Job hunting

Are you unemployed? Looking for a new job? Just move to a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean only knowing your spouse? Well this post may be fore you.

About 6 months ago my husband and I moved to Hawaii. We both were leaving jobs we loved in Florida, but only he had a job out here. I didn't do any research to prepare for moving out here. I thought I would just practice retirement or be a beach bum. Well reality set in pretty fast that I would probably need to get a job while out here. So I first worked on getting licensed in the state. The process took 4 months. I would recommend starting as soon as you find out you are moving. There were things that would have been easier to get done while in Florida (letters signed, information from job, etc).

Then I took to filling out job applications online while I had met all of the requirements to be licensed, but did not have my actually license number. I don't recommend doing this either. It meant that I technically came across as unqualified for the positions. Just wait a few weeks (or a month...) and fill out whatever jobs are available then. They will come.

Open your mind to other alternatives. I knew about retail and hospital pharmacies, but I applied for jobs in insurance companies and doctor's offices too. I even looked at remote order jobs back in Florida!

See if there are additional things you can do to make you a more competitive applicant. Hawaii has a specific class that is required for some of the outpatient pharmacies. I took the class to be more marketable.

However, I will say that the number one thing that got me furthest in my job hunt was developing and maintaining a relationship with a director of pharmacy. Before we left Florida I made a single phone call to my 'dream hospital' asking if they had any openings for when I'd be arriving. They said no, but agreed to me sending my CV. A couple of months later after arriving to Hawaii I emailed back to see if they had any openings (they didn't). Finally when it looked like a contract position opened up with the company I emailed again letting them know that I had expressed interest in the job. He actually said the contract hadn't been awarded yet, so he wasn't sure what I was applying for, but when it was, he'd keep my resume on file and give it to them.

Well fast forward to Thursday, I get a call out of the blue from him asking if I was still looking for a job and stating that the liked my resume better than the ones he was getting from the contractor. The weird thing is that I had applied for the job with the contractor nearly 6 weeks ago. so I'm not sure why they didn't pass my resume on since the job though I was such a great candidate! Oh well.

So for next time we move I'm going to 1. Work on getting licensed early, 2. Call and email directors of pharmacies so they will have my resume on file if something happens, 3. Apply to all jobs. 4. Sit back and let the job offers roll. ;)