As cities compete for Amazon’s second headquarters, many flexed their tax incentive packages and real estate options in hopes of luring the tech giant to select their city. It’s tempting to think the right financial perks is all it takes for a company to successfully expand to a new city. In fact, success requires a solid base of nearby talent — or the ability to entice skilled workers to relocate for new job opportunities.
The Who, Where, and Why of Moving for a New Job
Higher pay is attractive — but not as much as a good workplace culture.
August 06, 2018
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Summary.
Who are the job seekers that are more willing to move? 71.5% of job applications started on Glassdoor were to job openings within a candidate’s own metro area. Money talks — an extra $10,000 higher base salary predicts candidates are about a half percentage point more likely to be applying to a job outside their home metro. But higher pay actually matters much less than having a desirable workplace culture. A final lesson from the study is that relying heavily on job seekers willing to relocate can impact the diversity of applicant pools in unexpected ways. Men are by far more willing to move for jobs than are women. And older, more experienced workers are significantly less likely to apply to jobs outside their home city.