Cliché alert: I left my heart in San Francisco (or at least a piece of it). While I was born in New York and always loved my childhood home, moving the family back here for a new opportunity in 2001 — after living in California since junior high — was not a decision my wife and I undertook lightly.

For many job seekers, relocating for work is hard even to imagine. There are friends and family to consider, personal effects to move, property to sell, schools to change … While a fresh start can be liberating, the emotional and practical considerations can be hard to break down and get over.

If you can make the leap, however, new territories can spell new opportunities in your job search.

In this package, TheLadders speaks with senior job seekers who faced exactly this situation and advanced their careers in a down market by changing locations. None of them said it’s easy — especially in a period when companies are reluctant to smooth the path by covering travel or relocation expenses. But if you’re willing to do the research and focus a national search on hot markets and industries, the rewards can be considerable.