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Sometimes the perfect task isn't downward the street, simply rather thousands of miles — or mayhap even an ocean — away. If you're offered a job in a different location, how practice yous know if it's worth relocating? Who should help you brand the decision? And, how exercise you weigh the potential upsides like money and opportunity against costs like the touch on your family or the loss of your existing network?

What the Experts Say
Whether or not to relocate for a new role is a large decision both professionally and personally. "There are so many factors to consider," says Jennifer Petriglieri, an assistant professor at INSEAD and author of the commodity "Talent Management and the 2 Career Couple." "What's the opportunity? What'due south the longevity [of the job]? And what's the family unit situation?" Indeed, the decision is especially complicated if you have a partner and children, says Matthew Bidwell, an acquaintance professor at Wharton whose research focuses on patterns of work and employment. "Information technology'southward not merely, what does this mean for yourcareer, but what does this mean for ourfamily?" he says. Relocating for a job can often be "nifty for your personal and professional development," simply information technology's also "a risk and a jump into the unknown." Here are some ideas to help you lot retrieve through whether the move is right for y'all.

Think holistically
When you're wrestling with a large determination, "there's a temptation to become out an Excel spreadsheet and weigh the pros and cons," says Petriglieri. But this is an instance where Excel comes upward brusque. "When y'all're choosing one life over another, it becomes an identity choice: Who do I want to go? What kind of family will nosotros be?" The job is only ane piece of the puzzle. Consider your "holistic happiness and satisfaction." Think well-nigh the lifestyle that the new location affords or lacks. Are you suited for small boondocks life? Or practise you prefer a big urban center? Do y'all want to spend your weekends traveling? Or practise you want to feel rooted in a community? The answers to these questions will help you uncover what this "move means for y'all, your partner, and your children," she says. "When it's a difficult pick, it ways that no option is clearly amend than the other." Try to retrieve beyond the firsthand motion," suggests Bidwell. "Enquire: What is best for usa in the long-term?"

Talk through the move with your partner a lot…
The nearly important person in this equation is your partner, says Bidwell. "The large issue is what does this movement do to your partner'due south career?" Will he or she be able to find meaningful piece of work in the new place? If not, how large of a setback will it exist? "In that location'southward quite a lot of research showing that people suffer from putting their career on hold," he says. If your partner won't have a new job in the new location, "the move brings up other issues because you're taking them abroad from their support network." He points to a certain unhappiness known as trailing spouse syndrome. "You have a new task, new office, and all sorts of new people to see; your spouse has been dropped in the center of nowhere and knows no one." Petriglieri notes that trailing spouses frequently bear the brunt of move-related household tasks. "It's tough," she says. "Whenever y'all motility, for the first half-dozen months, yous are in the trenches." And information technology takes a huge toll. "Research on why relocations neglect always points to the unhappiness of the abaft spouse," she says.

…And talk to your kids a picayune
"It's possible to move at any fourth dimension with kids, just certain ages are more difficult than others," says Petriglieri. Many people, for instance, are reluctant to move when their kids are teenagers; when kids are younger than viii, the prospect of uprooting them is much less daunting. Petriglieri says that while obviously you need to speak with your children nearly a potential move, she cautions, "there is a danger of consulting them also much considering it brings upwardly a lot of anxiety unnecessarily." Children, she says, "have a harder time imagining what their life will be like" in a new place. They might get resistant to motion, which will make things much harder on you. Bidwell concurs: "The kids may complain, but they will accommodate." Keep your optics on the prize. The relocation "is a potentially enriching and stimulating experience."

Consider your development
Moving to a new job in a new city is a surefire way to assistance "round out" your skills and experience, says Bidwell. "Yous'll become to know people from different parts of the company; you'll exist exposed to new ideas; you lot'll be able to build a broader network." And if you're relocating overseas, you'll gain an "agreement of a different culture." Indeed, in many organizations, "some form of international experience is necessary to get that summit job." But you must recognize that the relocation poses "long- and short-term trade-offs" to your development. For instance, "the new cultural context yous're learning comes at the expense of your loss of network back home." To proceed that from happening, you need to "make sure you're on the radar screen" with your home office "having conversations with all the right people on a regular basis," Bidwell says.

Find out what's side by side…
Y'all must besides think about the opportunity within the context of your long-term professional path. "Most companies are non likely to offer you a relocation unless there'southward something pretty large in information technology for you, significant a significant promotion and raise," Petriglieri says. But the question you need to inquire is, "What's the adjacent move afterwards this?" If, say, you're an American considering a three-year stint in London or Paris, that question is less complicated. "It'due south a no-brainer that you will probably render to the U.S." But if you're asked to "head upwards operations in Denver or Cleveland," the calculation is a picayune trickier. And yet, while it's of import to think about next steps, you need to take reasonable expectations, says Bidwell. "There is a tension at that place," he says. "On ane hand you want to take a chat about where do I go later this? But realistically, the company tin't give you a definitive reply." And besides, "career paths tend to be haphazard for most of us."

…And whether there'southward an escape hatch
Worst-instance scenario: you and your family are miserable. What then? "You need to remember about an escape hatch if yous don't similar information technology or if information technology doesn't gel for your family," says Petriglieri. It somewhat depends on the location itself. "When you are relocating to a hub city and it doesn't work out, at that place are often other options, simply if you're moving somewhere more than isolated, it's harder." The specifics of the role yous're because are also key. Make certain you lot're not professionally pigeonholing yourself "by taking on a specialist role," she says. Another danger, says Bidwell, is "staying too long" in your adopted city. "There's a risk that if y'all stay in a role for a long time you get a specialist for that region," he says. This is why he recommends "talking with your partner beforehand about how long you're going for and concord on an exit plan."

