Munchkjn

Hi All.

I'm trying to work out a strategy for leaving my job and timing it right for things like flights, house sale, packing, shipping etc..

I have 8 weeks notice to give at work, and although getting paid is obviously quite key, it would also be nice to have a week or so to sort things before we jump on a plane. I'm planning on leaving in August, maybe 1st or 2nd week if all goes to plan.

If anyone has any annecdotals on what they did and how that worked out, I would be glad to hear!

Thanks

p.s. my annual leave is long gone...

Tom H

Do you have a start date for your new job???

I highly recommend you give yourself a minimum of 2 weeks to settle down, find a place etc. Also, something we didn't do - have a little holiday on the way out. Stop off at Singapore, Dubai, Vancouver etc for 5 days, it makes the trip more exciting and also breaks it down. Also helps little ones (if you're coming over with the family at the same time) Do you have your flights booked???

One thing to start considering is realestate.co.nz and note down locations of where estate agents are. Then when you get here, you can go straight to them and get the rental or the house purchase sorted I'd start looking at getting a hotel or an apartment for a minimum of 5 nights to help.

Oh and then hand your 8 week notice the day you officially book your flights out. Then if you have a couple of weeks before you fly, you can spend time with family and friends before making the move. We moved out of our place and had 2 weeks with the wifes parents and 2 weeks with my parents before flying out

Munchkjn

I'm relatively flexible on the above. I just want to know others experience of giving notice really.

Good point re saying goodbyes though. Think 2 weeks would be a bit much with my family though!

Snap Shot

Our flights were booked for 26.2.11

We sold our house in late November 2010. Completed in Mid January 2011. The movers came a couple of days before completion and our container left bound for NZ.

My husband had to give three months notice which he would have given in late November, shortly after the house sale was agreed.

I only had to give one month's notice which I did in late January. I had saved a week of my annual leave and agreed with my boss to have that as my last week of my notice period. We spent this last week hanging round my old home town killing time, willing the time away. We were staying at the guest bedroom of the retirement complex where a friend of mine lives with her old mum.

We had farewell brunch at my Dad's house with the family round before the taxi came to collect us at midday. Easy for us, I've got a very small family and we live half an hour from the airport.

I remember landing at Auckland airport on my last day of payroll !

Our furniture had a six week head start on us.

We spent three weeks in Auckland visiting the in-laws/looking for work. Got tired of both and went to Christchurch as initially planned.

P.S. I wondered how the, 'fine line detail' would all pan out. In the end things became clear when the house was sold. Albeit our deadline was the flights that had been booked May 2010.

escapedtonz

We tried the career break process first in December 2011 before we migrated 1st March 12. The wife got hers for 2 years then resigned towards the end of that 2 years.
Mine was refused as it meant the boss couldn't replace me for at least 12 months and he needed to as I was one of 6 seniors on shift so I had to resign. Knew beforehand but thought I'd try my luck!
Did that early Jan 2012 - 4 weeks notice plus holidays meant I left the company 4th March. We flew out on the 1st March and from the point I handed in my notice I only worked the rest of the week, had a leaving do on the Friday then that was it.
I'd give yourself couple weeks before and after flying out. You need to be off work when the removals turn up.

ChristchurchFi

I gave 3 months notice, although technically only had to give a month. I really liked the company I worked for and wanted to give them as much notice as possible, I'd been there for 8 years so thought it was only fair to help train my replacement!

My partner only gave a months notice and his work were fine with that as that was all they needed!

We were lucky we finished work at Christmas and flew out on the 3rd Jan so got to spend lots of time with our families!

good luck!

Bo-Jangles

You need to think about what you will do in the interim period between selling house, packing and leaving the UK. We sold our house and packed our stuff away in storage ages before we had planned to leave and went into a rented place for a while.

It's almost inevitable you become homeless for a period of time and we overcame this by leaving work and having a holiday in the UK for a couple of weeks, visiting family and saying goodbyes and stopped off for a few days R&R on the way here. This worked out very well for us, as our shipping left a few weeks before us and arrived very shortly after we did. If I did it again, I would definitely take the same approach, as it's way easier to cadge off of a selection of friends and rellies in the Uk for a few weeks - rather than the alternative of camping out in an empty house over here on your own.

Munchkjn

Thanks for sharing your experience. How long did the furniture take in total?

Did you book refundable flights in case you weren't ready when the time came? I was planning to leave booking them until 3 or 4 weeks before the time. The refundable flights seemed to be 50% more or so when I last looked.

Also I'm a bit wary (from a tax perspective) of completing on the sale if we have left the country. Must ring IR to check this.

Munchkjn

My wife should be at home for that, would you advise both of us being there for that? Although I think she will insist on us both being available. Could always take a day's leave?

I was thinking get the stuff packed and sent a couple of weeks before we leave the house and sleep on blowup matresses and live out of a suitcase until its time to go.. but that doesn't sound like fun.

Munchkjn

Thanks!

I've already told work I'm off, but not officially handed notice in yet. I've just been told they will be flexible, so I think I'll just do the deed and then I can always change dates as needed.

Munchkjn

Good advice mate, thanks. Will think that through.

Snap Shot

1

Hazelnut

This is what I did. My employer was great and it's not long now until I finish up and leave. We have the luxury of having enough saved that I can take six months off though. MrH stays in FT work and I'll do all the paperwork for visa applications removals etc and all the manual work associated with sorting, cleaning and moving nearly 30yrs of accumulated possessions.

If visas come through we aim for MrH to have a couple of weeks off in the UK before we fly out and a couple of weeks in NZ before he starts new job but that has meant saving the equivalent of a month's salary for him.

escapedtonz

Yip I would. One person can't keep up with the packers. Someone needs to be involved with them and the inventory while the other makes the tea!!! If one person only youll have a miss mash of stuff being packed at the discretion of the packing guy. There'll be no order to it. Anything that moves will be wrapped and boxed. You need some form of organisation to it. They were with us 3 full days and 8-10hrs a day and they hardly stop to take a breath.

We packed up 3 weeks before flying out. The container actually left 2 weeks before as it took around a week for it to get from home to the docks and ready for loading.
We completely emptied our home and had to go live in a rented fully furnished holiday apartment as all we had was luggage. We also sent an airfreight consignment arranged to arrive shortly after us so we had essential items that we didn't want to lug across the world on our journey - eg work clothes for starting new job, baby toys, baby cot / mattress, winter coats etc.
The first week of being homeless we spent getting our home ready for renting so decorating etc. Last 2 weeks we had our final holiday in the uk seeing relatives/friends before flying out.

Bo-Jangles

I'd suggest if this is a concern that you sort /group your own stuff into logical areas or box stuff up prior to them coming and let them get on with their job; the last thing they want is people interfering and giving them direction on what to pack where. The guys we had were like machines and had no interest in stopping for cups of tea and we may as well not have been there - in fact we spent most of the day twiddling our thumbs and felt like we were in their way.