Once the preserve of a small number of older male senior executives, company transfers are now increasingly common for middle managers. With unemployment rates remaining stubbornly high in Australia, many people are relocating to improve their chances of finding work. Experts can offer advice and practical assistance to make the shift simpler and less stressful.

Until you've done it at least once, it's hard to imagine the extent of the turmoil — and the expense — involved in a major relocation. Fortunately, human resource departments are offering new services and more assistance.

Cost of living comparisions
To negotiate or even understand the relocation package you're being offered, you must know how the cost of living at your new destination compares to home. Experts suggest you shouldn't contemplate a move for less than a 15 per cent salary increase. However, if the cost of living in your new location is 20 or even 50 per cent higher, your salary package should be adjusted accordingly.

Relocation expenses
If you're moving to a new job, particularly a professional or managerial position or within the same company, you can expect that the firm will pick up the cost of moving you, your immediate family and your possessions. But what about the other interim expenses? Consider

• car rental;
• serviced apartment or motel while you're looking for permanent accommodation;
• meals;
• STD or international phone calls;
• child care;
• new ID such as drivers' licenses;
• vaccinations or medicals.

How employers manage these types of expenses varies. Some will reimburse against receipts. A growing trend is toward a fixed lump sum payment in advance, out of which the employee manages the various costs.

Relocation experts encourage organisations to pick up the bill for sending its transferring employee (and even his or her spouse or whole family) to the new city on at least one fact-finding mission before the move.

Other assistance
Assistance of the non-cash variety can be just as valuable. Brian Crawford says companies are increasingly bringing in outside experts because it's more cost-effective than expecting relocating employees to figure it out for themselves. So a firm may put its employee in touch with professionals who can help locate new housing, or who might provide an entire package of services.

What can an expert provide?

• psychological counselling;
• job search assistance;
• assistance in buying or renting accommodation;
• managing utility connection;
• neighborhood orientation;
• finding suitable schools or childcare;
• introductions to other expatriates;
• cross-cultural briefings.

Payback penalties
Make sure you understand the fine print of your company's policy about relocation. Otherwise you risk discovering stiff penalties if you quit when you arrive and find the job or the location is not what you expected.

"Payback penalties" are growing in popularity with employers who want a guarantee that you're going to stick around long enough to make transferring you worth their while.

Such provisions most commonly apply for a year, although it varies between six months and two years. The same survey showed that companies with such contract provisions were most willing to enforce them if required.

Seeking work

Thorough research is vital if you are moving to improve your prospects of finding a job. Cost of living comparisons are a very important first step, closely followed by specific information about the ease or otherwise of finding accommodation and work in your field.

Virtual tours
The Internet gives you the opportunity to take a "virtual tour" of your chosen destination. Most newspapers published in large urban areas of Australia now maintain a website where you can browse local news and employment and housing classified ads.

If you have identified specific companies you want to work for, check whether they have their own websites. Many commercial websites are a gold mine of useful information for prospective employees. Likewise, sites like this one mean you can search for vacancies in specific industries and locations — all before you start packing.

Networking
Don't overlook more traditional methods. Every job-hunter's manual will urge you to tell everyone you know that you're looking for work. Friends or family may know someone in the town or city you wish to move to. Even if that person can't help with job contacts, they may be happy to talk to you about the lifestyle and local environment.

Don't leave home without an up-to-date resume and all the relevant documents an employer could ever want to see, including school or higher education transcripts and certificates.

Browse guidebooks written for tourists for tips on:

• Cheap ways of getting to your destination.
• Budget places to stay when you first arrive.
• How to get around on local public transport.
• Free fun stuff to do after a day of searching for work.

The best guidebooks, such as those published by Lonely Planet, also offer concise summaries of local history and culture — especially useful if you are headed overseas.

Checklists

Even the best virtual tours can't compete with a real-time visit or two to your new home. Author Beverly Roman suggests three months is an ideal time frame for relocation preparation - and she warns that pre-arrival visits are work, not holidays! Measurements of your furniture, a tape measure and a camera are among the things she recommends you should pack. More very thorough tips can be found at www.insiders.com/relocation.

• Consider carrying a book of all the lists you will need to make.
• If required, find reputable moving companies and obtain a written quote.
• Have valuables such as jewelry or artwork appraised and photographed for insurance purposes.
• Collect copies of all your medical and dental records. Ask these professionals if they can recommend a colleague in your new location.
• Obtain copies of prescriptions for any regular medication or corrective glasses.
• Advise utility companies in advance of the disconnection date.
• Arrange for your mail to be forwarded either by a friend or family member, or at your local post office for a small fee.
• Cancel memberships you no longer require.
• Consider whether you should arrange a power of attorney, so that a trusted friend or family member can make decisions on your behalf if necessary.
• Make certified copies of any important documents including birth certificates, marriage certificates, educational transcripts and references.

Source: www.erc.org

Pets
If you're stressed at the prospect of moving, imagine how your pets will feel. Considerable planning is required if non-human companions are accompanying you. For international moves, make early inquiries about quarantine and other restrictions. It may be kinder to find your pet a good home rather than have it follow you overseas.

For shorter moves, W. Bradford Swift has a host of suggestions for moving just about any pet.

When you arrive

The job hunt
If you are relocating to look for work, it's vital to quickly establish stable contact details for employers wanting to reach you. A mobile phone is ideal, but lower cost options include alphanumeric pagers or a voice mail box. If you're using messaging services, do make sure you check them very regularly. A post office box at a central location may be very useful as a return address, especially if you will initially be living in temporary accommodation.