Seek advice
Information technology's often helpful to solicit input from others — with i caveat, nevertheless. "You desire to talk with people who are not too close to the issue," says Petriglieri. Your boss, for instance, may try to convince you to get. After all, there'due south presumably "a business organisation need" and a reason you've been asked to move in the first place. And friends and family members have a vested interest in your choice. "No one is neutral and these conversations can get charged." Ideally, she says, you should talk with "a group of trusted peers" who "have similar family issues and similar career aspirations." These people tin can exist "a adept sounding board" equally you evaluate your options. Bidwell agrees. He suggests seeking advice from colleagues who've washed similar stints as well as others in your industry. "You need moderately unbiased views of what to wait."

Request a attempt-out
If you're uncertain, it may be worth request your organisation if y'all could practise a temporary stint or job bandy in the proposed location before making a big move, says Petriglieri. "Relocations are extremely costly," she says. "Failed relocations are even worse." She says companies are "increasingly willing to allow employees to do curt-term relocations or secondments" to maximize the likelihood of success. In essence, your employer would be giving you lot a hazard "to try earlier you purchase." Fifty-fifty if your organisation does not offer this opportunity, "you lot tin always enquire," says Bidwell.

Don't overanalyze
Whether or not to relocate is a big conclusion — but beware of analysis paralysis, overthinking a situation so that a decision is never made, or one is fabricated by default. Endeavor to take perspective. "As you become older, there are very few decisions in life where you don't experience some ambivalence," says Petriglieri. "A career is long," she adds."We can all afford a few adventures, and nosotros take enough of time to experiment and explore." Even so, don't assume that this is your 1 chance at trying something new. Recall: Nothing is forever. If you're miserable, you can course correct, says Bidwell. "You accept to take risks in your career," he says. "Sometimes it doesn't work out, and then, you figure out what to do next."

Principles to Remember

Do:

  • Think nearly the conclusion as an identity choice. Ask yourself: Who do you want to go? What kind of family do you want to be?
  • Make your partner's happiness a priority.
  • Advise a temporary stint or job bandy to test out the new location.

Don't:

  • Just focus on the immediate consequences of the movement. Consider how it volition impact yous, your partner, and your children in the long-term.
  • Ruminate all alone. Solicit advice from trusted peers.
  • Overthink the conclusion. If you get for it and y'all're unhappy, you lot can come up home. If you make up one's mind against it, have faith in that location will be some other opportunity down the road.

Case Study #ane: Recollect about the next phase of your career
Anne Chow spent the first 15 years of her career at AT&T, earning promotion after promotion, at the company'south headquarters in New Jersey. "Information technology was very easy to move around the company without geographically moving my family unit," she says.

In 2005, later on AT&T was purchased by SBC, Anne was asked to move to Texas, where the new company was based. At the time, Anne had young children, and she was reluctant to movement away from her parents. She was too hesitant about Texas itself. "I am a Jersey Girl and East Declension through and through," she says.

She declined to motion. Simply past 2014, her perspective had changed. Her career was going well; her kids were older — eye schoolhouse and high schoolhouse; and her husband was retired. "I was questioning what I wanted to do side by side and what I wanted the next stage of my career to look like," she says.

She briefly considered exterior opportunities, but after 24 years at AT&T, she wanted to "double down on [her] commitment to the company." She broached the topic of moving with her family unit. "My husband was supportive and my children were in," she recalls. "I declared myself mobile to move to Texas."

Shortly thereafter, the CEO tapped her to take on a new chore leading sales operations and solutions. Once the relocation became existent, her children changed their minds. "When nosotros told the kids, they said we should go without them," she says.

She and her family had many long talks. "Nosotros talked about who we wanted to be," she says. "My husband had 51% of the vote. I was worried nigh his social infrastructure considering information technology was his life that would change the well-nigh. The kids would assimilate."

After 3 years in Dallas, Anne has already had 3 different positions. Today she is the president of the national business.

Despite her career success, she admits that the start year was difficult for her spouse and kids. "It definitely made u.s.a. a stronger family," she says. "Just I don't know if we'll ever call it dwelling."

Case Study #ii: Seek advice and input from others
Oliver Cooke was only a couple of years into his task in London at Selby Jennings, the financial recruiter, when he was asked to relocate to New York.

"My manager was going over to atomic number 82 the U.S. business, and he asked several of us to join him," he says. "I'd ever been interested in travel, and I'd always wanted to live and work abroad."

But nevertheless, it was a large decision for Oliver, a native Londoner. He had spent only a scattering of days in New York in his life, and although he was in his mid-20s at the time and unmarried, the move meant leaving behind his family unit and friends.

Oliver sought communication on what he ought to do. He spoke with friends and colleagues who'd done similar stints overseas. "I did my due diligence," he says. "I wanted to go an idea of what this type of movement would be similar and what kinds of opportunities there were."

Oliver says he didn't necessarily recall about where the job would lead, but he was confident that the opportunity was a good one."It was a run a risk to practice something entrepreneurial and to build a new business," he says.

He also knew that he could leave if it didn't work out. "I figured that, worst-case scenario, I could always come dorsum and get a new job internally," he says.

In the cease, he decided to do it. "I thought I would go out at that place for a year or two, piece of work hard, and encounter how information technology goes. I idea I'd take it yr by year."

Today, nearly 6 years later, Oliver is the executive manager and the caput of Northward America at the visitor. He says he has already laid down roots here and has no plans to return to the UK. Moving to New York, he says, "was the best decision" he ever made.

"My business concern is all about edifice relationships and networking," he says. "I see myself every bit someone who's carved out my own niche in this role of the world. At this point, I would find it very difficult to go dorsum to London. I love information technology here."