With the modern economic climate, one of the things that many job seekers and professionals are actively considering is whether or not they should begin to seek new jobs in different locations throughout the country. We’ve taken the time to outline some of the key benefits for job seekers and professionals who are considering moving to a new city for a new job opportunity.
Why Job Seekers and Professionals Are Considering The Benefits of Moving
One of the things that is most alarming about the rapid rise in unemployment due to current conditions across the globe, is the fact that many job opportunities are disappearing seemingly overnight. Millions of jobs are being eliminated, millions of workers are being furloughed or laid off completely, and millions of professionals are unsure of what the next step in their career or professional life might look like as companies increase their efforts to cut costs and faze out outdated jobs that can be automated.
While these are troubling times, the tunnel isn’t as dark as it might seem, as companies are still hiring in different parts of the country. During these difficult times, some industries are less affected than others, and they are still actively hiring professionals and targeting job seekers with attractive job offers that would make anyone consider potentially moving across the country for a new job opportunity.
Some companies are offering new professionals and job seekers the opportunity to work from home and join the company as a remote worker, while others are offering substantial relocation packages and company benefits or perks if they choose to relocate across the country and start their new job in a new city or state. This means that job seekers and professionals are facing two scenarios when they’re considering new job opportunities: 1.) Try to figure out how to remain productive while working as a remote worker, or 2.) Completely uproot your life for new opportunities in an unfamiliar (or mostly unfamiliar) environment.
For those professionals who are facing this new question as they’re exploring new job opportunities, figuring out the best path can be tricky, which is why we’ve taken the time to outline some of the key benefits that you should consider when you do decide to move for a job.
12 Benefits of Moving for a New Job
We’ve outlined twelve different benefits when you elect to move to a new city or state for a new job. It’s important to remember that each benefit will have different impacts based on your personal preferences, professional working habits, how much you value certain professional and personal aspects in your life, and other competing factors.
1.) Opportunity To Explore Different Career Opportunities, Prospects, and Outlook
The first benefit that can arise from potentially moving for a new job is that you can drastically explore new career opportunities, enhance your career prospects, and develop a different career outlook. As we’ve highlighted earlier, sometimes the thing holding your career back is the area, state, or geographic region in which you’re currently working.
In other words, you might have started your career or are looking to work in a particular field, but times have changed and that area is no longer thriving like it once did. A good example of this is the technology and startup industry. It used to be, that you could develop a new technology company or launch a new startup anywhere in the country, but in the last two decades, that ideology has shifted and the place to be is out west in California, Oregon, Washington, etc.
It might be entirely possible that the region you’re in was once successful, but greener pastures have started to grow elsewhere in the country. Moving to a different region might allow you to explore those career opportunities where the industry is looking for unique talent.
Another aspect of this benefit is that you might even feel like you’re stagnating in your current job or career, and moving across the country could help you explore different career opportunities within the same line of work or profession. In some cases, you might get stuck where you’re at simply due to the fact that the industry is doing well where you currently work, but it’s not experiencing rapid growth as you anticipated and that is preventing you from taking on additional responsibilities, or potentially learning new skills that you’re passionate about.
Another caveat to this benefit is that sometimes all it takes to revitalize your career is to change the outlook you have. This can occur often occur when you move to pursue a new opportunity.
2.) Explore a New Community
Another fantastic benefit of moving for a new job is that you can explore a whole new community. Sometimes we realize that it’s not the job that we’re currently in or the jobs that we have the ability to pursue in our area that is causing the frustration or slowdown in our career, it’s the community that we’re in.
Sometimes we can’t advance our career or find a new job opportunity because the professional network within the community isn’t strong enough. In the modern job search environment, it’s important to leverage every tool you have in your community. This means pursuing networking conventions, professional conferences, seminars, local job fairs, and more. In the event that your current community doesn’t have a very active professional scene, pursuing a new job opportunity and moving to a new job might provide you with an opportunity to advance your career and give you the chance to explore a new community.
3.) Make New Friendships and Professional Relationships
The next benefit you can expect when you’re moving to a new job in a different city, state, or location, is that you can expect to make new friendships and build new professional relationships. It speaks a lot about the character and work ethic of someone who has been able to succeed and develop strong professional relationships throughout their career in different locations.
Some personalities and professional skills thrive in certain regions of the country, but those skills and personal assets might hold you back in different areas of the country based on cultural differences, societal norms, and other interpersonal things that can arise. The unique thing about moving to pursue a new job opportunity is that it can help you become a more well-rounded individual, develop new skills that are unique to that specific region, expand your professional network, and develop new friendships that you didn’t have an opportunity to explore elsewhere.
4.) Stronger Job Markets
As we’ve highlighted earlier, some industries, cities, states, or regions of the country are experiencing stronger job markets. This could be due to a number of things that include level of education obtained in that area, potential investment in new job opportunities, government investing, movement patterns for citizens, investments from larger corporations, etc. Another thing that could impact your new job and give you additional benefits when you move is if the area is more diverse in the professional industries sector.
Communities that have a diverse professional sector often have tons of new career opportunities and are more resistant to economic slowdowns, and give you an opportunity to settle down without having to worry about weak job markets that cause unnecessary anxiety.
Another benefit of moving for a job to gain access to a stronger job market is that in strong job markets, the time to hire is significantly shorter and you can even earn more money, access more professional benefits, etc.
