Getting A Job In Another City

[Tom Purl]

I currently live about 2 hours south of the Chicago suburbs and I plan on moving up there in a few months. I therefore am sending out resumes with my current phone number and mail address.
A co-worker of mine suggested that I change my cell phone number to match a chicagoland area code and use my in-laws address as a return address on my resume. However, I'm assuming that the hr person will be smart enough to know that I don't live in the Chicago suburbs if my current job is in central Illinois.
Has anyone else run into any companies that simply won't talk to you if you don't live locally? I'm not looking for any money for relocation -- I just want a job!
Thanks!

[Mark Herschberg]

I recommended the same thing to a friend last night. If you have access to that mailing address, use it. As for cell phone, I'm not so sure that's worth it--people these days tend to move, but maintain old numbers (since most phones have free long distance/raoming, anyway). Your call, there.
Maybe they'll "see throug it," or maybe they'll assume you took a contract job, or left your home to work there because that's where the job was, or maybe you got transfered to their new office and that's why your leaving.
Generally speaking, when an HR person shifts through a stack of resumes, the local will be preferable, because there are fewer obstacles in the hiring process. But this filter is often cursory, so they might not spend hours analyzing where you were and what your situation might be. If the see a local mailing address and a current job in IL, that's probably enough to assume locality.
While I never advocate lying, I am a strong proponent of playing to peoples presumptions. :-)
--Mark

[John Coxey]

Tom Purl:
- Go ahead and use your in-laws address.
- If a company wants to talk with you, they will call, not write. The only time they will write (at this stage of the game), is to send a rejection letter.
- Now, the downside. If you need relocation $$, it won't be there. And contrary to what the recruiter companies state on Monster.com (etc), you can still get relocation $$.
- I got over US$10K for a relo package from Denver, CO to Evansville, IN this past November. So relocation $$ is out there.
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- I would use your cell phone. Company won't care if it's a Chicago number or not. Just tell them (I doubt this would ever come up) that you have a calling plan, and you want to keep using it. Make some story up that your uncle sold you the phone, etc. But again, I can't ever see this being an issue.
- I am a grunt programmer, and I call all over the USA at work. Don't have time to care what area code I am calling. I just push the numbers, and am concerned more about the topic at hand than what locale I am calling.
- That being said, the folks in Human Resources (your initial contact will be from them), make 10 times the amount of phone calls that I do. So like I said, the issue of where they are calling to is not important - especially with a cell phone.
Hope that helps.
John Coxey
([e-mail])

[Tom Purl]

Wow Mark and John! Thanks a ton for the great advice. I'm sending out some resumes tonight and I really appreciate it!