12 Jun How Global Mobility Specialists Can Take Away Tough Aspect of Solo Traveling

Because global mobility specialists spend a lot of time networking with their partners and dealing with their assignees, a lot of their colleagues — and perhaps even their bosses — assume that their job is mostly a social one.

While that is often true, there is a solitary aspect to the work of a global mobility specialist that is not as known nor recognized. After he has signed on his recruit for the month and attended his last business conference for the week, he retreats into his own “me time” to collect his thoughts, unburden the pressures he is carrying, and strategize his next move. Like any other leader, he has to weigh all the variables of the decisions he has to make and their impact on the organization before bringing it before his superiors. In those moments, he has to make a judgment call, often alone and without a colleague to consult with.

Another aspect of his job that can make a global mobility specialist fly alone literally is taking overseas trips on specific assignments he alone is uniquely qualified to fulfill. This happens when he visits an emerging but little-known talent hub in a remote part of the world to do a series of interviews of potential hires. Or he has to be in a crucial meeting with the leaders of his company’s Asian branch to respond to their concerns on the new U.S. government administration’s policy change on immigration visas. Compounding his situation is that his destinations might be located in far-away places which do not have ready access to airports, hotel accommodations, or the usual conveniences that travelers are used to.

The bottom line: the global mobility specialist has to find his way around this particular trip. While it may be a tough act, it does not have to remain that way. Here’s how he can maneuver his way as a solo traveler and yet get the job done.

Apps and audio city guides

Bloomberg swears by its list of apps to help stave off loneliness. Audio city guides, for example, have the verbal equivalent of a map and a tour guide. As narrated by influential locals, it gives the global mobility assignee an insight into how his potential recruit’s place of birth and/or work is affecting his own corporate ethics.

If you listen to a Washington D.C. audio guide, it has two of the city’s finest talk about the history of the development of espionage and counter-surveillance, while giving a verbal personal tour of the concerned city blocks and neighborhoods. Listening to that audio city guide, the global mobility specialist can develop a greater appreciation of his prospective assignee’s extraordinary devotion to duty or his heightened reservations about security and privacy.

Not exactly an audio guide but Apple’s highly anticipated first voice-assistant device called Homepod may reportedly have a Siri that can go beyond answering questions. California Corporate Housing can’t wait to test it with its guests where it has state-of-the-art tech like Amazon Echo to answer questions about their new neighborhood along with the various traditions and cultural practices in their area.

Co-working space

Kayak and just about everyone else recommends renting space in a coworking office if you need a month-to-month office rental. It will cost you a mere fraction of what you would have spent within a hotel business center. Aside from offering office space and free Wi-Fi, it will also connect you with local businessmen and entrepreneurs. A few conversations can give you a few important tips on how to navigate around the city, the best way to deal with the local bureaucracy, and that one game-changer that can finally spur your preferred candidate to stop sitting on the fence and sign up with you.

Global mobility specialists on a business trip will like to know that there are organizations that make them feel at home so they can focus on their primary goal — recruitment of talents. It will recommend restaurants where he can enjoy his favorite dinner, even secure tickets to popular events. It can also be a platform to meet like-minded colleagues with whom the global mobility can share the latest industry tips and more in-depth information that can help them weather the next recruitment crisis.