It’s pouring out today. Seriously if all of you were sitting in my little corner desk area staring out over the Seattle gloom, we would all be hugging to stay warm, listening to chill out tunes, and contemplating the meaning of deep things. It’s that type of day.

I blame that type of day for my inability to formulate a post prior to 5 pm. I had such high hopes for the early Monday morning of the New Year’s first week. I even stayed up late outlining all of these high-level thinking articles…only to drown in paragraphs that refused to flow. Pshhh damn rain.

But the silver lining to this cloudy day? One of my favorite ladies in search suggested I tackle a very interesting topic after I tweeted out that I needed some motivation. Jenn Lopez proposed I tackle how a person relocating for a job can use social media to prepare themselves and facilitate the move. If you are wondering why she may suggest this, you should check out the awesome news here.

Okay so how can someone who just took a new job use social media to make it happen? These days so many of us are using social channels to locate potential employers, job opportunities, and create a network of recommenders. Although those are all great ways a job seeker can use social networks to land the job they are after, what about after? How can you leverage those connections and hours on social media channels AFTER you land the job?

Buzz-building. A certain way of impressing your future employer is to harness attention to your hire announcement. Feed your channels the link to a press release or blog post announcement. This not only gets you a bunch of “Hey Congrats” but also shows your future employer that they have made a smart decision hiring a well-connected, audience engaging, brand ambassador. It’s a win-win for sure.

Crowdsourcing. Now that the cat is out of the bag social networks can be the perfect place to land some quality UGC on what part of town to live in, whether you should have a car or not, what things you should expect and all of the other things that make moving so hard. Social media is a global community of hyper local awesomeness, so be sure to tap into those with your networks.

Set the stage. Moving can be hard. Often times leaving an established network can leave people feeling vulnerable and isolated. Enter: social media. Use your friends, followers, and fans to find out what groups you should be joining, what local events you should be attending, and so on and so forth. There is an amazing opportunity to quickly build a sincere network when you relocate with social media, don’t let it pass you by.

Expand the network. If you are relocating chances are there are at least a few people in this new city you don’t know…at least a few  Ask your social audiences to recommend one person you grab coffee with, and then…do it. If ever there was a time to take chances on relationships, it’s now. You have trusted networks you can tap into, you have people dying to connect you to someone you probably have a ton in common with. This used to take people years to organically find when relocating for work…not it can happen with a post comment, a tweet, or a LinkedIn suggestion.

Although this seems counterintuitive to the post, don’t forget one of the best things social enables all of us to do is stay connected to old networks. New moves can bring a lot of chaos, and oftentimes we can forget to return a call or email sent from those we left behind. Your case grows weaker as the social interweb grows larger…be sure to keep in touch with old friends and family via social media.

So other than the usual suspects (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Myspace…ugh, I mean (cough)) what social sites are worth checking out when relocating:

Hi5: To stay in touch with old friends
PerfSpot: To build out a place to share pictures & updates of your new place
Lunch: A social network that connects people with things in common, meet new friends
Yelp.com: Find reviews of all that’s cool in your new area
FourSquare: Use it to connect with the cyber friends in real life when you check out your new hood.

When it comes to relocating for a job you are already in such a good place…you are super excited for a new adventure and ready to jump in head first. Let these social sites help you take the plunge, by keeping you connected to your old networks, find new ones, and get suggestions you trust.

Make it happen people. Make it happen.