Advice
A fairly straight forward question in most circumstances as it is easy to give a fairly noncommittal response. Very often the question is asked of people who live in different areas to the company they have applied to or alternatively live a fair distance from the company but still potentially commutable in the short to medium term. If you know that the company are likely to expect you to relocate closer to their offices, then it is definitely worth committing to saying that you are prepared to relocate. If you have a relative or friend in the area who you can stop with in the short term it maybe be worth mentioning this if it is required. You do need to think carefully about your response and whether you are prepared to commit yourself to relocation and how honest you feel you need to be. Obviously it is fairly easy to give a response that implies you are prepared to relocate and this may infuriate any company you join if they then discover you had absolutely no intention of relocating for whatever reason.
Examples of Answers
“Yes. If I need to relocate I am quite happy to do so. I already have family and friends within the area and should the need arise I can arrange accommodation at fairly short notice. I also know the area very well from my time working at x or from my days playing rugby for y.”
Or:
“In the short to medium term I intend to commute to work but obviously in the longer term if I am settled and committed to working at a particular law practice such as yours I would be more than happy to relocate to the area.”
Or:
“Yes if it is essential in the longer term. I do already have experience of commuting to work for over 2 hours each day and it is not something that bothers me and never has done, as you can see from my CV and the periods of time I have spent working in other practices.”
Or:
“No. For the time being I propose commuting to work and I have commitments in the area including my children’s schooling. Obviously if it became essential to relocate in order to work overseas on secondment or to spend some time at one of your other offices I would be more than happy to consider this.”
