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Worklife — Movin’ on up, or just movin’? |
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Written by Sheila Norman-Culp, asap
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Wednesday, 28 March 2007 |
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To move or not to move. Hamlet didn’t exactly phrase the question that way, but it sure comes up a bull’s-eye for American workers.
With companies closing scores of plants and laying off thousands — or opening new offices, searching for new markets and selling new products — workers are on the move in 2007 like never before.
To avoid having a dead silence hang in the air when the boss suggests you transfer to Topeka, let’s break out the spreadsheet now and tally up the advantages of moving for your job. You will have to consider the disadvantages on your own, since each situation is so unique.
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BLACK HOLE JOB MARKET
When plants close and companies announce mass layoffs, the situation may be clear as a bell but the solution is never easy.
The relocation or bankruptcy of a major employer sends shock waves throughout the local economy, creating a “black hole” job market.
Think Houston after Enron. New York after Sept. 11, 2001. Detroit now with Chrysler. Dearborn, Mich., with Ford.
It doesn’t matter if the rest of the U.S. economy is booming; the local situation is beyond bleak. (I will probably get a call now from boosters in those cities, insisting that I exaggerate — but workers trying to figure out how to pay the rent there will probably say I am not being harsh enough.) It takes years for such local economies to rebound, if they ever do.
In this scenario you have up to four choices: Transfer to another job elsewhere with the same company (if they offer one); change firms; change industries; go back to school and retrain. (The option of retiring is a topic for another day.)
These are involuntary choices, so accepting them is tough to swallow. But a person’s got to eat, a family has to live somewhere and a job in hand is nothing to sneer at.
A move could be in the offing.
MOVING FOR A PROMOTION
If you want to stay with your company, look at the career paths of successful colleagues 10, 15 years older than you. Did they always work in one place, advancing as they mastered the complexities of that division? Or did they move between offices and departments?
Does it seem better to stay at headquarters, even though you might be overshadowed by high achievers, or head off to a field office where you can be the star?
Your answers to those questions will reveal what experiences your company values.
Before you turn down a promotion that requires a move, do some homework. How often do these new opportunities arise? If they come up fairly often, you have more leeway to turn down a specific city or job you aren’t wild about. If they come up only when someone dies or retires, you have some thinking to do.
Certain seasons of life are better for moves, and I’m are not just talking about school schedules. Obviously, moves are easier the younger you or your children are — there’s no end to the havoc an unhappy teen can wreak on a family during an unwanted move. It’s becoming increasingly common for one spouse to stay back for a while, just to allow teens to graduate from high school.
Also, the younger a worker is, the more job opportunities there are that could involve a move. As you get to be more senior in your profession, there are fewer jobs, period, that match your skills.
MOVING FOR A NEW COMPANY
For someone right out of college or grad school, this is a no-brainer: You are moving anyway, ready to start a new job and a new life. For someone who already has a job, there’s more risk. You need to really scout the new company out.
In the dot-com era, high-tech companies were notorious for over-promising stock options, benefits and job titles. A person could be named the “West Coast Marketing Manager” and relocate to San Francisco only to find that they were, in fact, in the mailroom. Or be offered a $200,000-a-year salary by a Boston equity firm a mere five months before the company went under.
If it’s the job of a lifetime, of course move. Even if you are pretty sure of a good fit, inquire about an employment contract — the higher you go, the more they are de riguer. See what your new company will put in writing about salary, benefits and moving expenses.
How gracious and helpful they are with your move could indicate how you will be treated once you get there.
MOVING FOR FAMILY REASONS
In this dual-income world, the job that makes you move might not even be your own. If you think it’s hard sorting out the pros and cons of your own career, wait until your spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend is considering a new job in another city. Then let the fireworks begin.
So much depends on how difficult it is for both of you to find new jobs. If you are a tenured professor at a university, it would take an earthquake for you to move. Jobs in those fields are so hard to find. If you are a nurse, math teacher or mechanic, you could move to Outer Mongolia and have a new job in a week.
If the assignment is temporary, perhaps you can either work out a long-distance relationship or ask about a leave and move for the sheer excitement of it. Who wouldn’t want to live in Paris or Chicago for a bit?
Deciding whether you love that person enough to move permanently — that’s the third rail of relationships, nothing I can advise you on.
“We couldn’t stay apart anymore,” said Emanuel Tenorio, a 25-year-old cook who moved from Lima, Peru, to Switzerland to live with his girlfriend. “I miss my beaches in Peru but I’m determined to make a new life here, with her.”
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asap contributor Sheila Norman-Culp recently took a leave from The Associated Press and moved from New York to Zurich for her husband’s job. | Only registered users can write comments.
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