Who Bagged a Job by Packing Their Bags
The United States has always been famous for its mobile workforce — though in recent decades that simply meant you didn't complain when, say, GE moved you from Cincinnati to Schenectady to San Jose and back before your kids left grade school. These days, though, being footloose is a way to make the most of a bad situation, by leaving cities where the job outlook is bleak and doing what it takes to find work in a city with better prospects. Here's how three professionals did just that to land good gigs in the worst job market in 30 years.
- Name:
- Kevin J. Shetler, 50
- Profession:
- Finance manager
- Moved From/To:
- Scottsdale, Arizona to Des Moines, Iowa
- Reason for Leaving:
- Shetler lost his job as an area manager for American Home Mortgage when the company went bankrupt in August 2007. He decided there might be more job opportunities, particularly in finance, back in Iowa, where he’d grown up and gone to college.
- Strategy:
- Since he hadn’t had to look for a job in over 20 years, Shetler decided to sign up with a career-transition firm in Des Moines. He talked regularly with a career coach there to develop a plan, and also got the names and contact information for all the major players in Des Moines in finance, insurance, and health care. Shetler came up with a list of 50 companies he wanted to work for, and began contacting them.
- New Job:
- Branch manager in West Des Moines, Wells Fargo
- How He Got It:
- After applying to and interviewing at a local Wells Fargo branch, Shetler was offered a job as a loan officer, but declined because it wasn’t a management position and also because he wasn’t quite ready to move yet. But the manager told Shetler about a potential position running a new Wells Fargo branch in West Des Moines, and a few months later after he’d sold his house and moved, Shetler interviewed for the branch manager position and got an offer.
- Complications:
- Although Shetler is happy with the way things worked out, he says he did have to take “some steps back.” His new job is not at the same salary or management level he had attained at American Home Mortgage, which he says was initially “hard to swallow.” But Shetler says he’s grateful for a good job with a company in which he has confidence.
Finance manager Kevin J. Shetler
- Name:
- Jill Harrison, 26
- Profession:
- Public relations
- Moved From/To:
- Dallas, Texas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Reason for Leaving:
- In November, Harrison, a senior public relations specialist with Travelocity, found out that her husband’s company was transferring him to Oklahoma City right after the holidays.
- Strategy:
- Harrison began by signing up for job alerts for PR jobs in Oklahoma City on sites like CareerBuilder, Monster, and Indeed to get a feel for what was out there. She then contacted industry-specific professional organizations with chapters in Oklahoma City, such as the Public Relations Society of America, to find out about the local PR market. Finally, she cold-called PR agencies in the area to see if they were hiring. Once she had lined up several interviews, Harrison traveled to Oklahoma City at the end of November. During phone and face-to-face interviews, she laid out a clear timeline for her move.
- New Job:
- Public relations manager, Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce
- How She Got It:
- While looking at jobs posted on the Women in Communications Web site, Harrison saw a listing for an events manager at the city’s Chamber of Commerce. While it wasn’t really her specialty, she applied anyway and it turned out the Chamber was also looking for a new PR manager. They met up during her November trip. After meeting Harrison in person, the hiring manager felt she would be a good fit with the rest of the office, and extended a job offer to her a few weeks later.
- Complications:
- Harrison and her husband found choosing a neighborhood tricky, and they wound up living a bit farther from their jobs than they had wanted. Fortunately, though, Harrison’s husband’s company picked up their moving expenses. “I can’t lie, we were nervous,” she says of the move. “But now that we’re here, we love it. In fact, we just bought a house.”
PR specialist Jill Harrison
- Name:
- Jeff Wacker, 30
- Profession:
- Engineer
- Moved From/To:
- Canton, Ohio to Austin, Texas
- Reason for Leaving:
- Wacker had worked for six years as an engineer for a commercial and industrial contractor in Canton, but really wanted to get involved in the burgeoning field of green building construction. From an engineer friend living in Austin, Wacker knew that the city’s green building industry was growing rapidly.
- Strategy:
- Wacker initially used sites like Craigslist, local newspaper Web sites, and Monster.com to look for leads, but soon decided to visit Austin to see what he could uncover in person. First he went to the Austin Chamber of Commerce to put together several lists of contractors and engineering firms, and later drove to several of them to drop off his resume and portfolio. Later, Wacker’s engineer friend suggested he check out the job boards of both the University of Texas and the City of Austin, knowing they might have listings for the types of jobs Wacker was looking for.
- New Job:
- Engineer in the commercial green building program, Austin Energy
- How He Got It:
- About two weeks after he applied online to one of their postings, Wacker got a call from Austin Energy, a utility owned by the city. The company was interested, but said it would not be able to pay any of his relocation costs; Wacker reassured them he planned to move anyway. After the phone interview, Wacker wrote a hand-written thank-you note, mentioning his willingness to come to Austin for an in-person interview. Over the next few weeks, he called regularly to check on the status of the position and to reiterate his interest in working there. They finally offered him a position in January.
- Complications:
- Wacker had to move and begin his new job before he was able to sell his house in Canton. The house remains unsold but his parents, who live nearby, are helping to manage the sale. If it is still on the market a few months from now, Wacker may wind up with a second job — long-distance landlord.
Engineer Jeff Wacker