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Deciding to relocate for work, particularly in the legal field, is a significant decision that requires thorough consideration. Here, award-winning lawyer Emilie Franklin highlights the key factors to weigh and the steps to take before embarking on this challenging yet rewarding journey.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Corporate Council Show, Emilie Franklin, group legal counsel for Modaxo Traffic Management Group, discussed the personal and professional considerations that individuals must evaluate when the opportunity to relocate and work overseas arises, drawing from her own experiences.
In the past year, Franklin’s legal career underwent a significant transition when she relocated with her family from Australia to Canada. This move, she shared, “came as a result of an acquisition” that prompted her firm to approach her to consider making the move.
When making this significant decision, she explained that it required her to take a two-fold approach, weighing both the personal and professional considerations involved in accepting a job role halfway around the globe.
From a career standpoint, she emphasised the importance of making decisions rooted not merely based on the notion of being “at the right place and the right time”. Instead, she explained the necessity of selecting an opportunity that would provide her with “the right challenge and growth”.
When making critical career decisions in the legal profession, Franklin expressed the importance of reflecting “whether the opportunity is going to set you up for success going forward and whether it’s something that you want to have”.
Importantly, she noted, these considerations apply “regardless of whether you’re moving” for the job change, explaining that just because you have been offered a job doesn’t automatically guarantee it will “be the right fit for where you want to go career-wise”.
On a more personal note, Franklin emphasised the importance of considering how your family feels about the prospect of moving to a new country.
She noted the need for such families to have “open conversations” about this decision to ensure that the “country that you’re going to is going to be the right fit for you and your family”.
In her decision-making process, Franklin explained that she needed to thoroughly evaluate whether moving to Canada would truly benefit her two young children. She considered crucial questions such as where the kids would go to school and whether “the curriculum is similar”.
Franklin recognised that while her career would thrive with the upcoming move, she also needed to consider and address the importance of her husband having “a job or something fulfilling to step into”.
Through her conversations with others before the move, she learnt that if both partners lack careers that offer fulfilment or present challenges, “it could create some issues or imbalances”.
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