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Relocation: A Tale From Two Cities

Two men arrived in Phoenix via Sky Harbor Airport for a one-week stay in Arizona. Each had a mission: to seek employment in order to relocate to Arizona. One man was from Joliet, Illinois; the other from Wilmington, Delaware. Both men were in their early thirties and each had more than ten years of professional experience. They had taken vacation time from work to make the trip. Each one had arranged to stay with a friend to minimize expenses. The investment for each one’s trip, including airfare, was between five and seven hundred dollars for the week.

The man from Wilmington, a sales professional, spent the week "dropping in" and "dropping off." He stopped in at employment agencies and companies and left his resume. He did ask to see people, but he did not have any appointments pre-scheduled, except for one. . . with a branch office of his current employer. Although he had mailed out resumes (by express mail at $10+ each!) to employment agencies and companies, he had not had one response. The net result of his week in Phoenix was: one meeting with a representative of his current employer.

The man from Joliet, a health care professional, arrived in Phoenix with a calendar of eight appointments with department heads at four local hospitals and four clinical laboratories. In addition, he had connected with his college Alumni Association and was scheduled not only to attend an alumni meeting, but was invited to an alumni barbecue on Saturday night! His results at the end of the week included: one hospital asked him to contact them in three months when they would be hiring; one company told him they would like to talk with him further at the end of the month regarding two positions; another organization asked him to submit his resume for four (4) different jobs that would be available within 30 days; and he had six new referrals to follow up!

I met the man from Wilmington on a Saturday just prior to his departure on Sunday after being in the Phoenix area all week. He was discouraged by the lack of results from his expenditure of time and money.

I met with the man from Joliet on a Saturday, the third day of his trip, after working with him on the planning and preparation for his job search trip over the previous six weeks. When we met, we reviewed a list of twelve key questions he was to ask at each meeting. We discussed follow-up strategies. He received guidance on how to handle potential job offer and negotiation scenarios, including salary and relocation expenses. The man was more than pleased when he shook my hand saying, "I just can’t believe how easily this works. I never would have thought of doing anything more than mailing out resumes, and then where would I be! Thank you for your help."

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