5.) Potential Career Advancement
The next benefit of moving for a new job is that you can enhance your ability to advance your career. One of the things that contributes to individuals becoming burnt out or tired of their existing position is that they feel like there is no room to work for a promotion, or they struggle to find new opportunities in similar companies in their area. When you make the decision to move to pursue a new job opportunity, you can pursue opportunities where the career advancement opportunities are clear.
6.) Create New Experiences
Another benefit of moving to a new city for a new job is that you can potentially create new experiences that you haven’t had in your career before. Perhaps you’ve reached the pinnacle of your career or current job, and you have the ability to start fresh in a new role. Instead of feeling bored with the same routine over and over again, you can foster new experiences in a new environment and work to actively build new things in a new setting.
7.) New Job Security
As we’ve highlighted above, the new normal throughout the globe is rapidly throwing careers and jobs into chaos. As companies and organizations are looking for ways to tighten their budgets, one of the clear positives out there is that the open jobs that are currently being advertised or listed on job boards and job sites is that it’s a clear indication that those positions are in demand, they need to be filled quickly, and the job stability and job security for those positions is relatively solid.
One of the first things that organizations and companies did when the Coronavirus and it’s implications started to spread, companies were quick to delist and remove open job postings that they could no longer guarantee.
In other ways, relocating or moving to a new city for a new job is a great way to make sure that you can keep working in the industry or profession that you’re passionate about. Sometimes the current company you’re working for no longer requires your role or requires the number of individuals who occupy a similar role to yours. Sometimes moving to a new city is the best benefit you can ask for when it comes to enhancing your job security.
8.) Increase Your Quality of Life or Standard of Living
The next benefit you should consider when evaluating your relocation opportunities or choices is that it might help you increase your quality of life and improve your standard of living. One of the biggest things that helps professionals and job seekers determine whether or not they should pursue other opportunities is the kind of improvement they can expect from additional purchasing power from a greater salary, better tax benefits, improved commute times, lower housing costs, and more.
Often times, we don’t realize how stressful our quality of life can be, and moving to a new area where you can significantly improve your standard of living and decrease the amount of unnecessary stress you experience is crucial to renewing your passions in your career and improving your overall happiness level. Do your research, and try to evaluate whether or not moving to a new city for a new job is a great way to increase your standard of living. One of the best ways to make this consideration is to do a cost-benefit analysis.
Cost-benefit analyses are a great way for you to evaluate whether or not you should consider moving for a new job opportunity, and they help you logically chart out if it’s something you should take seriously.
9.) Relocation Packages Help Cover Expenses
Another fantastic benefit to potentially moving to a new job is that many companies and organizations will offer substantial relocation packages that will help you get everything situated. In some cases, companies will outsource the entire relocation process for you with their trusted third-party vendors or partners they work with. This helps to alleviate some of the concerns that you have to face and manage as you’re trying to uproot your life and move to pursue a new job opportunity.
In other scenarios, companies will offer you a relocation package similar to a check that you can use to pay for it yourself and figure out the best course of action. In some cases, these relocation packages can even serve as an additional hiring bonus that you can keep if you have any leftover money that wasn’t tied up in relocation expenses.
A company that is willing to pay you a relocation bonus or relocation package is a great sign that they’re excited about having you with their company, they’re committed to having you as an employee and is one of the best benefits you can ask for when considering moving for a new job.
10.) Explore New Personal and Social Aspects In Your Life
As we’ve briefly covered above, moving to a new city for a new job is a great way for you to explore new professional opportunities, but it can also give you a new chance to explore new personal aspects in your life as well. Sometimes we can become unhappy with our professional life because it’s being affected by things in our personal life like our ability to make friendships, connect with people we’re working with, meet new people, experience new events when we’re not at work, or even form a relationship with new individuals.
Moving to a new job opportunity can give you an opportunity to hit the reset button on your personal life and explore neglected areas in your social life that can help you drastically improve your outlook on your career.
11.) Get Out of the Rut or Loop You Feel Stuck In
Another important benefit that you can gain from moving for a job is that it can help you get out of the rut or loop that you feel stuck in. Too often, we let the fear of the unknown prevent us from doing something that we’re potentially interested in. We’re all guilty of it. We’re comfortable in the environment we’re in, we’re comfortable in the occupation that we work, or we’re comfortable with things the way they are. The only problem with this mindset is that sometimes it can become boring or tedious, and then that mindset wears you down until you become fatigued to the point of hating your job.
Exploring a new job in a different city is a great way to upset the status quo and get out of that rut or loop that you might feel stuck in.
12.) Better Benefits or Money
Last, but certainly not least on our list of benefits of moving for a job is that you might even earn more money or receive better benefits than you currently have. Moving to a new job might help you increase your salary because the number of professionals with your skillset in that region is lacking. Or perhaps, as we’ve outlined earlier, the cost of living is reduced in the new city and you’ll be able to save more money over time. It’s important to study whether or not you’d be able to earn more money by moving to a new job opportunity.
You might even have to give up some of your salary when moving to a new job opportunity, but you’ll gain expensive employee benefits that you didn’t have elsewhere. Researching what types of incentives you can earn when you move to a new job is an important consideration you’ll have to make and evaluate, as each person will put different weights on different things.
Images sourced from Pexels
