Location and Timing

Two critical factors for the career hunter are location and timing. When choosing real estate for a home or business, location makes a critical difference. The same is true when hunting for a new career. If you choose to live an hour and a quarter away from the big city, your career choices will be limited to what is available locally or what you can commute to realistically every day. If you plan to pursue a career that is tied to a particular location, you will need to live reasonably close to make it work.

Timing is critical in all that we do. Whether it's stand-up comedy, performing music, buying or selling, developing relationships, or a million other things we may do each day, the timing must be right in order to be successful. For the job hunter, timing is difficult to gauge. We can't control the economic conditions around us, and we usually don't know the personality traits of the person in the HR department who will be reviewing our cover letter and resume. In hard economic times it generally takes longer to find a job. My best advice to career hunters right now is to hang on to what you have and allow yourself plenty of time for your search.

The current economic conditions are not favourable for those who are inclined to leap first and look around after they land. (see Planning in the previous post)

Verbum sapienti satis est - A word to the wise is sufficient.