Applying to jobs out of state
Applying to jobs out of state
Applying to jobs out of state
Applying to student affairs jobs out of state is challenging but is often part of the student affairs job search. Of course, there are some additional considerations for searching for opportunities outside of your immediate geographic area. That’s when searching out of state can shift from challenging to downright laborious.
This article will review the process of applying for student affairs jobs out of your immediate geographic area. Often this includes applying to student affairs opportunities in another state. Challenges and difficulties of this part of the job search will be identified as well as reasons for your desire to relocate.
Appearances to employers are important for hiring managers to consider out of state applicants. These appearances will be reviewed in depth in addition to prefacing your desire for a new opportunity in a new location. Networking is always an important step in the student affairs job search; so tips will be shared on how you can use networking to your advantage at this stage of your search.
Student affairs job seekers also ask if they should include their address on their resume when searching out of state. This question will be covered in addition to some action steps for starting and maintaining your student affairs job search for opportunities in a new geographic area.
Challenges & difficulties
Contrary to popular belief, it’s possible to find a student affairs opportunity in another state. Student affairs and higher education as a whole are perhaps the best places to be when searching for opportunities elsewhere. This could be to a neighboring state or city. It could even be across the country or to another nation.
In any case, searches in different geographical areas are more common than you think. This is compared to other industries in which it’s more likely for the hiring manager to source talent locally. This is even the case for remote positions when the organization wants to bring on board people that live and work in the same time zone as their colleagues and coworkers.
Do you want to relocate?
Looking for work in another state means that you’re interested and open to relocating to a new area. This is often the case for new student affairs professionals as they are capable and willing to uproot their lives to take on new opportunities elsewhere. This is even more important when movement opens up a professional to new job growth and novel positions in the field.
However, relocating is not without its challenges and often long timeline. If you are searching for a new job to start by a certain date (i.e. at the end of your graduate program) then you should start your search several months ahead of time.
The rule of thumb that I often give entry level student affairs job seekers is to begin their search 6-9 months prior to the end of their graduate program. This is when they are open and available to relocate and start a new position elsewhere.
This doesn’t mean that you are actively applying to new positions in the field. Rather, you can start your search by performing some informational interviews; reviewing job descriptions; and even drafting your cover letter and editing your resume.
Begin seriously considering the geographic area that you want to relocate to as your search timeline moves on. In addition, you should also consider institutional “fit” in new positions located there. Does the institution and the location meet your lifestyle requirements? Will you ultimately be happy there? It’s unfortunate (but not uncommon) to relocate to a new opportunity across the country only for job seekers to discover that the position didn’t work out for them.
Appearances to the employer
Managing appearance’s to a potential employer is one of the most challenging things that job seekers need to do. Sometimes hiring manager’s judge candidates too early based on their current location to where the job is geographically located.
This is already difficult with positions outside of higher education. However, some student affairs professionals already come to expect the need to relocate over the course of their career. The role of the student affairs job seeker is to demonstrate their alignment of experiences, desire, and motivation to relocate in order to be seen as a less risky hire.
This can often be done by approaching your job hunt out of state by being seen as a local and a more accessible professional. Sometimes this approach can be taken when applying for positions across immediate state lines (i.e. NJ to NY or VA to MD).
While these are technically out of state moves, your current proximity to the role makes you appear as a local candidate. Therefore, you are also seen as a lower risk hire to the hiring manager and more likely to move onto further stages in the job search.
This isn’t to say that distance candidates aren’t hired for key positions. This happens frequently working in higher education and student affairs. However, the hiring manager’s risks are further mitigated if they choose to do this only for key positions. These are positions where it has been difficult to find quality candidates that are already located in the same geographic area.
Sharing your intention to relocate
Oftentimes a hiring manger needs to make an assumption about a candidate who is applying to their open position out of state. That assumption could be accurate, inaccurate, or totally plausible. Student affairs job seekers should address these assumptions by indicating their out of state location in their application materials.
