“No one in Hong Kong knows my name.”

A client said this to me after two years of applying for academic positions in Hong Kong from the United States. She had a good CV and a solid publication record. She had applied widely. And she had almost nothing to show for it.

When we looked at her search together, the problem wasn’t on paper. She had grants, was known in her field as a fair and responsible journal editor, and she had a list of publications longer than her arm. But she had never been to Hong Kong. She had never met anyone at the universities she was applying to. To her, that seemed beside the point. Her work should speak for itself.

From a search committee’s side, it looked different. I’ve sat on those committees. When an application arrives from someone with no connection to the city, the question in the room is simple: Is this person serious about moving here, or just testing the market? Hiring is slow and expensive. Nobody wants to make an offer that gets turned down, or to hire someone who leaves after a year.

So she planned a short trip. She gave a talk. She had coffee with several key people. She sat down with the department’s PhD students to give them insight into the editorial process.

Within a month, things started moving in a way two years of applications never had.

I share this story because it applies well beyond Hong Kong. Whenever you try to move somewhere new (a new country, a new kind of institution, a new field), the people on the other side need a reason to believe you’ll come and stay. Your CV can show you’re qualified. It can’t always show you’re committed.

That doesn’t mean everyone needs to buy a plane ticket. (Though if you have frequent flyer miles burning a hole in your pocket, I won’t stop you.) It does mean thinking honestly about how your application reads to someone who has never met you.

A few questions to consider:

• If a committee member read your application, what would tell them you’re serious about their city or their institution?
• Who do you know, even loosely, at the places you’re applying to?
• Is there a conference, talk or visit in the next six months that could put you in the same room as them?
• What would it take for one person there to remember your name?

Get in touch if you would like me to support you in building a successful academic career.