We at Kinney Recruiting regularly assist candidates in relocating geographically for a new role. In this increasingly global economy, it is common for candidates to relocate at least one time during their careers. While considering new cities can be exciting, a good recruiter can help navigate the logistical challenges of a relocation placement. The process begins before submitting your first application. Here is our advice.
Before the Search
Talk to Your Family. If you have a spouse, children, significant other, or anyone else who may be affected by your move, you must have a frank and honest discussion with them. Now. There will probably be more questions than answers at this point but please, trust us, you wouldn’t want your spouse to learn about your desire to move to London as you prepare to leave for the airport for your interview.
Why and Where are you Relocating? Barring some exceptional circumstances, an employer would – in most cases – rather hire a local candidate or relocate someone internally before going out of market. Ideally, your answer should be personal; i.e. moving closer to family, going back to your hometown, your spouse is a professor and the university she got tenure at happens to be in Mississippi. Work with your recruiter so you can deliver an answer succinctly and persuasively. This is especially true if you don’t have a true personal reason for the move. We have had great success moving people to markets where they do not have prior personal ties, but the messaging about why has to be honest and correct.
Don’t be Scattershot. Our advice is to pick one or two markets at most. Don’t split the markets between different recruiters if you can help it. It’s often important to coordinate the submissions to avoid mixed messaging. We have experience with this and we are structured in such a way that we do not build internal walls and fail to communicate with our colleagues in other markets.
Salary Differences. Law firms in NYC typically pay more than law firms in Raleigh, NC. But not always. And cost of living can be a factor. Know the salaries. Ask us.
Get Admitted to the Local Bar. This is a way to weed out the serious contenders from the daydreamers. Be sure that you know whether you can be admitted to the bar, how, and how long the process will take.
Foreign Jurisdiction Questions. If you are seriously considering a move abroad, find out whether you (and your spouse) will need work permits, will there be financial implications, and other similar considerations. Several of us have lived and worked abroad and, with over 200 placements in Asia alone, we know about these issues.
During the Interview Process
Ask yourself: Can I Really Live Here? There may not be a lot of time between receiving your offer and the deadline to accept. My most successful relocation placements are where the candidate has considered and researched housing, schools, neighborhoods, and cost of living adjustments. We help guide firms on their COLA packages, so you will be well informed. If possible, schedule your second or final round interview on a Friday or Monday so you can spend the weekend exploring the city. Know whether you will accept before you get the offer so you don’t need to delay and cast a pall on your reception.
Be Prepared to Travel for Interviews. Remember when we advised that you should limit your search to one or two markets? You will need to travel for interviews, and if you are lucky, you will need to travel a lot. Your recruiter may be able to consolidate your interviews to the same or consecutive days to help with the travel. You will be tired, you will still need to keep up your billables, and you may be stuck at DFW for six hours waiting for your connecting flight. Make sure the hassle is worth your time.
Practice Your Answer About Why you are Moving. Especially if it is not clear from your resume. If you think you don’t need practice to sound good, you probably are misinformed about yourself. Ask us how you sound, or ask your sibling or spouse. They won’t hold back their criticism.
Accepting the Offer and Relocating
The Offer. Congratulations! This is an article on relocating so we will leave out the discussion on offer negotiation except to say that the relocation package and work permit issues, if any, should be clearly spelled out in the offer.
Relocation Assistance. Provided you have a good recruiter, you should have a pretty good idea of what kind of relocation assistance you would be offered before this point. Relocation assistance depends on your firm and status (associate, partner, in-house counsel) and can range from nothing to “all reasonable expenses necessary”, including moving truck, full-service movers, transportation to your destination for you and your family, brokers fees. If you are moving abroad, you may be offered an expatriate package and cost of living adjustment.
Timing. If you have been talking to your family and been upfront with your recruiter, you should have a good idea of when you can realistically move. It is not uncommon for firm to allow a candidate 4 weeks’ time between giving notice and start date for domestic moves and up to 8 or even 10 weeks for international moves. More than that makes you seem to lack seriousness. The earlier you can set a start date, the better.
If you’ve ever tried to move from a 3-bedroom house to a walkup apartment without hiring movers (please, never again), you know the process of moving can be made easier with advance planning. None of the advice in this article is a secret; but it can be easy to overlook details that can derail a successful hire.