Working Remotely?

Recently I was reading a magazine article and was blown away by concept.  I live in the Greater Kansas City Missouri area.  Located in the Midwest, our labor market has been shielded from much of the craziness that seems to happen on both coasts. Our cost of living and cost of labor are much lower.  From an HR perspective, this is good news.

Then, the pandemic happened, and everyone learned that they could work from home and be just as productive.  Unfortunately (at least for me) organizations learned that they no longer have to hire staff in their geographic area. Now we have companies located on the coasts who are recruiting in my lower-wage labor market for employees who want to work remotely. These companies are able to offer higher salaries (because their cost structure is based on a different labor market) along with the ability to work from home, while you continue to enjoy our lower cost of living. Yikes!

Okay, as a Midwest employer this is bad for me, but this is great for you, the job seeker, wherever you are.  While you are looking for jobs in your area, also spend some time looking for jobs in your chosen field, but with firms located in higher cost of living areas like Chicago, New York, California, Washington D.C., etc. who are offering remote work. In job-search engines, use “remote” as a keyword.  As a test, I looked on indeed.com and searched “Human Resources Remote” for Chicago and got 179 hits.  For New York I got 367!

Remote work is not for everyone. You need a higher level of focus and discipline.  You need to have a place where you can work, be organized, and have good internet access.  But, if you are able and interested, the pandemic just opened a new door to your job search. Don’t be afraid to walk through it – after you get vaccinated.

If you find that opportunity and need help with your resume or interviewing, this might help,   https://im-fired.com/about-the-book/