Relocating for a new job

I moved 26 hours for my current gig and didn't get any assistance monetary wise.

 

Ain't that the honest to God truth.

 

Money, you can earn back in time. What I'm more interested is how you guys dealt with it mentally. I'm not saying I'm drowning, but I'm still dealing with some relocation-related demons a year after my most recent move. That isolated feeling is the pits, man. It's hard to get over it when you know, unequivocally, that the only people that legitimately give a damn about your well being within a 1,000-mile radius only do so for their own job-related selfish reasons. That's a cold slap in a face on down days.

 

That's true, too, spud. Moving certainly isn't for everyone. Although it seems like in this business, most people do it a time or two. I sometimes envy friends in other businesses who can change jobs multiple times without ever having to move.

If I felt like it was something that had enough upside over the long haul, I suppose I'd make the sacrifice. But when you've made that sacrifice before only to be treated rather poorly, it makes one think twice.

Like BYU guy said, I'll ask and if they turn me down, I'm prepared to walk away.

 

Spud, only thing I can say is: find a happy place, wherever that is. For me, it took getting out of the damn house on long, dark, empty off-nights when I had nothing to do and no one to do it with. Even if it was just to walk around Target, or to go sip an Italian soda and read for three hours at B&N, even though I didn't have much money to buy anything. You can only stay inside and surf the Internet for so long. You can only play video games for so long. Get out of the house, if only to drive around for a while.

The key is, gotta be able to enjoy time by yourself, especially if you don't have a choice. Gotta be able to entertain yourself, when you're alone. That's the only way to get rid of that isolated feeling.

It ain't easy. But neither is life. Gotta just keep on truckin'.

 

Being new was great -- could sit in a bar alone, strike up a conversation with a woman and explain that I'm new, not like that sneering loner at the end of the bar (well, not yet, anyway). Force yourself to make at least two friends outside work; you don't have to do the ritual with the blood and you many not want them in your wedding party, but you'll have no regrets if you behaved admirably. The last big move before I met my wife, I lived with two black people for a year in a small NYC apartment and learned some things.

 

I grew up as a pastor's kid, and I think the longest I ever lived in once place was four years. I feel weird if I don't relocate every few years.

 

Coming from an Air Force family, I know the feeling. Between bouncing around as a kid and relocating for newpaper jobs, I'm averaging a move every two years.

Spud: I can't agree enough with what Buck said. Holing up at home only exacerbates the problem. I'm about 10,000 miles from home in a third-world country where English isn't the native language, so even just an evening at a poolside cafe is a welcome change of pace.

 

Well, it was multiple states (four to be exact). And I'm not complaining, I was simply telling the person who started the thread not to expect anything. I've interviewed at many papers both near and far and have yet to find one that offered relocation money. But maybe I just have bad luck...

 

Same here. Never really had a hometown. My dad was a senior manager for a company that built power plants, so he'd move every 2-3 years and we'd all go along.

Then I became an adult and got into this nomadic career. Oh, well, I've seen 42 states, 4 provinces and part of Mexico. Australia is still on the 'someday' list.

 

Some will pay. Some will not. Just ask. It's to your benefit. If you don't open your mouth.....

 

Of course, these days any job offer is reason to jump up and down, but before, I would have considered no moving expenses to be a dealbreaker. I've never had a company refuse to reimburse those, even when they were offering pay that most people on here would howl at.