Seven years later I again decided to make a cross-country move to a place where I, again, didn’t know people. I was unsure about the job market with a plunging economy, and I worried that no amount of experience would help me find a job. I did have tools at my fingertips that weren’t there before. I had social networking sites like Facebook and Linked-In. This time around, I was not only able to share my plans for moving with the people around me, I could easily connect with friends and family much closer to the place I wanted to live.
With a simple post of, “Looking for job ideas in education in DC,” I had messages and emails coming from friends and friends of friends all over the country. Suddenly everyone I knew, either knew someone, was related to someone, or had dated someone who lived there. I took any phone number, email address, Instant Messenger screen name anyone passed along; I was introduced to friends of friends in Facebook messages, connections were suggested through Linked-In—the ability to connect was incredible.
But, then I also acted. Not only did I take the information, I contacted the people. No, not everyone was in my field or knew anything about exactly what I wanted to do. But, people were again very helpful, answering questions about location, reputation, commute times. Many offered to point me toward someone in the area who knew the answers they didn’t know. And like my previous experience, any chance to share my story was an opportunity to refine my goals and my ability to communicate them to other people.
If you have questions or comments, let me know on our Interview Doctor blog site; I’ll be happy to answer your questions. Check out Part III of this story in the coming days.