Meeting the Frontline: Cartus Consultant Spotlight

In this episode, Cartus' Kristi Lund, Director, Strategic Business Solutions and special guests, International Assignment Consultants, Andrea Araujo and Daisy Yang discuss the human touch during the relocation process and the important role of the global mobility consultant. 

Our guests:

Andrea Araujo
Andrea Araujo, International Assignment Consultant, based in the US, has a proven record of accomplishments in providing innovative, cost-effective business solutions and initiatives to support clients in structuring and executing global policies. She is a subject matter expert in policy reviews and redesign, delivering exceptional results.          

Before joining Cartus, Andrea worked in the banking and financial industry for 10 years as a loan originator and financial consultant. Andrea also co-founded and operated a loss mitigation firm in the Danbury area where she assisted many families with their financial needs. Andrea was born and raised in Brazil where she completed her undergraduate studies at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte with a bachelor’s degree in Geology and an associate degree in History. She moved to the US in 2012, the same year she joined Cartus. 

Daisy Yang
Daisy Yang, International Assignment Consultant, based in China, joined Cartus in 2016 after working for other relocation companies.  In her current role, Daisy manages China-inbound and outbound international assignments as well as China domestic relocations for multiple clients. She also supports EVIP programs to deliver exceptional customer service to executive VIP assignees. With strong communication skills and the talent to balance the relationships between the client, their assignees, and Cartus supplier partners, has resulted in consistently positive feedback throughout her career at Cartus. Daisy received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Shanghai International Studies University. In her personal life, she enjoys travelling, baking, and spending time with family. 

Our host: 

Kristi Lund
Kristi sought out the global mobility industry after experiencing expatriate life in France, as it was clear her life's passion would be to assist others in experiencing life-shaping cross-cultural interactions. She has since spent her entire career dedicated to supporting organizations with their global mobility programs in multiple capacities, including service delivery, account management, operations, consulting, and implementation.

Executive production: Louise Koncowski
 

Transcript

Kristi: Welcome listeners to another insightful episode of mobility matters where we will explore the heart at the center of a relocation and have the exciting opportunity to hear directly from frontline support. I'm Kristi Lund, Director of Strategic Business Solutions here at Cartus, and I'll be your guide for today's fireside chat, “Meeting the frontline: Cartus consultant spotlight”. I am truly privileged to sit down with two of our fantastic and experienced Cartus relocation consultants, Andrea Araujo, international assignment consultant based in the US and Daisy Yang, international assignment consultant based in China. 

Together, we'll discuss what it truly means to be a relocation consultant, what skill set is required, and the impact consultants have on the relocating employee and their family when moving from A to B. I could not be more excited for today's conversation, as it is important to hear from the indispensable frontline support in our industry who truly make everything possible. Thank you for joining us as we explore the art of crafting personalized support that truly transforms relocation experiences. Welcome Andrea and Daisy! 

Daisy: Thank you. Thank you, Kristi for having us. 

Andrea: Hello Kristi. Happy to be here today. 

Kristi: Perfect. So, let's jump right in. Andrea, how did you begin your journey into the world of mobility? 

Andrea: Well, let's see. I started about nine years ago as an international consultant. And at that time, I was mainly focused on working with group moves from one of our clients. Then my focus became Latin moves. And currently I'm the senior consultant for one of our largest clients. And for this client, aside from working as a senior consultant for their VIP population, in helping to manage our team of consultants at Cartus, I also work with this client on their policy development: process improvement, process implementation in global training. 

Kristi: Wow, that's amazing. You have lots of vast experience, Andrea, that's great. Daisy, how about you? When did your mobility career begin? 

Daisy: Well, to be honest, I have to say I never heard about the mobility industry before when I just graduated from my university, because in China, relocation support was not widely provided to employees at that time. I was an in-house HR assistant previously and about 12 years ago, I happened to be hired as an associate consultant by another relocation management company. This was my first time to get to know our industry and I found I really loved it. So, I try to learn as much as possible during my daily work and was promoted to an international assignment consultant soon. Later, I joined Cartus in 2016 to work with multiple clients and manage both domestic relocation within China and both China outbound moves, and the China inbound moves within the APAC region. So, this is already my eighth year with Cartus and I'm still enjoying my work. 

