Have you ever been faced with a career opportunity that could potentially change your life, yet the conditions state that you must relocate? Or maybe you’ve been at the same job for what feels like forever, when suddenly a promotion becomes available… in an unfamiliar area. The feeling of excitement fills you and an air of possibility awaits, but you’re dragged down from cloud 9 with the joy sucking thoughts of “I can’t do that” or “maybe in another life”. Well guess what, we don’t get another life! Not that we know of anyway. So we’ve put together a list of pros and cons to relocating for work that might just help you make the leap.

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PROS LIST

  1. An adventure at a lower price. Often workplaces will pay some kind of costs to have you move to their advantage, if not all of them. Travel and accommodation fees or allowances can be provided as an incentive. Take a look at the money you could save as opposed to moving for leisure.
  2. New connections and career progression. Does the place you’ve been offered to relocate to have better resources, jobs and opportunities? This could be the beginning of something even bigger than what’s currently being presented to you.
  3. A sea change for you, and your family. As someone who lived in the same town for most of my life, I would have jumped at the chance to experience a different place to live. As soon as I turned 18 I was out of home and moving to a larger city. Change, although feared, can blossom into growth for the whole family.
  4. Taking the dive to relocate, shows employers that you have a resilient streak and are willing to take initiative. It will shine positively on your commitment to the company and your passion for what you do. Of course, if you’re not passionate about what you do, you’re probably not going to be reading this article!
  5. It could be a once in a lifetime kind of thing. This may sound dramatic, but none of us know what the future holds - this could be an offer that won’t come around again. Do you really want to live your life with thoughts of “what if” lingering? The unfamiliar can always be made the familiar.

 CONS LIST

  1. Yes, it will be stressful. We aren’t here to pull the wool over your eyes. All we need to do is mention this list of words and enter: stress and anxiety. Packing, cleaning, moving, money, travel, starting over. The important thing to remember is that these are short term problems and ask the question - do they outweigh the long term benefits that relocating could provide?
  1. It can be extremely hard to say goodbye to family, friends and co-workers that have been a constant support in your life. Let’s not forget that technology today gives us zoom, social media platforms, facetime and group chats to stay in touch.
  1. You may not enjoy the new job. True, if it’s a different role to what you’re used to, it may not work out. This con is an unknown though, and to find out whether or not this could be your dream career… you have to actually try it out first. Catch 22.

I moved to Townsville by myself, relocating from Toowomba to work for BHP. In hindsight it was the best thing I’ve done and I wouldn’t change it for anything. It helped me become more social when it came to work and the new friends I made, became family. Some great advantages was that it was easy to save money living remotely and I became a part of the small communities I lived in

– Claire Aitchison, Operations Lead at Co Gear

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