Stan just learned his wife is being transferred to a city halfway across the country, and the offer is too good for their family to turn down. Since Stan works as a respiratory therapist, they figure it will be fairly easy for him to find a new job in the new location – respiratory therapists are needed everywhere, right? But when the reality of the situation sets in, Stan realizes he’s going to need to make some contacts in the area to get his foot in the door.
Luckily for Stan, he works in a relatively small profession with lots of great opportunities for long-distance networking. Here are three of the best resources he can tap into to find a job –
AARConnect: As an AARC member, Stan has a direct line to thousands of colleagues all over the country through our professional networking site, AARConnect. All he has to do is click on “Directory” and then “Advanced Search” to find members in specific cities or areas. He can check out their profile pages and then contact them through the site and let them know he is a fellow AARC member who will be relocating to the area and is looking for local therapists who might be able to give him the inside scoop on the job market in town.
AARC State Societies: Stan’s membership also gives him access to state society presidents and delegates via the AARC Officiary, and he can find direct links to state society websites where even more state leaders are often listed. Even if they aren’t located in the city he is moving to, state society leaders will know other members active in the state society who do and can put him in touch with these folks. After all, when Stan moves, he’ll become a member of that state society too, and state society leaders are in the business of assisting their members in any way they can.
Local RT programs: RT faculty at local colleges and universities can be a wonderful resource when it comes to the local employment scene as well. Since they send their students to local hospitals to complete the clinical portion of their education, they have great insider knowledge about who may be hiring and can help Stan prioritize his list of employers to contact for the new job. An interactive map on the CoARC website provides a list of all the RT programs in a given state, along with contact information for their program directors.
Moving to a new city and finding a new job is never easy, but thanks to the connectivity afforded by his professional organizations, Stan should be in good shape to land a position that’s right for him and his family.