Kristi: Amazing. Congratulations on eight years. It's always fun to hear how people fall into the mobility industry. So, thank you for sharing that, Daisy.

Daisy: Yes!

Kristi: Perfect. So, every day you have the opportunity to impact the lives of relocating families during one of life's most stressful events. What does it mean for you to be able to serve in such a deep capacity every day? Do you feel that duty of care? How does that work for you? Daisy let's start with you. 

Daisy: I totally agree with you, Kristi. One of the reasons why I love my job is I found the relocation process is very overwhelming to most people. As a consultant, I have the privilege to participate in the relocation journey and I do hope that I can make this journey smoother with my expertise. So, in order to make the positive impact to my customers, I not only do my due diligence during daily work, but also develop some habits in the past few years:

My first habit is to be well organized. That relocation process is very complex. Sometimes one missing step can cause a big issue later. So, I check every customer's relocation milestones myself, I plan every step as a whole and provide timely reminders to my customers and suppliers. 

Secondly, I never stop learning. The relocation process involves many different areas such as immigration, tax, moving, destination service, travel booking, and so on. Although we've engaged the professional suppliers, I needed to at least have the basic knowledge to better manage and coordinate all these aspects. Furthermore, in Cartus, we have a lot of training, ranging from communication skills and professional knowledge. We also have routines to share experience and the best practices within our team huddle. Meanwhile, I pay attention to all kinds of news which might impact our customers relocation plans, such as immigration policy changes or travel restrictions. [The] Cartus Global Supply Chain [Management team] also provides regular supply updates to us, so that we can do adjustments accordingly. 

And as the last habit I keep, is to care about my customers. I care about my customers as if they were my friends. So, I can think from their shoes and I'm willing to go the extra mile for them. I believe people can feel your attitude and they will trust you in turn. This relationship between us can help to make their relocation process smoother. 

Kristi: I love that, Daisy. When you said you think of your customers as your friends, that gave me chills, because that's truly important in our industry, your deep capacity to care for your customers probably shines to them every single day. So, thank you for all that you do. That was wonderful. Andrea, how does it feel for you to be that crucial guide, shaping your assignees’ experience in such a meaningful way. 

Andrea: I feel very privileged Kristi. But I do recognize that this privilege comes with great responsibilities as well, right. And that's why I'm so grateful for the training, the support that the company provides, that fully prepare us to make a positive impact on someone's life.

See, I relocated years ago from Brazil to the US, and I can speak from my own experience that this is one of the hardest things someone can go through in life. So, I can totally relate to my assignees when on the things that are probably keeping them up at night, they might be worried about the impact of the relocation on their marriage, or if the kids will adapt well to the new school, if they will be able to learn the new language. Or they may even be sad for the family and friends that they are leaving behind. So, it's definitely a lot and I do recognize that. So, all of that makes me think that my most important role as a consultant is to ensure that my assignees know that they are not alone on this journey. They need to know that I care for them, and I will be there for them every step of the way. But they also need to feel confident, right, that I have all the tools and knowledge to make their location a success and that things would always fall into place at the right time. 

Kristi: Perfect. So, what I'm hearing is empathy is a key part of your role. You've experienced a relocation yourself; you understand how stressful it is. So that really shapes how you support your assignees. I love that. 

Andrea: Absolutely and it makes all the difference. 

Kristi: So that brings me to another question for you, Andrea, how long do you typically support an employee for and what does that relationship with them look like? 

Andrea: I can work with an assignee anywhere from three to five years, sometimes even more, because if they go on a consecutive assignment, most likely I will be the consultant, I'll be the one assisting them with their new relocation. So, it's definitely a long-lasting relationship. And they do sometimes see me as an extension of their family. I get to know when they're going on vacations. They share pictures of the kids and I love when they share pictures of their newborns. I actually like to joke that at the beginning of the relocation, I joke with them that they may find themselves talking to me more than they talk to their spouses. As a matter of fact, “fun fact,” recently, I had an employee sending me a “thank you” note, and he joked that the fact that he was still married was the best proof that I did a good job managing his relocation.

