You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
– Dr. Seuss.

There’s no evidence that Dr. Seuss — or the Cat in the Hat for that matter — ever visited Kennewick, Wash., Sandusky, Ohio, or Oklahoma City, Okla., but if he were looking for a place to get paid for spinning his rhymes, he might unfold his map a little more broadly these days. 

While these three cities may not be among the first to jump out in the minds of jobseekers, they are among the 13 metro areas the Labor Department highlighted in a recent report.  For instance, Oklahoma City has the lowest unemployment rate — six percent — of any metro area with more than one million residents.  In Kennewick, employment totals were up by 900 this June over last June.  And in Sandusky?  Employment jumped by 1.7 percent in June. 

Add in the fact that Oklahoma City, for instance, registered the biggest increase in personal income last year among the nation’s large metropolitan areas — a 6.9 percent jump — combined with a lower-than-average cost of living, and setting your sights on the plains gets more appealing.

Being Flexible

An openness to new locations may not be the only change serious jobseekers may have to consider in the re-defining economy.  Accepting a good job may mean being more open to negotiation on some of the perks as well, at least for now. 

Mary Ellen Slayter, in SmartBlog on WorkForce, quotes Mike Aitken, director of government affairs of the Society for Human Resource Management:

Employees have to get used to the reality of reduced salary increases, or even no salary increases at all.  They have to be willing to consider taking time off for sabbaticals and reductions in vacation accruals.  The cost of health care is going to increase, and employees might need to consider dropping their health care.  With every region in the country being affected by mounting job losses, companies are just trying to figure out ways to stay in business.

What does all this mean for your job search?  Mary Ellen’s blog hits the nail on the head with another guest post this week by John Roulet, author of The Supervision Solution.  Roulet warns about the danger of being clueless in pursuit of  goals.  He reminds us that success is based on developing a strategy.

That might mean determining what the must-haves are and sifting out the can-do-withouts. Strategy takes reality into account . . . and the current economic situation is very real indeed.

So, focus your strategy and broaden your horizons. You just might find that there are more places you can go than you previously thought possible.

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