Relocation

SHOULD your talents and well-honed skills be greatly in demand, some of the largest employers in the country will be falling over themselves to snap you up as quickly as is humanly possible - and if you are really lucky they may well offer you much more than just a generous starting salary.

Together with all the usual run-of-the-mill office perks, they might just throw in a relocation package - and they may also offer you a more than generous starting 'bonus' to help make the transition to your new working life even smoother. Some of the largest recruiters will offer new starters up to as much as £2,000 (taxable) in order to relocate.

And you will find that relocation packages are particularly prevalent in sectors with the greatest skills shortages, but the really, really big employers do tend to extend these offers to all new recruits. When they offer you a relocation package employers are hoping that it will help pay for your deposit, first month's rent, some new clothes and shoes, and maybe even your travelling expenses for the first few weeks. And with starting salaries among the very top employers ranging from anywhere between GBP20,000 and GBP30,000, an extra lump sum to help you out is quite literally 'a bonus'.

However, relocation packages are not widespread, and surveys suggest that less than 15 per cent of employers use them as incentives. But as more and more employers seek to recruit graduates and help them pay off their rising student debts.

All employers want their new recruits to be a great success at work, so, if they can help take the pressure off them financially they will. When Sandra upped sticks to begin working as an HR trainee for an insurance company in Norfolk, she found that her relocation package came in really handy. "I got the money as soon as I joined and used it to put down a deposit on a flat and pay my first month's rent," recalls Sandra, a Nottingham University graduate. "It wasn't the relocation bonus that attracted me to the job, but it was very useful especially at a time when I didn't have much money. Without it I would have had to get a loan out or borrow from friends and family."

Many employers even provide accommodation for or help new recruits to find accommodation close to where they work, providing them with information on how to go about finding themselves a flat or giving them contact details of people within the company who may have accommodation to rent.

If you must relocate to take up your new job, then ideally you should give yourself a couple of weeks to a month to find a place to live, but that will, of course, depend on how well you know the area. However, should you find yourself without a home on your first day, your employer, particularly, if it is a big one, ought to be able to find you some temporary accommodation while you carry out your home search.

And if you are not offered a whopping relocation bonus by your new company? Then just ask your personnel department if anyone else from a different part of the country or another graduate is joining the company that you might be able to share a house with.