Kristi: Wow. So, it sounds like you have a very close relationship with a lot of the people you touch. I mean, three to five years. That's a very long time. 

Andrea: A long time. 

Kristi: Yeah, I don't think everyone always realizes that assignment consultants can be in touch for that long. So, thank you for sharing that. And Daisy, how about you? Is it the same? Are you in touch with assignees, for as long as Andrea has explained?

Daisy: Yes, there is a similar experience as Andrea and I'm also handling domestic moves within China. So, we will only work with a customer for maybe one to two months but if we are handling those international assignments, then it will be at least two years, maybe two to five years. I also have one, my favorite customer: she has been working in Asia for about five years on four assignments. So, I continually support her from location A to B and A to B to C. So, I, yeah, I know her very well. And she gave birth to her second child during her first assignment, so I think I feel like I was part of their family during their life in Asia. 

Kristi: Yeah, absolutely. And I can only imagine the comfort that she felt every time she had a new assignment and realized that it was Daisy who would help her again and a familiar face each time. That's truly incredible. What a long-lasting friendship you've created with this employee. 

Daisy: Yeah, I also cherished this long-lasting relationship. 

Kristi: Absolutely. You, get to know someone so well, especially in an international assignment. In my past, I was an international consultant, and I was lucky enough to move employees into my local area and when that happened, I'd meet them in person. And to this day, some of them I'm still friends with, will go out to dinner. I just went to a comedy club with one of my previous assignees that I moved. So, it's just a really, really, yeah, fun experience to be able to build that relationship and keep that going. When you're helping someone in such a stressful time in their life, they'll remember you forever, absolutely. So, thank you for sharing both of you. 

And this brings to light a topic in our industry at the moment that I wanted to bring up, which is technology and the use of artificial intelligence. And at Cartus, we are really excited about the opportunities that emerge from the use of AI. We're always looking to create industry-leading technology solutions that partner with our personal touch but interestingly enough in Cartus’ recent Global Talent Mobility Survey 2024, 90% of respondents said they're not looking for a tech only solution for any specific mobility population. In fact, employee experience was the second biggest priority listed by respondents after mobility optimization. 

So, while it's incredibly important to keep up with modern technology to help serve our relocating employees more quickly and more efficiently, these results show us that the human touch continues to be in the forefront of our service industry. So, can either of you share instances where your personal touch made a true difference in someone's relocation journey, so something beyond the reach of what automated services can do?

Daisy: I think that AI technology can help us to increase our productivity and efficiency. I think it will be helpful in the future. For example, it can help to answer some FAQs or help us to generate some reports easier. Or maybe we can innovate some 24-hour/seven-day AI assistant in the future for our customer! But I think due to the nature of human beings, the real-life consultants will still play a crucial role during our customers’ relocation process. 

Kristi:Absolutely. That is a perfect example Daisy, especially when helping walk someone through cultural differences. It's not something technology can do, to build that relationship, build that trust.

Daisy: Yes, absolutely. 

Kristi: Yes, absolutely. So, thank you for sharing. 

Daisy: No problem. 

Kristi: Andrea, what does the human touch really mean for you in this context? What sets you as a consultant apart from a service provided from artificial intelligence, for example? 

Andrea: Well, Kristi, first, I wanted to say that I couldn't agree more with the survey results. That's exactly how I feel as well. I'm very excited to see how the company has been heavily investing in new technology and tools that will definitely bring a positive impact to our day-to-day tasks and even enhance our customer experience. But at the end of the day, we know that no technology will ever be able to replace the human touch, right? So, I think what sets us apart is our ability to listen and show empathy, like we talked a little bit before, really putting ourselves into the assignee’s shoes.