This means that job seekers need to be transparent during this process. Often sharing both the need and desire to relocate could be helpful for their job prospects. The reasons for moving could be varied. It could include a return to family in the area; the need to follow a spouse or significant other; or the chance to work in a different functional area than they are in right now. Sharing those reasons in your application materials could help alleviate some of the misgivings that a hiring manager has about recruiting professionals from out of state.
Networking
Never underestimate the power of networking when making career moves. Networking can help you tap into positions out of state that you wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. As a result you can source, apply, and secure these positions prior to anyone else knowing about it.
In addition, you can use informational interviews a way to contact and form relationships with professionals at institutions to express your interest. You may not secure a role directly from these interviews. However, now potential hiring managers associate your name with a face rather than just another nameless applicant in a sea of submissions.
This doesn’t mean that you should abandon using job search sites to browse institutional postings to find your next position. The best way to find these sites is to search for the institution’s name along with the terms “careers” or “employment.” Doing this helps you to identify the specific location that hosts current and prospective job openings.
All of these steps help you create a small – but meaningful – network at your target location for your eventual move and relocation there. Creating that network early and purposefully greatly increases your chances.
Should you put your address on the resume?
One of the most common questions that student affairs job seekers ask about applying to positions out of state is whether or not they should include their current address on their resume. For some employers, this address was a make-or-break decision in the hiring process.
That’s because in the past it was standard practice to send and receive applications for job postings through the post office. However, with the advent of digital submissions, these full addresses are no longer always necessary. Despite this, many standard resume templates still include a space for your home address.
These are often the cited reasons for why most people continue to include their full home mailing address on their resumes. Hiring managers also echo these concerns as they may see the lack of an address as an effort to hide something or your lack of attention to detail.
Therefore there are real advantages to having your address on your resume. This includes a greater likelihood that you’ll receive an interview for the position. The address also indicates that you’re not hiding anything about your current location. An address close to the institution also indicates you’re in reasonable geographic distance from the campus.
Despite this, there are also some marked disadvantages to leaving your address off of your resume. Your desire for privacy may cost you the interview. A lack of and address may also arise questions or suspicion from the hiring manger on the reason and background behind this lack of information. The absence of this information also means that the human resources office doesn’t know where you’re currently located.
Overall, hiring managers often want to know what your current geographic location is. They do this in order to grant candidates an opportunity to progress to the next stage of the interview process. The lack of an address, or an out of state address, may prevent you from moving forward if you not applying for a remote position.
Action steps
You may already be looking for work in another state right now. You may just be considering it at the moment. What are some things that you can do right now that will help position yourself competitively for these positions?
One of the things that you can do is to schedule informal trips to your new location. This shows your commitment to travel and relocating to that area in the future. Doing this combined with connecting with professionals in the vicinity (even if only virtually) helps communicate both your intent and your resolve to find a position in this area.
You can schedule these trips for any number of reasons. They are even more convenient if travelling to this area allows you to reconnect with family, friends, and other loved ones. So consider your ability to travel to the area now (if only for exploratory and research reasons) one of the tops moves you can make in order to land a position there.
Takeaways
This article reviewed the process of applying for student affairs jobs outside of your immediate geographic area. Challenges and difficulties of this part of the job search were identified as well as how to communicate your reasons and desire to relocate.
Appearances to employers are important for hiring managers to consider out of state applicants. These were reviewed in depth in addition to prefacing your desire for a new opportunity elsewhere to the search committee. Networking is always an important step in the student affairs job search; so tips were shared on how you can use networking to your advantage at this stage of your search.
Student affairs job seekers also ask if they should include their address on their resume. This question was covered in addition to some action steps for starting and maintaining your student affairs job search in a new geographic area.
I hope that you found this article useful! If you need some additional help on your student affairs job search, then check out the eBook The Student Affairs Job Search: A Comprehensive Guide available here.
Happy searching,
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Cite this Article
Eng, D. (2020, October 20). Applying to jobs out of state. Retrieved MONTH DATE, YEAR, from https://www.jobhakr.com/blog-1/2020/10/20/applying-to-jobs-out-of-state
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