Should I Relocate For A Job?

Every job process varies, and job offers are not created equal. If you get a job down the street from where you live, it’s easy to assess the offer against your living expenses, commute, transportation costs, family life, lifestyle, and long-term goals. If you are offered a job that’s 1,000 miles away, even if it’s a dream job, you may want to take the time to do a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis to determine if it’s the right move. 

There are several factors to consider:

• Factor #1 – Cost of relocation. Naturally, your first question is how much money, if any, your new potential employer will give you to relocate. Every company has a different policy. Some may cover actual expenses. Many will have a cap. Are they leaving the details up to you? Or do they require you to use vendors they’ve partnered with for every new hire who agrees to relocation? If your offer includes a relocation budget don’t assume it’s enough. Do the leg work to determine the true cost of moving, and to be sure, moving just yourself is less expensive than moving a whole family. If a company does offer relocation money, it may be based on your individual circumstances and carry exclusions. If you have to shoulder the entire relocation cost, you should measure it against the overall compensation package.

• Factor #2 – Cost of living. Everybody knows it costs more money to live in New York City, NY, Florida, and California than it does in Monowi, Nebraska.  However, there are many more job opportunities in the big cities and chances are your dream job doesn’t exist in a place like Monowi. This is the time to get into the details. You know your current budget. Determine what your cost of living, income, and budget will be in your new hometown – rent/mortgage, property taxes, state and local sales tax rates, transportation, car insurance, home insurance, natural disaster insurance (if applicable and available), childcare, etc.

• Factor #3 – Your new company’s compensation package. You may get a job offer that covers your relocation costs but not a cost-of-living increase. Since you did your homework, you should know whether you’ll be paying your employer to work or the other way around. However, your job offer may cover an average cost-of-living increase, but not your individual cost-of-living increase due to incurred expenses resulting from a move, such as your desire to enroll your kids in private school, a penchant for sports cars, or the fact you’re paying the health care costs of elderly parents. When you’re finalizing your relocation assessment, keep in mind this formula: relocation costs + cost-of-living increase + your cost-of-living increase. Determining those numbers requires diligence, time, and effort but once you have them the good news is that it’s basic addition and subtraction.

• Factor #4 – Personal support structure. Now we’ve reached the part of the assessment that isn’t dollars and cents. No math is required, which means there is no simple undisputed answer. It’s time to weigh your new job opportunity against your overall life circumstances. For example, you may want to live close to your family and close friends. Perhaps you have a significant other who doesn’t want to go anywhere. Moving means leaving them. Are you prepared to leave your human safety net behind to go somewhere you don’t know one person?

• Factor #4 – Are you going to like it there? Not every place is created equal. Do you want to live in a large city that never sleeps (e.g., New York City) or a small city that never sleeps (e.g., Las Vegas)? Do you want to live where everybody knows your name or where you’re anonymous to everyone but your closest friends? Maybe you love the beach and your new job opportunity is five states away from the nearest sand, or you love to ski but there isn’t a snow-covered mountain anywhere in sight. Are you looking for culture, Michelin-star restaurants, endless nightlife, or a big private backyard you can retreat to where nobody bothers you?

• Factor #5 – What about your family? If you’re on your own, big life decisions like relocating for a job only impact you. What if you’re married and your spouse works? Or do you have children who are very happy where they are? Is your spouse willing to leave their job and are there opportunities for them wherever you’re going? If you’re a two-income family, your new job doesn’t mean a thing if you lose the second income that’s part of the foundation of your financial life. Then there are the schools. A school isn’t just where your children go every day. It’s the springboard to their entire future. This is not just a relocation expense. It may be the most important expense to consider.

• Factor #6 – Impact to your professional future? If you’re assessing a job offer, your decision to take or leave may be about your immediate future, but it’s your long-term future. Certain industries have well-worn pathways and geographic roots that mean relocating to far-flung places like Hong Kong or Tukwila, Washington to “pay your dues.” Long-term opportunities will likely be more limited there but could pay off in the long run.

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.