This might just be the most important lesson in job searching

How Kate Kemp, after being laid off from her creative director job, survived the Seattle (hiring) freeze. This is the 10th in a 13-part series.

By Kate Kemp, Monster contributor

When I got laid off from my job as a creative director in New York just over a year after uprooting myself from Dallas, my life — as a young prince once said — “got flipped-turned upside down.”

I went through every emotion at least twice a day as I struggled to predict the unpredictable. Some days, I scoured the internet for new opportunities and used laser-focused determination to send my updated resume and portfolio out to as many contacts as possible and checked my email relentlessly. Other days, I stayed in bed and played Fallout 4, replacing actual reality with virtual reality.

What I didn’t realize was that being let go was just the beginning of the ride I was on, that I had many more stomach-churning hanging-upside down moments ahead and that where I ended up would be somewhere very, very different than where I started.

While I didn’t approach my job search with plans to relocate to a third city in three years, I randomly found myself interviewing for a job more than 3,000 miles away, falling in love with that other-coast job, then seeing it nearly all being taken away from me.

This is how it all went down.

SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR AWAY — OR SO FAR AWAY, YET SO CLOSE

Not long after my day of infamy, my phone rang. Seattle, Washington? I didn’t know anyone who’d be calling from there…and l really wanted a nap. So, straight to voicemail it went. But, 30 seconds later, my phone chirped at me. And when I picked up the message, I discovered it was from a recruiter from a company called HackerAgency who’d seen my resume and wanted to talk.

Just a few days prior, I’d interviewed at a creative agency in New York after months of researching and wooing the lead recruiter there via email. At the time, his agency didn’t have any openings, but he brought me in to meet some folks anyway. Apparently, I made a good impression because, after my visit, he uploaded my portfolio and resume to their parent company’s recruiting intranet along with a few kind words. That random act of awesome led to the first of many conversations with my current employer.

The interview process with HackerAgency was a long one; 94 days passed between my first phone call to my first day.

A LOT of conversations took place during those three months. In addition to sending frequent (but not annoyingly frequent) check-in/how’s it going/funny anecdote emails to the recruiter, I had multiple phone calls with her and several FaceTime meetings with the global chief creative officer (CCO). During our chats, we discussed the current and future state of the agency. Typically, after one of our longer discussions, I’d do some homework then report back what I heard along with potential solutions to things they wanted to change.

I loved the CCO and his vision for the agency’s future. The more we talked, the less the big name agencies appealed to me. I knew that by joining HackerAgency, I could get in on the beginning of something huge. Something that, as the CCO put it to me would “make HackerAgency a place we would’ve killed to work for in our 20’s.”

Things were going well. Based off our talks, I’d negotiated a different title and salary than the one originally offered. Everyone seemed on board. All that was left was a trip to Seattle to meet some additional key players. And then I got a call from the recruiter I wasn’t expecting.

There was a hiring freeze.

For all you job-hunting boys and girls out there, this next point is VERY important: No matter how sure you are that you’ve landed a job, do NOT under ANY circumstances stop interviewing elsewhere until your new contract is signed. Clients leave. Layoffs happen. Nothing is certain.

I was hopeful that the Seattle freeze would thaw quickly, but, to be safe, I continued taking phone calls and sending my resume out to other potential employers.

As more time passed — by my count I was up to day 38 — I worried that the Seattle door had closed.

But then I got another call. The freeze was lifted! I was heading to Seattle for an in-person interview marathon and the final rounds of negotiation.

WELCOME TO THE COFFEE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

When my taxi pulled into downtown Seattle, we remained stopped behind a car that did not go when the light turned green. My chest clinched as I prepared for my cabbie to go ballistic on the driver ahead of us, cursing, beating his steering wheel, flipping birds in every direction. Much to my surprise, he kept smiling, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel in time to the music and waiting for the car ahead to turn. I was definitely NOT in New York anymore. And I liked it.

During my visit, I met with multiple department heads, learning about their visions for the agency and sharing my own. I laughed. I learned. I bonded. And, after a few more post-trip phone calls, I got the job.

I’d spend another two weeks in New York before packing up and heading out to Seattle. During my remaining days on the east coast, I had plenty of time to question my decision to move away. Like when I stood on the M train sandwiched between a crazy woman drinking cheap beer out of her purse and a man-spreading guy whose unfolded newspaper kept brushing against my legs. Or when I was fairly certain a late night cab ride home from the office would end in death. Or, when, finally done with my freelance gig and able to see parts of New York I’d never had time to see, I chose to stay at home and rest because I was just too exhausted from the past few months to even explore the city. And then, my racing mind would quiet itself and reassure me that I was making the right choice.

If you’d asked me three years ago if I could see myself living on the West coast, I would’ve said yes, but I also would’ve predicted it’d be in Los Angeles. Prior to my trip to Seattle, I was incredibly focused on sexy cities — LA, San Francisco, et al. But that limited my options and, had I not opened my mind to new opportunities — wherever they might be — I never would’ve found the spot I did. In a Goldilocks sort of way, Dallas was too hot, New York was too cold, and Seattle, as it turns out, was juuuust right.

Read Part 1: Why it’s OK to cry into a hot dog after you’re let go

Read Part 2: This is what it’s like to wake up unemployed

Read Part 3: Playing ‘Fallout 4’ helped me with my job search

Read Part 4: WARNING: Portfolio revamp may cause existential crisis

Read Part 5: Unemployed? Hire anxiety and depression as your personal assistants

Read Part 6: The art of investigating interviewers

Read Part 7: The path to enlightenment is… unclear

Read Part 8: This four-word rule is your ticket to employment

Read Part 9: When landing a new gig means landing in a new city

Kate Kemp is currently the Group Creative Director at HackerAgency in Seattle.

Originally published at www.monster.com.