Grad Cave Rules of Relocation

Upcoming grads, young professionals, and "Grad Cavemen" (those of you living at home in Grad Caves), part of your employment search requires you to decide on a geographic preference; where you'll call home and where you'll work.  My advice to you is to be completely open and honest with your prospective employer on where you want to live and what you consider to be a realistic commute.  Many of you are probably thinking, "I need a job desperately so I'm going to tell the company I'm interviewing with that I'm open to relocation and that I can drive up to one hour each way to work."  This is a dangerous commitment to make and I'll tell you why:

1.)  You aren't really OPEN to relocation.  Be honest with yourself.  There are a select few of us, maybe 3-5% of recent grads that will whole heartedly move anywhere with no ties, setbacks, or regrets.  The rest of us have loved ones, families, and friends which we consider our "comfort zone" and without knowing it we cannot live more than a day's drive (let's call it 4 hours) of them.  

2.) Employers have to trust your relocation assessment.  They are looking to hire you for a career, not to fill a personnel gap only to fill the same position again 3 months from now.  What I'm saying is when you tell a prospective employer that you will work anywhere and drive up to an hour each way to work you better be able to do that!  I have seen it happen all too often where a recent grad agrees to relocate to a city that they don't want to live in only to leave the company within 90 days and move back home to their "comfort zone."  This doesn't make anyone happy.  Be honest with your employer and let them know where you want to live and what your reasonable commute is each way to work.  A little tip, if you tell them your acceptable commute is more than 45-60 minutes each way, they will call your bluff.

3.) It's better to wait for the right opportunity than to take a job in the wrong location.  Accepting employment in a town or city that you don't want to live in, especially when right out of college, is setting yourself up for frustration, stress, and depression.  You recent grads are looking to start a career, not get a job with an self-expiration date!  Be honest with your prospective employers about where you want to live and if they think you're the person for the job they will make it work if possible.

What relocation situations have you seen work or fail?