By Bill Heyman

South Florida. The weather is generally great. The lifestyle is good. Major League sports teams abound. Golf and tennis clubs are numerous.  Major amusement parks are only a few hours' drive away.

But, if you are well-suited to work in corporate communications at a major pharmaceutical company's headquarters, you will have to trade geography or industry.

As obvious as that sounds, even jobseekers well into the initial phase of their search process haven't spent much time, if any, matching the kinds of companies for which they would like to work with the geographic areas where those companies and jobs exist.

We have had candidates in senior-level communications posts emphasize they would like to work in a particular city and for a certain kind of business that isn't, even through a small subsidiary, based anywhere near that city. Likewise, candidates have wanted to work in a chosen city for only a few specific companies, even when there were no openings or glimmer of one at their level.  

Lastly, there are candidates who haven't considered moving to a city that would enable them to progress in their chosen industry.

Consider Geography And Job At The Start Of The Process
Each of these factors should be carefully considered by jobseekers at the onset of their search. The decisions could influence everything from resume preparation to interview possibilities.

Often, when we probe candidates and make them really think about their decisions, the requirements change.

For example, a candidate from New York said "no" to relocation. It is simply not one of the options, she said. But when we asked,  "not even to the Washington, D.C. area?"  the answer was different: "Oh, there? Sure." More discussion brought still more locations the candidate would consider. The potential job opportunities expanded rapidly.

What's the best way to consider these factors?

In one case, one of our associates encountered a candidate resistant to relocating and only interested in working for three or four specific companies. She urged her to go through the Fortune 500 list and mark target companies. The candidate could then take that corporate list and compare headquarter cities to cities in which she would consider working. Suddenly, to her surprise and benefit, the list of potential opportunities grew.

And in still another case, we asked a candidate who only wanted to work for a few companies to prepare the list the other way around: name the five cities you'd be willing to live in and find the Fortune 500 companies in those cites. Then target only the companies for which you'd consider working. The shortness of the list was an eye-opener. That candidate was forced to broaden the criteria.

Pulling up stakes and moving isn't easy for many people, but there is more than one place to live happily and more than one industry in which to thrive. You may even be able to do both more completely than where you are right now.

In short, a resume isn't only the most basic tool at a communicator's disposal; it may be the most important writing assignment of the person's career.

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Bill Heyman is president & CEO of Heyman Associates, one of the nation's largest senior-level communications executive search firms.