How I prepared to relocate and made it work

By Grace Boyle, Small Hands, Big Ideas 

My disclaimer: I’ve relocated twice in the past five years, both times were over 1500 miles away. I’m may not be an expert, but I’ve done it both times with general success and I am a proponent, especially while you’re young. This is my candid advice on how to prepare to relocate for a career.

My relocation journey: Vermont–Iowa–Colorado, 2004-2008

You’re ready for something new. You’re ready to leave your hometown. You’re about to graduate college and don’t want to move back home. You’re not alone. Experience.com revealed in a study that 85% of Gen Y indicated they were interested in relocating inside the country, and 70% even said they’d consider moving abroad if presented with the right opportunity.

This is how I planned my relocation:

-Pick cities that are analogous to the industry you want to work in. If location is importantto you, then focus on a place you’re dying to check out and live in but be sure the career you’re looking for is available. Check out listings like top cities for recent grads or Forbes’ Best Places for Business And Careers.

-Create a relocation strategy. Basic planning such as financial saving, picking a date to move, potentially visiting the city prior to your move, finding a place to live and budgeting are all important in relocating. Don’t undershoot with your finances and wind up in a situation where you have to look intopayday loans as it could be detrimental to your move. Preparation is key.

-Seek to acclimate yourself as much as possible to the local economy, media, business and lifestyle of the city of your choice. Before I moved, I subscribed to Boulder’s top newspapers, contacted the Boulder Business Bureau for a relocation package, regularly read articles about Boulder, created an RSS feed for “Boulder” on Search.Twitter and conversed with people already in Boulder through e-mail and Twitter.

-Leverage your resources. I contacted my Alumni office and asked them to generate a list of graduates who currently lived and worked in Boulder. I then asked…>>>>READ MORE 

Grace Boyle is the Director of Marketing and Sales at the online startup, Kapost.  She runs a food blog and her personal blog, Small Hands, Big Ideas is voted one of the best blogs for young entrepreneurs and Gen Y. She loves traveling, red wine, new media, reading, laughter and her current home in Boulder, Colorado. You can find her tweeting away at: @gracekboyle.