Relocation Advice

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So at the moment I live in Japan, but will be moving to San Diego, CA. in September, my wife is active duty Navy so we're PCSing. My question is when should I start the job search and get my resume (cv) out there, should I wait till I'm actually in country and can attend interviews in person or should I start probing the waters a couple of months out? I don't want to start applying for jobs and then get asked to interviews that I can not attend, but I don't want to be stuck looking for a job for 3 months because the market is so bad. I'm looking for an entry level help desk position and I have no previous experience. I have my AAIT and I should be getting my A+ before I start the job hunt.

 

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Hmmm - tricky one this. I think at a junior level you should probably wait to get your CV out until about a month before you make the move. If it were more senior positions you were applying for, larger firms would probably have hi-def VCs and conduct interviews via that method (that's how I did two of the interviews for my current job - parent company is in the US), so it would pay to get your CV doing the rounds earlier, but I can't see them doing this at a junior level.

However, that said, I wouldn't leave it until the very last minute because you could be waiting weeks to get any sort of interview - which might be a nice opportunity for you to check out SD (my brother's just been and enjoyed it immensely) but your wife might have the arsehole if you're not contributing to the rent!

Whereabouts in Japan are you BTW? Got a friend who married a Japanese girl and moved over there about 14 years ago - haven't heard from him for a while. He lives in Kobe (and survived the earthquake!)

 

Thanks for the advice, I figured this is what I should probably do, it's just creating a lot of anxiety not knowing what job I'll have, along with a huge move across the world and not having a home to move to ya know? I live in Yokosuka, it's south of Tokyo about ~80km or so I believe. Wish I could get some IT experience here but I don't speak a lick of Japanese and their are a lot of rules about working in the Japanese community when you are SOFA sponsored by the military. No one wants to hire me on base because I have to report our rotation date and as soon as they see that they don't want to bother because six months isn't worth it to them, and I can't get an internship that pays $0 because everyone is worried about liability. I'm kind of stuck in a black hole, so I've just been trying to knock out self study training.

 

I had an extremely short layover in Narita (both inbound and outbound) when I visited East Asia in October... probably wouldn't have been able to say "Hi" any longer than 2 minutes walking from gate to gate.

 

Haha yeah I actually flew in my first time through Yokota, Air Base since it was a MAC flight but I've gone through Narita a couple times. I obviously prefer Yokota since it's a free flight back to either Seattle or Sacramento and tickets are a fortune.

 

Dude... I was surprised how much fries cost at McDonalds there! I mean, I know it was airport food... but $7USD for some FRIES?!?

 

It's very expensive here that's for sure, I don't leave the base very often and it's extremely rare that we buy anything out in town. Occasionally we go to a little local bakery and buy a few pastries but we are trying to save some dough to plop down on a mortgage when we return in September.

 

Hello all, I am in a similar situation at the moment. My other half is having her job transferred to Switzerland in the middle of next year. I am using the time between now and then to sort out my certs and test the job waters there. Hope to have my MCSA at least by the time we go. On the job front, I would reccomend circulating your CV a couple of months in advance with a cover letter to explain your situation and see what the recruiters have to say about it (they are SUPPOSED to be the experts after all...). Ideally you could book out a week of interviews closer to the move, take a free flight to Sacramento then a cheap flight (or the Greyhound at a stretch) to San Diego for the interviews.

I don't suppose there are any IT jobs for civilians going with the Navy? Also, if you were to find some employment there sooner, would you be willing to move out to San Diego early, then meet your wife when she is transferred in September? If this is a possibility, you could start a serious job hunt now. These are all just suggestions (and things that have been rattling around in my head recently...) Hope it helps.

 

Thanks for the great advice, I do have a TS/SCI clearance and there are always lots of jobs floating around bases that require these, the problem A) They are not jobs that I would ever want to do and B) require ungodly amounts of experience like 13+ years or a masters degree since it is such a high clearance usually only very dedicated and experienced professionals in the security sector have them.

I would think about moving early if a good enough job sprang up, the problem is housing, I wouldn't have a home to go to, and I'm a stay at home dad, so my children would be stuck without any one to watch them all day. The waiting lists for the day care here are ridiculous (a big reason I'm a stay at home dad as well.) I think I'll start refining my cv now though, and hopefully be able to add at least A+ to it in the very near future so I can start circulating it.

 

Hmmm... It is a bit more difficult with little ones. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do. Keep us in the loop - there may be someone on here from San Diego looking for some good helpdesk people. You never know.