A Far Away Job

So I saw a job on craigslist and I didn't really think about it at the time, but the location said north of the twin cities.  To me, that means Forest Lake or somewhere around there.  I sent my resume and heard back from the recruiting agency (obviously) last week.  And then he asks me about relocation.  Why would I want to relocate?  Well, the company is actually 100+ miles north of the twin cities.  And he didn't say Duluth, so it must be in some random place. 

I tell him that I am not interested in relocating.  All the recruiters I've spoken to, I basically tell them that it would have to be a compelling opportunity to involve relocation.  (I'm thinking Director or CTO or something along those lines.)  And he gets back to me and asks about doing contract work.  This would involve me spending 5 days a week in unnamed MN town.  I respond by saying that the compensation would have to be right.

I'm not even sure what right is.  But my wife and I put some thought into this.  I'm considering contract work for when my unemployment runs out (though hopefully, I find a real job before then.)  And the going rate for an experienced engineer is in the $40-75/hour range and of course there wouldn't be benefits.  So if the pay for going to unnamed MN town is only, say, $50, it's a definite no.

But what if it were $150/hour?  This scenario is highly unlikely, but I'm pretty sure I would have to say yes.  I'm not sure I'd ever make a salary approaching that and I think I could live with the temporary inconvenience.

So then what if it were $100/hour?  That's now on the border, but I think I would only say yes if a place to stay and mileage were also included.  And we also thought that I should only do it for 6 months tops.  I was once offered a job that was supposed to be like 5 days a week of travel and I didn't take it because it was weird to think that I wouldn't know where home was.  It'd be like in Fight Club, where he's like, "You wake up and you're in LAX..."

But currently, I don't have any offers to work anywhere else, so I guess I have to consider all of my options.  My guess (and probably your guess too): the pay for the job wouldn't be anywhere close to what it would take to get me to go.