What's a Reasonable Commute?

It used to be, when I first moved to New York, that most people who lived in Manhattan refused to work anywhere but Manhattan. Indeed, while I was familiar with long commute times, most Manhattanites held this peculiarly vehement stance that they were born in Manhattan, and would live, work, and die in Manhattan. The notion of going even to Brooklyn or Queens to work induced shudders, if not a violent outburst. I was intrigued.

Certainly, for most people in North America, what constitutes a manageable commute depends on a person's circumstances. When I lived in the Southern US, I had no problem commuting almost 2 hours each way to work. Living in a region where things are very spread out, such a commute was expected. Similarly, many people in Connecticut and New Jersey spend 2 hours each day commuting to and from Manhattan for work. And such people deem their commute "doable".

This week, the few technical writing positions available are all in Jersey, and far into Jersey at that. Upon receiving a response from the recruiter for one of these positions, I was dismayed to learn during our conversation that the client would most probably reject my application. The reason? Since I live deep into my borough, the client wasn't considering people who would require a lengthy commute to travel on-site.

I can definitely see how a company might be concerned that someone hired who has a long commute might wind up finding the commute too difficult to sustain. But in the end, shouldn't that decision be made by the candidate when they are informed of the job location? If the candidate decides that the commute is manageable, why should a company presume otherwise.

I must admit that I was quite perplexed by the company's strategy. As unpalatable as a significantly long commute may initially seem to someone, in the end, work is work- that is, after all, why they pay you to do it! But if someone who offers to move closer to the job site is still rejected based on distance to the job site, then it doesn't bode well for anyone who lives outside a given 10 mile radius in the Tri-State area.

A very trying situation indeed. As for yours truly, I'm hoping that the other companies will be more tolerant during their hiring process. And in the meantime, until I receive more responses, I'm sending off my applications and hoping for a positive outcome.

Happy job hunting everyone!