And sometimes we may not fully agree with the employee's request or their expectations, but we can still understand them. In relocation, it's not a black and white process, there are so many gray areas. Not every scenario will be covered or addressed in our policies, and this is where the human touch can really make a big difference. Like, for example, this is a true story, by the way: Think about an assignee, who wants to bring their his treadmill to the assignment. And when we talk to the assignee, you find out that the reason he wants to bring a treadmill to the assignment, it's because he has a child with special needs who needs the treadmill for physical therapy. So now the policy does not allow large equipment to be shipped in the household goods shipment. This is where our consultative skills comes into play. We need to stop and think, “Okay, I know this is not covered by the policy, but I believe we have a very reasonable request here. So let me bring this to someone's attention for further consideration.” Artificial Intelligence cannot handle situations like this, not at least how a consultant would handle it. 

Another thing that comes to my mind is, that Daisy touched a little bit about it, it's the cultural aspect of the consultant’s relationship with the customer, with the assignee. This also cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence. I think about my team, for example, 100% of our consultants, and including our manager, speaks at least a second language and they also come from different cultural backgrounds. So, I believe this is an incredible and critical asset to have when relocating employees globally, not only can we relate to their cultural differences, we can exchange personal experiences. But in many cases, we can even speak to them in their own language, and that's huge. 

Kristi: Amazing, so many things resonated with me and what you just said, “relating”, “speaking to”, just “supporting”, it's just, it's incredible what you both do day in and day out. And as I said earlier, our industry truly could not exist without you both. So, it's really incredible to hear everything that you do. Thank you for sharing. And I feel like I could talk about this all day. There's so many things that you all do. But before we wrap up, Andrea, what's your personal highlight of being a relocation consultant?

Andrea: Kristi, I think I can relate two things. First, relocation is fun, it's a lot of fun. I love the fact that every day is different. So, when you think you have seen it all then something new or crazy happens, right? And this is this what we see every day. But I also enjoy the positive impact that I can make in someone's life. So even after I no longer have contact with that person, they will still remember how I helped and the difference that I was able to make for being part of their relocation experience. And this is to me, it's priceless. 

Kristi: I agree wholeheartedly. No two moves are the same and really serving people day in and day out makes the end of your day just so much nicer. So, thank you for that. And Daisy, what makes your role at Cartus uniquely rewarding.

Daisy: I want to touch upon receiving [assignee] feedback about the positive impact. This is also where I can get a great sense of fulfilment when I help my customers to overcome some obstacles, meet their needs, and make their relocation process easier. This is really a very rewarding moment for me. And another rewarding moment is we have clients from different industries. So, it's very interesting for me to work with people from all walks of life. For instance, last year, one of my customers told me, he was about to provide support to the Olympic Games held in China. And that moment, I feel I was also very proud because I think as if I was supporting the Olympic Games because I'm supporting [the assignee].

Kristi: You gave me chills with that.

Daisy: And another rewarding moment is recently, my one of my directors told me she happened to meet a customer of mine during a campaign. My customer talked about me, talked about her experience with me; very happy. Therefore, she had a very good impression on Cartus I also remembered this customer but actually I didn't work with her for a very long time, it's only about two months. But when she came to China, it's just after our country lifted the COVID lockdown. So, she was a bit anxious, I spent a lot of time to address her concerns and to share the tips to live in China. But I'm still very surprised she still remembered me. I think that this kind of moment is the icing on the cake of our job. 

Kristi: Absolutely. It's such an impactful service industry to be a part of. So, I completely understand where you're coming from. And now that my heart is sufficiently warm and fuzzy for the day, that's all we have time for, unfortunately. But thank you both so much for spending time with me today and sharing your thoughts and experiences. Your role as a consultant is truly the heart of the relocation experience and the industry could not exist without you. So, a big thank you to all of the relocation consultants across the globe. We truly appreciate you. And listeners, thank you for joining us, be sure to subscribe to Mobility Matters through your favorite podcast streaming platform. Until next time, thank you and take care.  

Visit cartus.com/podcast for more episodes of Mobility Matters.