3 Tips to Win Over Relocation Candidates

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 20% of the 26 million Americans who moved last year said they did so for an employment-related reason such as an internal transfer within their company or a role with a new company. This is perhaps unsurprising given that CareerBuilder found that 44% of people are “willing to relocate for a career opportunity.”

Despite the fact that people are relocating for their jobs in record numbers, moving is still a major life decision and can be a daunting task for many people. As an employer, if you’ve found the perfect candidate, but need to convince him or her to relocate to join your company, it presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Read on for tips to make this option easier and more attractive for potential employees.

1. Provide Cost-of-Living Context for Your Salary Offer

It’s particularly important to help a candidate who is relocating understand how the cost-of-living in the city they’ll be moving to stacks up both to where they currently live, as well as to any other markets where they might be interviewing. It’s easy for candidates to get hung up on dollar amounts and be easily swayed by an eye-popping offer in an expensive city like New York or San Francisco, so it’s your job to help them see the big picture and understand that the comparisons aren’t necessarily apples to apples.

For example, who is offered $134k in San Francisco might balk at an offer of $112k in Denver until they understand that the latter figure actually affords them a quality of life that would cost an additional $47k per year in the Bay Area. Providing a package of information about average rent and home prices, state income taxes, and other cost of living expenses is a great way to help candidates better assess your salary offer. At the very least, you can direct them to an online tool that compares living expenses in different markets.

2. Share Insight Into Life As a Local

Another great way to give candidates insight into your city and ease fears about the transition is by providing helpful moving advice and recommendations about local life. For example, what are the best neighborhoods in your city? How about the best schools? What should people expect socially? What are the winters like? Do you need a car or is the public transportation good enough to get by?

A great way to address this and also to forge more connections between the candidate and your company is by introducing them to other employees who have made the move. As Nic Strain, marketing manager at Hint Water company said of his recent move to the west coast, “It was incredibly helpful to hear the local insight on where to live from my future colleagues. I was able to pick a neighborhood that was the perfect balance between an easy commute and a bustling local restaurant scene. The personal connections definitely made my move from New York to San Francisco much easier!”

3. Offer Flexibility to Ease the Transition

Lastly, think about ways that you as an employer can be more flexible to make the move more appealing. How open are you to a start date that takes into account school schedules? Is there an opportunity to come out for an orientation and then work remotely while the move is being orchestrated? Are you open to providing temporary housing while the candidate looks for a place to live? Do you cover moving expenses including transportation and packing/unpacking services? Can you cover storage for household items while your employee is still in transit? All of these are great ways to help make what can be a stressful live event easier on the candidate, and in turn, ensure that you can fill a critical role.

As the world becomes increasingly global and a new generation of workers place a premium on collecting life experiences, there are more and more candidates who are open to moving for a job. On Hired alone, we have thousands of candidates who are open to the possibility of relocation. As an employer, this gives you unprecedented access to a wide range of talented individuals and allows you to find the perfect fit for your next hire. Cultural trends and modern technology have made relocations much more feasible, so now it’s on you to provide the tools and information your candidate needs to make a critical life decision with ease.