Why Relocate When You Can Work From Home?
Posted on 2nd January 2023 at 12:22
The COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of companies to finally accept “Working from Home”. Many companies around the globe were unsure whether working from home would boost productivity or have the opposite effect. Government guidelines regarding traveling to the office and the rapid improvement in technology over the last 15 years made working from home necessary and easy.
So many of us have gotten used to working from home, and the companies have noticed that they are saving a lot of money when it comes to renting office space and paying the utilities. You may ask yourself: “is this the future?” and “is it for the best?”.
With the job market improving and employee relocations that were put on hold, now starting to move ahead, it is time to weigh up the options: Why move for work when I could do the job remotely?
Life Experience
Yes, humans are comfortable staying close to where we live. It is far easier to stick to what we know, maintain our routines, and avoid stressful situations. Humans also need struggle.
Life is full of tests and uncomfortable situations that help us to grow as people. Moving to a new place is filled with a lot of scary possibilities - fear of failure, loneliness, and regret. However, if you put yourself up against these challenges and conquer them, you learn a lot about yourself and come out of the other side a better person. Yes, you may feel lonely, but you will learn to be able to spend time by yourself and be forced to try new things that will result in new relationships. Yes, you might well fail, but failure is just the world’s way of advising us on what to do differently next time.
If everything were easy, if we always had the answers, we would not learn anything and when we’re presented with a new problem, we won’t know how to deal with it. Moving out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself will prepare you for things that you never thought you would be able to face. Newfound confidence and knowledge are what awaits on a new adventure, you can’t obtain that by always doing what is easy.
A New Way of Life
If you stay in one place forever you will find yourself in a bubble. You will find yourself unable to empathise with or understand how other people live, why other cultures do what they do, and believe that your way is the right way / the only way.
If you get a new job and they give you the option to move to their country, or stay put and work remotely, only one of those options will present you with new life experiences that can change your view of the world for the better. They can change your view of yourself for the better. You will form relationships that you would never have formed before and have a newfound understanding of the attitudes of other people from around the world. You'll benefit from the first-hand knowledge of cities, currencies, ethnicities, and customs that you would never have even heard of before. This is not only a great life experience, it ensures that when you come home, you’ll be a valuable teammate at any pub quiz!
Moving to a new country raises your chances of learning a new language, as the fastest way of learning a new language is by real-life practice. Forcing yourself into positions where you need to use the language to get by.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Having experience of moving and working in a new place is an attractive entity for any potential employer. They will know that you are someone with the courage to try something new, the intelligence to think and learn in a way that was previously unknown, and may have a network the stretches across the globe.
Even a short assignment in a foreign country or city will demonstrate traits that may be the difference between you being selected for a job or an interview. Someone who is confident enough to move somewhere new, challenge themselves, and gain valuable experience is someone that any employer will take notice of.
In my previous job as a recruiter, my vacancies often involved the candidate needing to relocate. If it was a person who had relocated before, hiring managers always felt that the candidate would be able to adapt quickly and "hit the ground running".
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