Despite all the tools at the modern job-seeker's disposal, there's nothing easy or risk-free about finding a job in a new locale -- but it can be done Dear Bob …I’m going to be doing a long-distance relocation for personal reasons. I’d prefer to have a job in my new home city before actually making the move, but it’s a bit difficult to have in-person interviews when you’re 1,000 miles away.[ Also on InfoWorld: “How to start a job search when you’re out of work and out of ideas” | Get sage advice on IT careers and management from Bob Lewis in InfoWorld’s Advice Line newsletter. ] So I’m in a bit of a bind. I want to have a job before I move, but I can’t get one until I move.My current job has a decent possibility of letting me telecommute until some major projects are completed, but I don’t want to have to rely on that when the time for the move happens.Any thoughts? – Moving Dear Moving … My thought is that it’s actually quite easy to have in-person interviews when you live 1,000 miles away. It isn’t necessarily cheap, but it isn’t difficult. All you have to do is to buy a ticket and reserve a hotel room. (From your question, I infer you aren’t looking for an executive position. Companies will generally pay travel expenses under those circumstances.) What isn’t easy is getting the interview in the first place — which might sound like nitpicking, but isn’t.With tools like LinkedIn, it isn’t as difficult as it used to be to make direct connections to hiring managers. It’s never easy, of course — just less hard. You’re still relying on your personal collection of colleagues who know who you are and what you can do, as well as make good introductions for you.I don’t generally recommend job boards like Monster or CareerBuilder. Depending on what you’re looking for, I do recommend using the career pages that hiring companies include on their Web sites. Those are real jobs the companies really do need to fill. Ideally, you’ll find a connection between someone in your personal network and the hiring manager. Otherwise you’ll have to do it the hard way and send in an electronic application. The odds drop dramatically when you take this route, but not to zero (if they did, companies wouldn’t invest the time and effort to create the pages). Here’s what’s different: Your initial conversation with the hiring company. If your first contact is with Internal Recruiting, let them know you’re willing to relocate (not “interested in relocating” — that sends entirely the wrong message, which is that your motivation is the change in location and not the position) and that you’re willing to finance an onsite interview once you and the hiring manager both agree it’s a worthwhile investment for you. To do that, you’d like to first arrange a telephone interview.If your first conversation is with the hiring manager, you can skip to arranging the telephone interview.Either way, at the end of your telephone interview, reinforce with the hiring manager that you’re willing to fly in for an in-person interview. Then say something like this: “What I’ll ask you to do is to interview the other applicants. If, after that, you think I’m a strong candidate, let’s have another conversation, and if we both agree it makes sense, I’ll fly in for an interview.” Nothing about this is certain, and you’re definitely taking more of a risk than driving across town while taking a half day of vacation.Which means this: Put your ego away and ask yourself whether you’re among the top 10 percent in your profession and segment. If you are, this is probably worth the gamble. If you aren’t, your risk goes up quite a bit, while the expense stays the same.– Bob This story, “Looking for a new job in a different location? Improve your odds,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. IT Jobs