Sometimes the perfect job means a move. If you’re offered a job in a different place to where you live now, how do you know if it’s worth relocating? Who should you ask to help make the decision? How do you weigh the upsides, like a higher salary, against the costs, like the impact on your family?

Whether or not you should relocate for work is a big decision both professionally and personally, with a lot of factors to consider. 

Ask yourself some questions first. What is the opportunity? What is the longevity of the job? What’s the situation with your family? Could you do it remotely? This decision will be harder if you have a partner or children. As well as considering what this considers for your career, you need to think about what it will mean for your family. Relocating can be amazing for your personal and professional development, but it is also a risk. 

Think Holistically

When you’re struggling with a big decision, it can be tempting to start listing out the pros and cons, but this isn’t always the best way to make a decision like this. When you’re choosing one life over another, the choice is more about identity. Who do you want to be? The job is only part of the answer. You also need to consider your happiness and overall satisfaction. What kind of lifestyle does the new location offer? Do you love living in the city, or are you more about the quiet country life? Do you spend your weekends traveling, or are you a homebody? The answer to these questions will help you to uncover what this move might mean for you, your partner, and your family. When the choice is hard, it means that one option isn’t obviously better than the other. Try to think beyond the right now? What is best for you in the long-term? 

Talk Through The Move With Your Partner

The most important person in this decision, after yourself, is your partner. What will this move mean for your partner’s career? Will they be able to find a good job in the new place? If your partner struggles to find a job after the move, then there will other issues too, as you will have moved them away from their support network too. You might have a new job, a new office, and lots of new people to meet, while they have been dropped into a new place, where they know no-one, and don’t have a job. A move is always tough, and it can take a huge toll on your happiness and your relationship. If you do live with a partner, you need to talk through the choice with them very carefully before you start the search for a new house for sale and make sure a relocation can be made to work for both of you. 

Consider Your Development

Moving to a new job in a new city can be a great way to help develop your skills and experience. You will be able to get to know people from different parts of the company. You’ll be exposed to all kinds of new ideas, and will be able to build a broader network. If your relocation will take you overseas, then you will also be able to gain an understanding of a different culture. In many organizations, some experience of working internationally is needed if you want to reach the top jobs. However, you need to remember that a relocation will pose long and short-term trade-offs to your development. For example, the new culture that you’re learning about will come at the expanse of losing some of your network at home. To prevent that from happening, you will need to make sure that stay on the radar of your home office, and still talking to the right people on a regular basis. 

Find Out What’s Next

Think about the change in the context of your long-term career. Most companies won’t offer relocation unless there’s something pretty big in it for you. However, you need to ask yourself what the next move is after this. If you’ve been asked to spend a year in a branch of your company overseas, then it’s likely that you’ll return home afterward. This is more complicated if you’ve asked to move to another city. You will need to have reasonable expectations too. Make sure you have a conversation about where you will go after the big move, but realistically, your company likely won’t have a definitive answer for you. Career paths can be haphazard.