We All Need a Change of Perspective

I often wonder if my accidental entry into the relocation industry is something I would change if I had it to do over again. As they say, hindsight is 20/20. I, like most people in our industry, didn’t set out to make a career in relocation and real estate. I was going to work for an ad agency in PR and marketing. It’s what I liked and had studied. But when I couldn’t find a job right out of college, I had to figure something out. They all said, ‘come back when you have some experience’. But how was I going to get experience if no one hired me? I fell into relocation and never looked back.

I worry for all of the kids graduating from college like my daughter in the next year. Unemployment is high and there is a LOT of qualified talent out there looking for jobs. Companies are reimagining their business models and COVID is forcing many small and large entities out of business or to make significant cuts or adjustments. I guess it can be looked at as a crisis or a time for new beginnings for businesses. But no matter how we look at it, now is the time for companies to step up mentoring and internships to give these new graduates the experience and career path they so desperately want, even if it isn’t the one they had in mind.

When I look back on my career, I only have one regret. I don’t regret not becoming a hot shot ad exec. I don’t regret the industry I have embraced. I do regret staying with one brokerage for so long. In the long run, the loyalty and contributions of me and my staff went unnoticed and we were cast aside. It was naïve of me.

I do wish I would have worked for a corporation and for a relocation management company and maybe another type of relocation service provider to gain more perspective. I shouldn’t have stayed in the same lane all these years.  I think we need more people in our industry who have a well rounded perspective. We find our niche and stick with it. When companies are hiring, they are often too scared to hire someone with related experience that doesn’t exactly match their sought after image of what the experience should be. Sometimes translatable skills don’t reveal themselves on a resume. Some of the best hires I ever made came from related industries such as temporary housing and the corporate side. The risk paid off.  The benefit of an alternate perspective and other skills they bring far outweighs the extra time it may take to get them up to speed on the nuances of the specific line of business.

My advice to those who are new to the mobility industry is to walk in the shoes of all of the providers throughout your career. We can write our ticket in this industry, because what we are so desperately lacking in this industry is a broader perspective. Actually, we all need to broaden our point of view on just about everything. If only the RMC’s understood the challenges that brokers face in their local markets regarding recruiting and downward pressure on commissions. And the corporate mobility specialists could help us understand the pressures they are under regarding the changing relocation environment around immigration and tax implications. If we all could appreciate the incredible competitive environment that RMC’s feel right now. How can suppliers, like movers, continue to deliver high quality services with strict regulations and the shortage of drivers their industry is facing.  Everyone has their own cross to bear. But we can’t truly understand it, until we have experienced it firsthand.

So my advice is to cast your net a bit wider when seeking to fill positions. Stop making safe hires. Go beyond the resume or the degree and look at the potential. Open your mind to new ideas and other points of view. Having high emotional intelligence and the ability to learn and bring a different perspective may be just what the doctor ordered.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Dr. Wayne Dyer, Author and Speaker