”Life is the sum of all your choices.” – Albert CamusAs I’ve mentioned before, I entered the Laid-Off Life because the company for which I was working was sold to a larger out-of-state competitor and more-or-less closed down. The office location was shuttered, but a couple people continued working transition out of a Michael Scott Paper Company-sized temporary location. A few people were to work ‘until further notice’ from home for the new big, bad owners. And a few were offered positions in Florida at the Buy-More home office.
Including me.
They really wanted me. They called day after day trying to convince me to move. They fed me lines like ‘we’ll put you on track for a possible Executive position’ and ‘we think you’ll fit in really great with our Florida staff’ and ‘the cost-of-living is so much cheaper’. But they weren’t willing to give or guarantee me a raise for the trouble of moving a thousand miles, they weren’t going to help with housing or moving expenses, and, worst of all, they weren’t offering me my same position; they were offering a different one, one I didn’t really want.
So I turned it down.
Besides what MegaLoMart was offering (or not offering) me to move to the land of oranges, I had plenty of things keeping me here in the Illadelph: family, friends, my girlfriend, the Phillies, Jim’s Steaks. It was an easy and a hard decision at the same time.
While I grew up here in The City That Loves You Back, it’s not like moving away for a job was foreign to me. I stayed in New York after college for work. I moved to Kansas for a promotion. I moved to Chicago for a short-term position of all things. In fact, I was away from Broad & Market from the time I started college until New Years 2006. But this time was different. Between what was keeping me here and what was keeping me from going there (not even including oppressive heat, BP-sponsored oil-infused hurricanes, and pest-control issues), staying where I’d just started to lay roots again was the right choice at the time.
That was nearly a year ago.
Back then, I had no idea what was ahead. I never would have guessed I would be still looking for work 11 months hence. I had no idea I’d be killing myself juggling four freelance gigs. I had no idea I would be burdened with health insurance struggles (no COBRA) and unemployment compensation worries. I had no idea I’d be having so much quality time with the cat. Not moving to ‘The Big Guava’ (yes, that’s really the nickname of the city in Florida) became a bigger life-decision the farther removed from that decision I got.
We all know the economic and employment environment we are living in. Despite signs of glacial improvement in the US, our recovery is being stymied by severe new troubles in Europe, especially in the UK and Greece. I don’t need to tell you it still stinks out there, or you wouldn’t be here on this site. So, more and more, Americans are grappling with the decision whether or not to look to another city for work. Maybe you are too, especially if you’ve been on the job hunt for quite some time. In 2008, the proverbial ‘last year statistics were available’, 1.2 million people claimed moving expense tax deductions for job related moves. And that was before the downturn. It’s a hard decision, one of the hardest you may ever have to make. And a very personal one. So many things may keep you here, and so many things may be telling you it’s time to leave. And companies increasingly aren’t helping. Moving expenses aren’t offered nearly as often. Help with temporary housing is now a rarity (when I moved to Kansas, they put me up in a nice hotel so long, I actually started feeling guilty about it; imagine a company doing that these days). And if you think trying to find a job for you is hard, try finding one for a co-relocating spouse on top of that.
But sometimes desperate times call for desperate relocation. People are looking nearly anywhere for a job, and taking it because they have to. People are moving to new cities without even having a new job yet because they heard the hiring rate for their particular field is better there. Considering moving to Canada to find a job? They don’t want you. It’s harder than ever to get a green card there because new laws are restricting foreign hiring over les habitants canuck. So, if you’re at the point in your job hunt when you feel that trying your luck in a different region of this great land, do so carefully, with great forethought, and with a lot of research. PhillyJobs.com’s parent company, Nexxt, has great resources for jobs in forty different cities, from Atlanta to West Palm Beach (a job by the beach doesn’t sound so bad right now).
So, if you’re in a position where you can pack up and leave (we’ll miss you at the World Series), by all means, consider it a legitimate option. And maybe it’s just the thing you need, a little change of scenery. Search job boards, do your due-diligence, and find out if diasporic companies you’re interested in conduct phone interviews or pay for you to come out to interview. Consider the housing market if you have to buy or sell a house, or both. Compare the costs-of-living. PhillyJobs.com recently had a great article about just such a consideration. So if you’re fortunate and good enough to get that job in Palm Beach, start hitting up your friends to help you load the truck. I hear the going rate is a pizza-per-hour-worked.
So, did I make the right decision turning down the Florida job? At the time, I’d only been back home in Philly for 3½ years, and I was just starting to grow roots again. Would it have been nice to have a job 11 months ago instead of sitting here writing for you about not having a job? Maybe, with different circumstances (but you woulda missed me). Would I have been happier if I had taken the job? Doubtful. Did I make the right decision?
Yup.
Michael Hochman
LaidOffLife@yahoo.com ? Laid-Off Life on Twitter ? Laid-Off Life on Facebook
Michael is a Copywriter, Creative Marketer, and Broadcasting Professional still in search of full-time employment after 11 months of full-time job hunting, thanks to an “involuntary career sabbatical”. A Philly native and Syracuse graduate, Michael will gladly accept any job offer you may have for him. Any. Really. Please give me a job??
"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar." - Drew Carey
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