Future grad looking to relocate

[evanderburg]

Hi everyone, 

I just wanted to get a thread going for people to throw ideas at me if anyone has been in a similar situation, or has thoughts about this.

So, I currently live in Florida and am going to graduate from PA school in March 2020. My husband and I want to move to Oregon, so I was wondering if anyone had experience with getting a job in a different state as a new grad. I plan on taking my PANCE 1-2 weeks after graduation in FL, and I will probably apply for an Oregon license (granted job prospects look good). What are the chances of me getting relocation assistance as a new grad? If this is highly unlikely, I would consider working in FL for a year and then moving to the PNW. 

Also, does anyone have any recommendations as to where I should look for jobs online that are credible? Indeed, PA forum, etc?

Thanks for your time and any recommendations you may have!

[MT2PA]

Relocation assistance has less to do with experience (new grad vs 1 year experience) and more to do with the employer.  Some offer.  Some don't.  Not something you'll know up front.  If you want to move, just do it.  FL is a rough market and not worth your time if you don't want to be there.

You should apply for jobs long before you graduate.  Plenty of students get jobs out of state prior to graduation.  Plenty of threads around the forum.

[evanderburg]

1 hour ago, MT2PA said:

Relocation assistance has less to do with experience (new grad vs 1 year experience) and more to do with the employer.  Some offer.  Some don't.  Not something you'll know up front.  If you want to move, just do it.  FL is a rough market and not worth your time if you don't want to be there.

You should apply for jobs long before you graduate.  Plenty of students get jobs out of state prior to graduation.  Plenty of threads around the forum.

Yeah I understand what you're saying. Unfortunately I will be stuck in FL until school is done due to my rotations already being set up. The reason I was asking about relocation assistance because I don't exactly have the money to move cross country after living off student loans for the past 2 years. Ill look around the forum more. Thanks.

[jaredlj3]

I graduated this past May 2019. I went to school in Washington and I accepted a position in Texas. They do offer relocation assistance but as a reimbursement. If this is the case with your future employer they may be able to pay directly to a moving company in your behalf, that way you don't have to fork out the money upfront. I'm sure they would. 

I agree with Evanderburg to start looking and applying for jobs now. It is quite the process from start to finish. Like I said, I graduated in May and won't start work until October 1st, (due to time spent searching, applying, interviewing and now credentialing). You would be wise to ensure you have enough money/loan to last you several months beyond finishing PA school. If your dead set on Oregon, then you could start your state licensing application sooner. As I was interviewing in Texas I got written approval with the company I was interviewing with to reimburse me for the state licensing fees (assuming I took the position with their company). This helped speed up the process. I would look into Oregons licensing Process. Some medical boards meet monthly, others are quarterly. You can get a temporary license if it's the latter. 

There are lots of jobs on indeed, some on PA forums (including this one), you can get into contact with recruiters and they can hook you up with jobs in Oregon. If your open to the specialty/location within Oregon it becomes much easier. I interviewed with a employer in Oregon (ortho) they provided $5000 relocation expense. 

In my opinion it's not any harder finding a job in a different state. You do have to travel more for interviews. One other thing,  if the employer truly is interested they should pay for all of your travel expenses (flights, hotel, rental car). I was able to bring my spouse with me to Texas as well. Hopefully this helps. Good luck. 

[evanderburg]

14 hours ago, jaredlj3 said:

I graduated this past May 2019. I went to school in Washington and I accepted a position in Texas. They do offer relocation assistance but as a reimbursement. If this is the case with your future employer they may be able to pay directly to a moving company in your behalf, that way you don't have to fork out the money upfront. I'm sure they would. 

I agree with Evanderburg to start looking and applying for jobs now. It is quite the process from start to finish. Like I said, I graduated in May and won't start work until October 1st, (due to time spent searching, applying, interviewing and now credentialing). You would be wise to ensure you have enough money/loan to last you several months beyond finishing PA school. If your dead set on Oregon, then you could start your state licensing application sooner. As I was interviewing in Texas I got written approval with the company I was interviewing with to reimburse me for the state licensing fees (assuming I took the position with their company). This helped speed up the process. I would look into Oregons licensing Process. Some medical boards meet monthly, others are quarterly. You can get a temporary license if it's the latter. 

There are lots of jobs on indeed, some on PA forums (including this one), you can get into contact with recruiters and they can hook you up with jobs in Oregon. If your open to the specialty/location within Oregon it becomes much easier. I interviewed with a employer in Oregon (ortho) they provided $5000 relocation expense. 

In my opinion it's not any harder finding a job in a different state. You do have to travel more for interviews. One other thing,  if the employer truly is interested they should pay for all of your travel expenses (flights, hotel, rental car). I was able to bring my spouse with me to Texas as well. Hopefully this helps. Good luck. 

Thank you so much for your thorough reply! This is super helpful. Good luck with everything

[MT2PA]

15 hours ago, evanderburg said:

Yeah I understand what you're saying. Unfortunately I will be stuck in FL until school is done due to my rotations already being set up. The reason I was asking about relocation assistance because I don't exactly have the money to move cross country after living off student loans for the past 2 years. Ill look around the forum more. Thanks.

Right, obviously you can't move until school is done.  The point is, plenty of people have jobs lined up for out of state before they even graduate.  

It's unfortunate that your program didn't warn you when you started school that despite living off loans for 2 years (which frankly a majority of students do) you need to plan to be unemployed for 3+ months after graduating and therefore need to have money saved up for graduation, PANCE, rent, moving, etc.  Start saving as much as you can now so you have some sort of cushion.

Also in contrast to the above poster I will say that it was NOT typical to have interview expenses covered.  That is definitely something that maybe having more experience could offer you vs a new grad.  Plenty of new grads all around the country, it won't be common to have potential employers pay for you to come interview.

As an aside, even if an employer offers a signing bonus/relocation money/whatever they want to call it, you usually don't get that paid until your first pay check...you'll still need money up front - or be prepared to put that on a credit card.  

[jaredlj3]

1 hour ago, MT2PA said:

Also in contrast to the above poster I will say that it was NOT typical to have interview expenses covered.  That is definitely something that maybe having more experience could offer you vs a new grad.  Plenty of new grads all around the country, it won't be common to have potential employers pay for you to come interview.

Like I said, if the employer is TRULY interested, they will pay for this. It is not unreasonable to expect help with travels. I know plenty of other PA's that the employer paid for travel and relocation. 

[corpsman89]

I would suggest to start aggressively looking and applying in January 2020. Spend the time now getting your resume/CV, LOR's, and cover letters ready, then once January comes around you can drop them like its hot. Don't be shy to apply for NP only positions.

As far as the conversion is going, I will say that there aren't too many employers super interested in new grads. To be honest, it is a risk they are taking accepting a new grad, more so if they accept a new grad that hasn't even graduated yet. Obviously there will be exceptions but I would say the majority of the time employers will NOT pay for relocation assistance, or even flights to interviews for a new grad. It sucks to be a new grad. Also, expecting 3+ months between graduation and work is a pretty standard. I was lucky and start work one month after I graduate (they are training me while I get credentialed). Out of the three desirable things (location, specialty, pay) I got two (location and pay). 

Good luck

[futurepa1217]

Hey evanderburg, I was working for Summit Medical Group (based in NJ) before being accepted to PA school. They recently expanded their locations to both Oregon and Arizona, so I’m sure they have lots of positions open for PAs. Good luck with your relocation/job search :).