I want to move internationally - and keep my job

Post date: 2020-02-27 16:09:48

Have you worked for a large multinational corporation and engineered an international transfer between offices for yourself (i.e. the idea for the move was yours and you successfully/unsuccessfully convinced The Powers That Be to go along with it)? Please tell me about it!

Background: a couple years ago I moved 1000 miles from my hometown to BigCity to work at the head office of BigCorp. I like my job and BigCity is fine, but for various reasons I can't see myself settling here for good and would very much rather be in Hometown, where I have a strong network of family and friends. BigCorp has a small satellite office in Hometown.

As it stands, my job is such that I definitely can't just pick up and work from anywhere, but I'm thinking medium/long-term, it's possible that I could bend my responsibilities to be more conducive to remote work, or just up and try to transfer to a team in Hometown the next time they have an opening. I figure it's worth a shot, since Plan B is to just stay here for a while longer, and then quit and move back with my BigCorp resume to try and find a job in Hometown anyway.

Here are a few questions as prompts, but really I'm interested in any anecdotes around this topic!

How did you broach the subject with your boss(es), and how receptive were they to it (vs thinking you were about to quit and move away anytime)?

2. Did you have to significantly shift the type of work you did, or were you able to stay on the same team and work remotely?

How long did the whole process take?

I realize that BigCorps all have their own idiosyncrasies and your experience doesn't necessarily generalize to what mine might be, but all the same I would like to hear from people who have tried to do this before. (Note: the wording of this question is focused on office-to-office moves but I would also be interested in hearing from people who transitioned from office to remote/work from home, as long as the team you ended up on was still based in an office elsewhere and not 100% remote.) Thanks!

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