What To Do When You Can't Go There,
Any Time Soon, To Visit Or Interview
If your finances are tight, it may not be possible for you to go to visit your new chosen destination, at least in the immediate future. In which case, you want to research the place, as best you can, from a distance:

How do you do this, while still remaining in your present location. More specifically, how do you find out about jobs, at a distance? 

There are ways.
If your chosen city or town has a local newspaper, subscribe, even while you are still living here. Read the whole paper, when it comes, however long delayed. Look particularly for: news of companies that are expanding, news of promotions or transfers (that creates vacancies down below in 'the company store'), and the like.

If you can get the Chamber of Commerce there, or someone you know there, to send you their phone book, particularly the Yellow Pages, by all means do so.

You first want to discover some organizations that, at a distance, look interesting to you.

Then you want to research them, at a distance, as much as you can.

It will help if you can regard the city or town where you presently are, as a kind of parallel city to the town or city you are interested in. In which case, some of your research can be done where you are, and then its learnings transferred. For example, suppose you wanted to use your interests in psychiatry, plants, and carpentry, in your future career. In the city where you presently are, you would try to learn how to combine these three. You might learn, right where you are, that there is a branch of psychiatry which uses plants in the treatment of deeply withdrawn patients, and these plants have to be put, of course, in wooden planters. 

Now, having learned that where you presently are, you would then explore your chosen city or town to see what psychiatric facilities they have there, and which ones – if any – use plants in their healing program. Thus can you conduct your research where you are, and then transfer its learnings to the place where you want to be.

In doing your research of organizations that interest you, it is perfectly permissible for you to write to the library in your target city, asking for information that may be only there. If the librarian is too busy to answer, then use one of your contacts there to find out. "Bill (or Billie),  I need some information that I'm afraid only the library in your town has. Specifically, I need to know about company X." Or whatever.

Develop contacts, even at a distance, as much as you can.

Ask your friends where you currently live, if they know of anyone who lives in that city or town. Use these names only if they know the employer to whom you are writing.

If you went to college, find out if any graduates of that college live in this chosen city or town of yours. (Contact the alumni office of your college, and ask.) 

Also any church, synagogue or national organization you belong to, that has a presence in that city or town, may yield true helpfulness to you, if you know what it is you want to know. Write or phone them, and tell them that you're one of their own and you need some information. "I need to know who can tell me what nonprofit organizations there are in that city, that deal with X." "I need to know how I can find out what corporations in town have departments of mental hygiene." Or, whatever.

If you decide to approach the places which interest you, first of all by mail, you will want to research each organization so that you know who to address the letter to, by name. Get the name spelled absolutely accurately, and double-check. Nothing turns off a prospective employer like your misspelling her or his name.

Your letter will carry a lot more weight if you can mention, in it, the name of contacts that you have developed, as outlined above.

As for whether or not you should enclose a resume with your initial contact letter, experts' opinions vary widely. Everything depends on the nature of the resume, and the nature of the person you are sending it to. With some employers I know, the sight of a resume is death to any future rapport between you and this person. It will ensure that your letter is merely tossed aside. Other employers like to see resumes. It's hard to predict what you should do.

Personally, I think a well-composed letter summarizing all you would say in a resume, may be your best bet; with a closing paragraph indicating that your resume is available, should they wish it.

Once you've turned up some promising job prospects, you will have to go there, to that town or city, in almost all cases, for the actual job interview(s). And if this is your first visit to the place, try to go there a week or so ahead of your interviews, so you can look the place over, and decide Do I really want to move here? It's a little late to do on-site explorations, but, hey, better late than never!

How Hard Should I Work At This?
We kept score with one man's job-hunt. He was researching a distant place. While still at a distance, by means of diligent research he turned up 107 places that seemed interesting to him. Over a period of some time, he sent a total of 297 letters to them. He also made a total of 126 phone calls to that city. When he was finally able to go there in person, he had narrowed the original 107 that looked interesting, down to just 45. He visited all 45, while there. Having done his homework on himself thoroughly and well, – and having obviously conducted this part of his search in an extremely professional manner, he received 35 job offers. When he had finished his survey, he went back to the one job he most wanted – and accepted it.

No one can argue that you should be dealing with numbers of this magnitude. But this may at least give you some idea of how hard you may need to work at this. Certainly, we're not just talking about five letters and two phone calls. We're talking about rolling up your sleeves, and being very thorough.

Does All Of This Really Work?
Well, that's a legitimate question. Obviously, thousands if not millions of people have moved to new cities and towns, and found not only work but joyful work there. Obviously, also, many people have moved to new towns or cities and have not been able to find work. Much, much depends upon the method they use in their job-search. If you follow diligently the process described in Parachute, in the chapter called, "The Determined Job-Hunter," you will vastly increase your chances of success. Here is how one job-hunter described the whole process, and the way in which it worked for him:

"In 1990, my wife and I took a trip out to the Southwest from our home in Annapolis, Maryland, to see the Grand Canyon and sights like that. We both fell in love with the Southwest, and said, "Wouldn't it be great if I could get a job out here as a highway engineer, and maybe we could work with the Native Americans." Back in Annapolis, I purchased Parachute and read it with extreme interest. So I started some network planning, and scheduled another upcoming trip to Arizona in February of 1992, planning to visit various engineering offices and check out living conditions.

"Meanwhile, I visited the U.S.G.S. Headquarters in Reston, Virginia. On the way out, I noticed an ad on the bulletin board for 'Highway Engineer - Bureau of Indian Affairs, Gallup, New Mexico.' Naturally, I applied for the job but received notice that the position had been cancelled. Disappointed, my wife and I decided to each spend a day in prayer. On the following day I received a call from that office in Gallup informing me there was another position for Highway Planner now open; was I still interested? Still interested?!

"Using your advice, I called the Bureau in Gallup and got the names of the bosses of the various divisions or sections that would impinge upon my application. I sent in the application to the person by name who was the chief decision-maker. In February of 1992 we carried out the trip I had been planning, now including a visit to Gallup. We visited headquarters there, though they weren't yet ready to formally interview, since not all applicants had yet been screened. However, it was a useful visit, and on returning, I wrote 
Thank You notes to all the people I had met, and hoped for the best.

"In March I received another phone call, asking for further information; I used this to invite myself out for an actual interview, at my expense. My offer was accepted, I was out there in two days, the interview went well, and I received official notice to report for work in May. We were ecstatic! And we found a house in Gallup, through a friend in Annapolis who had a friend in Gallup, who knew of a co-worker who was moving out.

"In short, ours is a wonderful story. Who would think a 66 year old man could leave one job and move into another full-time job, at a salary almost equal to his present one, in a place 2600 miles away, that he and his wife truly love! What a blessing! And what you said has stuck with me all this time: I've remembered to write my Thank You notes."