Today we have a guest editorial from Andy Warren as Steve is on vacation. This was originally published on 4 Apr 2016.
It’s a fun question to ask to help understand where someone is in life and how they see life – would you move for a job? Assuming the salary adjusted for the cost of living is equivalent or better, would you be willing to move to a different place if you saw the right opportunity? That opportunity might be truly more money, a promotion of some type, or maybe the chance to work for a mega company with tons of resources. Or maybe it’s about where – you long for cold weather, or warm weather, urban transit, night life, or something else.
What’s my answer? Nope, not moving for a job. I might at some point (hard to envision!) leave Orlando, but I’d be moving to some place I wanted to go (Sarasota maybe) or at least a type of place I wanted to go (warm weather, sunny). All kinds of factors go into that. Stability for the kids in school, kids being close to grandma, owning a home, family in the area are the obvious ones for me, but if you dig deeper it’s more about how I approach risk and change. I’m not opposed to risk, yet clearly I am! I would see deciding to move and then finding a job to support it as reasonable, but not moving just to take a job. Strange isn’t it?
Years ago I met a friend who travelled a lot and only booked his hotel one night at a time. If he was in town multiple days he would go down each morning ready to check out and would ask if they had the same rate or better for another day. If they did, he would stay and if not, he checked out and then later in the day he’d book a room for that night. I’d find it stressful, he found it invigorating. I have no doubt he would move for a job and if it didn’t work out he would just move again. I admire that confidence and outlook – it’s just not me, at least not yet.
It’s a question with no right answer. Having set some boundaries about re-locating and even commuting limits me, but it does so in a way that supports the things I value. I can see someone else looking at moving as a way to support their values.
What about you? Would you, or have you moved for a job? Was it more or less stressful than expected? Advice for those trying to decide if considering if moving should be an option during their job search?