You'll also want to find a way of keeping your CV up to date. This invariably means locating a computer you can use, or finding a reasonably priced agency that will prepare professional looking CVs and letters of application for you.

Essential services
If you're moving to a new job, you may have accommodation arranged by the time you arrive, particularly if you are renting or leasing. Spend a day locating every useful service you may need, such as:

• milk bar/corner store;
• major shopping centre and supermarket;
• library;
• medical centre and a hospital with an accident and emergency centre;
• casual child day care;
• nearest bank branch;
• video store or cinema;
• public transport;
• taxi company;
• city council offices (find out when the rubbish is collected);
• post office;
• dry cleaning agency;
• locksmith;
• newsagent.

Moving your family

Managing dual careers
Relocation was once about "moving the bloke and letting the woman worry about herself", says Brian Crawford. Nowadays he may well be assisting the relocation of a female executive whose husband or partner is following her. As the workforce becomes more diverse and as more consideration is given to employees' family responsibilities, greater assistance is often available to the spouse of a relocating employee.

Such assistance likely results from the rapid growth of dual-career partnerships and employees' increasing reluctance to take up interstate or international assignments. A recent US survey showed nearly half of respondents declined relocation because of concern for the career of their partner. Another 27 per cent cited concern about uprooting their children.

Accordingly, the number of companies who include their employees' spouse and/or children in relocation plans is growing. Spouse re-employment assistance has doubled since 1995 among US and Canadian companies surveyed by Runzheimer International.

Beverly Roman suggests a range of ways in which organisations can assist their employee's spouse.

• Swapping CVs with other companies. Helping with a job search through networking with company contacts or with the aid of the local HR department.
• Helping with CVs, job search counselling and leads.
• Providing financial support and assistance in seeking a job with another organisation through paying employment agency fees, assisting with CV preparation and offering career counselling.
• Finding a job with suppliers or customers.
• Placing the partner in a job within that company.

Other options
Some couples may consider living in separate cities or even different countries to avoid career interruption, especially if the relocation of one partner is for a fixed and relatively short period of time.

A partner may also be able to:

• transfer to a local branch of his or her company;
• telecommute;
• take long service leave or a leave of absence.

And, as Beverly Roman counsels, the potential interruption to your spouse's career may be a valuable opportunity for him or her to assess career and lifestyle goals. Alternatives may include a break from paid work to care for children full-time, returning to full or part-time study that may or may not be vocationally related or investigating self-employment.

Children
There is no doubt that relocation can be stressful for children. You can make it easier by being positive about the move and giving children and teenagers lots of information about what to expect. If at all possible, take kids with you on fact-finding trips. If that's not possible, spend time going through maps and tourist information about your new location. Take photographs of the new house and neighborhood. Consider choosing a suitable school first, then house hunting in nearby areas.

When considering schools, take into account your teenager's career plans and non-academic interests. If you are relocating overseas, carefully weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of local and international schools. The former will assist your kids in picking up the local language and fitting in with the culture. An international school will provide a ready-made expatriate community where it may be easier to make friends and keep up with the curriculum in their home country.

Conduct your own "cross-cultural" briefings with your children if they are not formally involved in your company's relocation program. If you're moving overseas, they must understand what kind of behaviour is appropriate and expected in the new culture. If this is at odds with your own values, talk through these issues with your children in age-appropriate ways.

International relocation

Relocation overseas delivers two very distinct challenges. First is grappling with paperwork. There are several important issues to consider.

• Visas and immigration paperwork.
• Taxation: in which country will you be assessed for tax?
• Implications for Australian superannuation and other investments.

The second challenge is understanding different cultural expectations, including how business is conducted. This can be a minefield which tests ingrained assumptions. Little things such as the proper presentation of business cards, dinner without business conversation or addressing people only by their last names can have a tremendous impact on the successfulness of your business undertakings, warns Beverly Roman.

Allies and experts
Once, employees were expected to manage all the legal and financial paperwork, says Brian Crawford. Now, organisations place greater value on their employee's time and are more willing to use ancillary services. This leaves your immigration application in the hands of an expert while you participate in cross-cultural briefings and psychological counselling to assist with the transfer. These briefings may be extended to your spouse and family.

When negotiating an international transfer, consider that most relocations last between two and five years. It's not uncommon to be transferred within your new country of residence during that time, or for the length of assignment to increase.

Two or three years can be a long time to be away from head office and out from under your manager's nose. Identifying mentors who can keep your profile from flagging in your absence is one way to ensure that your colleagues will remember who you are when you return.

Life outside work

Whether you've moved 150 kilometres to a bigger city or right across the world, you will still be faced with the challenge of making new networks and friends. Experts suggest that it becomes harder to make friends as we get older and friends of long-standing are impossible to replace.

However, some deliberate effort on your part can help you settle in to your new environment. If you are a member of service or sporting clubs, look for branches of the same organisation or sporting code in your new city. Join the professional association related to your job and attend professional development programs. Consider pursuing a long-held interest — whether that's joining a martial arts club or a choir. It's easier to meet people when you share common interests.

The Yellow Pages directory for your new location is a great starting point for finding sporting clubs and special interest groups. You can browse directory listings before you go, either on the Internet or by visiting your post office.

Volunteering
Volunteering is another way to make yourself feel more at home in your new community. Each Australian state has a Volunteering Centre which acts as a clearinghouse for information and referral about voluntary positions.

by Rachel Rose