Corporate Relocation – What You Need to Know

CORPORATE RELOCATION – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW


Corporate Relocation
Corporate Relocation – Don’t Be in the Dark

 

1. Make friends before you go. Network with new employees, send flowers, candy anything. Trust me. They will have smiles on for your first day. There’s nothing better than everyone knowing your name before that first day!

2. It’s a fresh start. You can be whoever you want to be. So, get out that superman suit and rock it!

3. Do lots of research on your new city. Moving from CT to TX, I thought the cost of living would be about half. Well, yeah if I lived in the middle of nowhere but in the city of Dallas it is $$$. I had sticker shock because the areas were situated much differently.

See that picture up there with the people with the boxes on their heads?  This was me during my first corporate relocation experience.  Literally.  I could have fit the entire contents of my studio apartment on my bike trailer and rode it from Connecticut to North Carolina.  Instead, my employer had to spend over $3,000 to move me from MA to NC.  And I sat there and shook my head as the movers crated my only picture ( worth about 4 whole dollars).  I mean it cost more in packing materials than the picture was worth.  Five more corporate relo’s (see I’m so experienced I have slang) and I have decided to write an actual blog post to help others ( paying it forward).  Here’ s to the corporate movers I have had in the past:

1.  Friggin’ Negotiate.  I didn’t know my employer would have given me $1,000 to bike my load of crap from CT to NC.  Holy Cow!  Yes, I said 1k not 3k.  That’s the negotiation – you do it yourself – they will pay you less.  Some employers I have worked for when I had more experience actually did not offer this, maybe they thought I actually might not move myself.  If they moved me using a corporate relocation , I had to back to work, right?

2.  Van Lines are not the best corporate relocation companies.  Most don’t know but almost all van lines – united, allied, north american, etc have all been bankrupt.  How is this possible when they charge an arm and a leg for moving services you ask?  My guess is claims.  I had a van line move my belongings one year from NC to TX.  They did a fabulous job wrapping everything I was so confident it everything was going to arrive safely ( this was at a more advanced stage in my life) I didn’t think about it the whole two weeks the shipment took to get to me.  Apparently in the two weeks my shipment was offloaded and reloaded  6 times, placed in 4 different storage facilities (don’t ask), touched by over 30 different sets of hands.  So, in short, my 42 inch TV was lost/missing,  along with my Trek bike, my kayak ( how do you lose a freaking kayak!?!),  and 13 boxes.  It stunk, they gave me about $200 according to their coverage and sent me on my way  – lesson learned.

3.  Your employer will most likely have a mover already and you will not get a say in who moves you.  Again, negotiate and hire a corporate relocation mover that guarantees delivery dates, and can provide your employer with a flat rate.  Employers usually pay a high premium for corporate moves.  Some moving bills I have seen for my employer have been upwards around $10,000 including packing for a 2 bedroom condo.  I have even felt guilty about it knowing .

Good luck and Go You!