The 'willing to relocate' debate.

"Are you willing to relocate?"

Is a question that I am faced with on many occasions whilst on the job hunt - luckily, my answer is yes. However, if the question was, "do you want to relocate?" - my answer would be a stern, no!

I long ago knew I would have to move an hour or even two away to be able to find a 'proper' career. I don't mean to make it sound like you can't have a proper career where I live, but you're a lot less likely to be able to have one. Anyways, I knew that I would have to move, a commitment I wasn't thrilled about but knew it would have to happen. I was told by my dad last year that "no one is waiting to hire Deborah Stevenson when she comes out of university" - err I know that, I'm not a dipshit. I knew that, I never had the attitude that someone would hire me straight away, but I didn't realize how much where I live currently would influence everything about my job search journey.

I spoke to a recruitment agency about four weeks ago. The girl on the phone said she was concerned over time, so could she phone me back the next day. She never did.

I think I put her off when I told her where I live. She queried if I would be willing to locate, I explained how I would but I would really like to stay in Yorkshire - which I don't think it an unreasonable request. And I think the fact I wasn't in London, or the surrounding areas put her off dealing with me and helping me find a job. Oh well. What can you do but pick yourself back up and keep trying.

My friend was in touch today, he told me how he'd had an interview in Sheffield yesterday, it went really well but didn't think he would get it. I asked him what could be stopping him from being offered the position if the interview and tasks went really well. He explained that the woman interviewing him asked where his town was located.. he explained it was in East Yorkshire - she apparently didn't look amused and told him that they wanted to hire someone more in the Sheffield area because they could be called in 'at any moment'. I find this attitude unfair because he had to say that he had family who were living in Sheffield and were willing to allow him to live with them. It's obvious that his location will be a major factoring in whether he is offered the job - surely if they wanted 'locals' applying for the job, then in the job description, it should say that. It's like when the East Riding of Yorkshire Council advertise jobs on Twitter and in the title it says 'INTERNAL ONLY', they usually receive a reply from me saying something like; "If this position is internal only, why are you even bothering posting about it on Twitter. #morons" - just send it in a mass email to everyone, surely that would be easier, and then they wouldn't have to deal with people sending them replies calling them morons.

I've been applying for internships all weekend and noticed that many said they'll only consider London based applicants - probably so that they don't have to pay expenses beyond London zone 6.

I was further told that I probably wouldn't be able to get the Job Centre to pay for the expenses of me going to work experience in London - fair enough, I might have to fight hard to get the funding, but there just aren't the resources here in Hull like there are in the capital. I might be fighting a losing battle, but at least I am making the effort to want to do work experience. *sigh*

How is everyone else working round applying for jobs further afield? Are you just not even considering a move? Or, the further away the better?

Let me know.
As always, leave comments, you're feedback is always welcome!
or, give me a tweet! @DebStevo90

I'm so bored it's unreal. :[
Deborah xx