Relocating Cross-Country - Some questions...

[AdventurerKat]

We may actually move to Florida! I cant believe it!! Due to some problems with my husband's job (layoffs) and his brother being in Sarasota, he is actually going to go and LOOK. Well, we both are at the end of the month. I have been wanting to move to Florida for years and this may be the kick in the pants he has needed but I need some help.

I looked through other "relocation" threads on here and so many people talk about having jobs before you go. Unless you work for a big company that has offices there, how exactly do you do that? I cant imagine someone wanting to even really talk to someone from 3,000 miles away for the type of work I do (legal assistant/paralegal) I can do all sorts of jobs though, any general admin, etc, and I have worked in HR before but stilll with candidates locally, it seems like they wouldn't. Do you think I really have that hard of a time getting a job when we got there? Would maybe contacting some placement agencies ahead of time be a good idea? I hate to use them but if it would be the better way to do it then I would. Or maybe one of us go down earlier and try to get something? That would mean one of us being away from our kids though and if it took a while...

In the event we did not have jobs, and maybe you didnt either, how much money did you move with? We were thinking rent and living expenses for three to four months.

I am probably jumping the gun here but my mind is racing with how we would do it. I am an obsessive planner. He may see Sarasota and hate it but me... I am already thinking about the HOWS and not the IFS.

 

[floridaminnie]

No advice...just wanted to say it's breath taking in Sarasota.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

We have moved cross country more than once (ID to FL; FL to NE, NE to LA) and are getting ready to do it again (LA to AZ). Gotta love the military. Fortunately, we have never had to worry about his job search. Or the cost of moving. But me finding a job is going to be a big one this time along with schools/daycare for DDs (5 1/2 and 2 1/2).

The only real advice I can give you is to do your research. I spend a lot of time on line researching the earea where we aer moving. I also have found people wh o live there as well as folks I know who have lived there (another reason to love the military; we are a relatively small bunch when you look at it).

Good luck on your move!

 

[issa]

After my husbands layoff, we made the plunge and moved to florida. After talking to several companies, we heard the same things, "let me know when your local"

Seems they get LOTS of people with the pipe dream of living in florida. Often go for a job interview or 2 while thier down on vacation...but once back home realize its simply not the right time for them to move. So MANY companies hire only local canidates. (even on monster you will see listing that boldly say "local canidates only)

With no job prospects looking good in Ma , my husband works in IT, we took a deep breath and did TONS of research and moved (altamonte springs area....we love it)


We arrived Sat night, got cable on Sunday for internet, hubby applied for some jobs at 11pm before bed.

Monday morning at 8 am...the phone started ringing! tuesday he had an interview with a recruiter, wensday with the company..Thursday was Hired..and started work the following Monday!!!

I have to say the the move has been wondeful for us and we couldnt be happier ! good luck!

 

[AdventurerKat]

That's an encouraging story. One thing about Sarasota that is enticing is that its unemployment rate is half of what ours is here in Seattle. That's a selling point for both of us.

 

[AdventurerKat]

Just bumping...things get buried quickly on this board!

 

[babslittleones]

bumping up

 

[MHopkins2]

Sometimes "local candidates only" is just code for "we aren't paying for your move." So if you see a position that's perfect other than the LCO qualification, go ahead and give it a shot. Just put something in your cover letter indicating that you're moving to Florida anyway, will be there on XX date (give a firm date, even if you don't know for sure - classic little white lie - as long as you can indeed be there by that date, shoudl you get the job), and would like to be considered.

 

[AdventurerKat]

Thanks MHopkins. Thats a good idea. I am sure when we decide to go, we will have a firm date. Of course I would not expect them to pay for our move.

 

[PatriciaH]

issa I am so glad to see your post and AdventurerKat thanks for starting this thread! This is exactly what DH and I are going through here in MA. I figure why would they hire from so far away (MA) when they have plenty of applicants localy and may need to do more than one interview. I tell DH we may just have to GO before we have a job. We have no debt and a great fund for living ex. while looking. Now I can show him your post!

 

[ZachnElli]

We have relocated several times. The first time was Omaha to Dallas. We drove to Dallas for a few days, dh looked around in his field, in the paper, just called some places out of the phone book and asked if they were hiring and that is how he found his job. One of the stores was opening a new one shortly. He went in applied, interviewed, we drove home and we heard from them shortly. We decided to move and put the house up for sale. We have been very blessed to sell our houses quickly and were only apart 4-6 weeks each time. This last time (we just did this again 3 weeks ago), he was offered a job with one of his accounts. He hated his job all the traveling, his boss, etc. He had more opportunities with his old job, but he was miserable. So he took the job here in Idaho. I thought for sure it would take a while to sell our house, but once again we were blessed and we had it sold before it even went on the market! Each time he stayed in temporary housing, it is much cheaper to find a furnished apartment than staying at a hotel. With a furnished apartment, he had a kitchen, washer and dryer and it all adds up (eating out, taking clothes to the cleaners). I just did an internet search for temporary housing with the name of the city. The apartment we found was $1000/month and Extended Stay America was at least $1200/month w/out a washer and dryer and full kitchen. (plus his apartment had high speed internet access, and entertainment is important when they are there by themselves!) I don't know if this helped, but this is what we did. Good luck!

 

[auntpolly]

Originally posted by AdventurerKat
the type of work I do (legal assistant/paralegal) I can do all sorts of jobs though, any general admin, etc, and I have worked in HR before

How well do you get along with your boss and the company you're with now? Could you confide in them that you may have to relocate because of your husband's layoff? I've seen companies help employees get jobs with other companies, branches of their own company, or with friends when things like this happened. Lawyers know other lawyers, accountants know accountants, HR people know HR people.... you know what I mean . I've done what you want to do, but it was when I were first married and didn't have kids. We both had to take crummy jobs at first and then found better ones. We also had a safety net (a relative in the city that let us stay with them until we found a job (which is why we took the original crummy ones because we didn't want to impose too long.)

 

[NotUrsula]

You might want to consider putting yourself midway between Sarasota and Tampa, if you want to keep doing the same sort of work, unless your specialty is Real Estate (the realty firms hire a lot of real estate specialist paralegals, and no place in Florida has a shortage of realtors!) Tampa is the second-largest legal market in FL, after Miami, while Sarasota is rather far down the list. The primary segment of the legal market in Tampa is banking and financial services.

We've been researching this quite a bit lately, DH just took and passed the Florida Bar.