How far would you drive for guaranteed job ?

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Originally Posted By: Ethan1
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
I travel over 3,000 miles for work

Are you an astronaut?

Actually I work in Afghanistan, and commute home to the east coast 3 times a year.

I did get the distance wrong, but missed it after the edit clock. The 3,000 ish miles is only to where I used to live in Germany...

My "commute," as the crow flies, is now about 7,200 miles one-way, more with the convoluted route it takes to actually travel. It averages out to ~120 miles (albeit in the air!) per day per year.

It typically takes less time to dock a Soyuz with the ISS than it does for me to make my way home through 4+ airports!
 
An hour drive verses unemployed and no job prospects makes the decision a lot easier, wouldn't want to do it myself however, gets to be a real grind as time goes on. I've known a few people that did two hour door to door mass transit commutes: train to subway to walking into NYC.

Anything over 1-1/2 hours is considered a mega commute.
 
That sounds like a good job, definitely worth the hour drive in my opinion. I used to commute an hour (commuting home was more like an hour and a half to 2 hours) for a extremely stressful and lower paying job.
 
Loved my job before I got laid off.....was about 40 miles and almost an hour each way. It was worth it...
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Some people don't like to drive I guess and if you've got a family, its a pain to be 40-50 miles away when something comes up.


You make a valid point, but if you have a family then you also need income and health coverage to support them.
I'm okay with my current commute but if I had no other options, I'd happily add another twenty miles each way to it.
Beats sitting at home on unemployment waiting for the phone to ring or an email to show up.
 
2hrs/day and 5 days a week of your life spent driving to work is serious consideration and legit. Also the vehicle costs are high.

Another consideration in my area is winter driving which turns 1hr into 2.5 each way. My wife does 35 miles each way in 45 mins 3 days/week. She enjoys her time to decompress(tea, audio book, and talking to best friend). Her Boston level compensation makes up for vehicle costs and commute time.
 
The guy I was trying to help is 30 years old and married with no kids. His wife told him the drive was too far away and not to bother applying for this job. It's not like him or his wife has to rearrange their schedules to drop off and pick up kids at school.
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This job was more for the income than the benefits, his wife has good health insurance at her job. Even if he had to drive for a year until he found something closer to home it's a decent job.

Mid $20's an hour is much better than $0 an hour...
 
I'm in commercial construction. I drive anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. Pay and benefits are good being in a union. I don't mind driving, that's what the Civics for.
 
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I'd trade that for my current 90-120 minute commute, 85% of it being locked in a metal can with sickos sitting next to me while coughing up a lung.
 
I probably wouldn't judge one way way or another without knowing the rationale of why his wife didn't want him to commute that far ( or why HE didn't want to ). I've had co-workers who've given up good jobs for specific reasons that have a back story...same difference here. It may very well go beyond "taking a job with benefits versus no job at all".

Personally, I'd take a pay drop equivalent of $3-$5/hour to have a job within a couple miles of my house as it means that much to my quality of life...versus the time and trouble of commuting along with what I find as "the stress extension" of having a long commute in a high stress job.
 
If it's an easy drive with little traffic, I'd enjoy that commute!

Sounds better then driving half that mileage with heavy stop and go traffic on bad roads. That makes for a crummy work week.
 
58 miles one-way for me. I usually ride a free van-pool that cuts my drive to 23 mi one-way. And I can sleep in the van!

I can make it in 1 hr 5 min but save gas by going slower.

The drive's only bad when there's snow or tourists which is most of the time.
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Originally Posted By: CT8
It seems when employed jobs are easy to get. When unemployed the effort almost seems futile.


Isn't that the truth!!
 
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
... His wife told him .....



'Nuff said. I'm not married and even I know "happy wife, happy life".
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Originally Posted By: KrisZ
I think your friend did you a favor. If he's so picky, then who knows what sorts of stunts he could've pulled off at work, potentially tarnishing your reputation for personally recommending him.


This. And what kind of company blindly hires someone for a good job based on somebody vouching for them, no matter who it is?
 
If the pay is decent, I will take the job! Wife and I are looking to relocate :P

Anyway, I drive 25 miles one way (over an hour here in seattle) twice a week to play badminton for fun....for a job I wouldn't think twice about that sort of commute. Heck without traffic, that is preferable to stop and go.
 
Originally Posted By: opus1
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
... His wife told him .....



'Nuff said. I'm not married and even I know "happy wife, happy life".
grin.gif



Wife won't be too happy if she ends up paying all the bills because he has no pay check.

Sometimes it takes a while to get hired when you apply for a job, go to the interview, HR dept run background check, credit check, drug test, send in your college transcripts, attend mandatory orientation, etc, etc....

It was a job working at a hospital and doing same thing he is currently doing .
 
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