How about negotiating locationHi All, I just wanted to see if anyone here has ever negotiated location....I went on an interview in the city I live in and it went very well. I liked the company and the people I met, and the job sounds really great. Here's the catch--I want to try to negotiate the location. The territory I would be covering is outside of the US and I think it would make more sense if I was based there. Has anyone tried this? How open are most employers to this? Thanks Let me get this straight.....you want to relocate and activate in your new location under the protective umbrella of this company? It really depends on how big this company is and what their possibilities of activating internationally is I guess. Personally, I have heard of location negotiation, but just in the case in which the company is placed outside the area the job seeker is placed. :) But nothing is impossible, you might as well try. I would approach it like this: During an interview ask this as a question (while you' re asking other job related questions). "Since the territory is outside the US, have you considered having the (person in the role I want) based there?" If they say "absolutely no way in he-double hockey sticks" then you know that' s not an option. If they say they haven' t considered it, you may have a chance and if they say they' d love that if the prospect was willing, you can pipe up that you' re quite willing. If the answer is no or neutral, and you want the job, I' d let it rest. After you' ve been in the job a year or two or so, you can broach it with your boss. There are a lot of complex issues involved with ex-pat employees (payroll, taxes, benefits, visas, laws of the other country on foreign workers, etc.) that they may not be interested in dealing with. Many employers are also much more comfortable having an employee and their boss in the same location even if you' re on the road a lot. When I got my current job, I was told during the interview that they were only considering San Francisco, San Diego and possibly Phoenix as work locations. I was in SF and that' s the HQ so that was a good fit for me. My boss worked out of San Diego. 2.5 years later my family circumstances changed and I talked my boss into letting me relocate to work out of the office in Portland. By then my boss knew me, wanted to keep me happy and was pleased for business reasons to have me outside of SF. When an employer knows you and is happy with you, they' re a lot more willing to be accommodating. I, myself recently hired an assistant. I listed 4 possible work locations for that job (Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Des Moines) and would not consider people in other areas even though this was an internal posting. I had my reasons for wanting someone at one of those sites. I was willing to consider people who were willing to relocate (on their own dime) but when push came to shove, no one was willing to move if we weren' t paying (several weren' t willing to move at all). I wasn' t willing to override my reasons for an employee that was totally new to me. Hope this helps a bit! Thanks for all of your advice. I will bring it up when I talk to them again. Actually, people think that setting up offices abroad is a lot more complicated than it is. I have a work visa in another country, and I would pay my own relo expenses, so these things are not an issue. If you are sending a whole office abroad, then yes, it becomes more complicated. As for it sounding like I want to start my own sub-business, I don't see it that way at all. I would be working for the company and building up a certain territory for them that was previously untapped. That is what sales people do. It is a team effort--the company gives me something to sell and I sell it. I think you can ask if they will consider it, assuming moving isn' t part of the job anyway. If your discussions on other topics proceed well, I see no reason why you can' t at lest ask and see what they say. As Tess pointed out, if the answer is a flat "no," I' d let it drop. And, frankly, I don' t see it so much as a "negotiation," in the sense that it' s an offer/counter-offer process, but rather just an inquiry on your part. | |
|
Career Tips
|