I dont think this has been discussed before so:
How much have others received as a signing bonus or for relocation expenses? How appealing of a graduate do you feel you were?

For background, I'll be an entry level electrical engineer and probably about 50th percentile among my peers. I will also be moving to Roanoke, VA. I let them know today that I was interested in receiving some money before moving and they are going to get back to me with an offer.

I've heard from someone that the average they found online (real reliable) was around $5,000. This sounds pretty high to me but I dont really know. I plan on asking some of the career counselors but figured I'd check here first.

4/26/2007 3:33:29 PM

Signing bonuses can be as high as $8,000 in some medical fields (and that's for lower level). Average is likely close to $2,000-5,000 if they offer one at all.

Relocation varies.

4/26/2007 3:38:18 PM

i got no signing bonus, but they paid full relocation (though it came with a committment of a couple years).

4/26/2007 3:38:23 PM

completely dependent on the company - some companies have policies to not give anything for relocation or a signing bonus

if you do receive something though i would agree that $5,000 for both is a typical number from what friends of mine have received recently if you are moving

4/26/2007 3:40:31 PM

i didnt receive a signing bonus (they werent really that common when i graduated)

but i did receive all relocation expenses paid. they flew me up and paired me with a realtor to find an apartment, including 3 nights at hotel and all food. they paid for a moving van to move all my stuff, car wear and tear (based on the milage i travelled), and $1000 for "settling costs".

the cost of the moving van alone was almost $8000 i believe, so i figure they spent atleast $10k on my moving costs all together.


as a side note, if i left work within a year, i would have to pay back all the moving expenses.

[Edited on April 26, 2007 at 3:44 PM. Reason : d]

4/26/2007 3:42:01 PM

id like to note that mine was not ^ that nice. it is a small/med company though.

4/26/2007 3:44:17 PM

yeah, i work for a pretty big company.

4/26/2007 3:45:06 PM

For new graduates (undergrad.) $5k total for relocation+signup is about market rate for the IT industry. I used to work in HR at a rather large tech company.

4/26/2007 3:46:27 PM

^^^^ Sounds awesome, I dont expect that.
^^^ yeah, I figure my move wouldnt cost much more than $1,000 (not including deposits).
^ Thanks, good to get confirmations

How did they handle paying for things? Reimburse you for expenses, give you permission to use some kind of company expense account or just a lump sum?

[Edited on April 26, 2007 at 3:52 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2007 3:50:35 PM

one year construction management experience out of college before i switched jobs....as part of the offer i accepted, there was a $5000 signing bonus and full relocation expenses

4/26/2007 4:11:32 PM

i got the college hire relocation deal:
1 car shipped (shipped my girlfriends car)
mileage+food+lodging to drive there (could have had a plane ticket instead)
5000 lbs of stuff shipped
$2000 for other expenses

Quote :

"if i left work within a year, i would have to pay back all the moving expenses."

same, but i've been here 2 years now though.

[Edited on April 26, 2007 at 4:12 PM. Reason : ]

4/26/2007 4:11:55 PM

yeah, ive been here almost 3 years, so im good.

4/26/2007 4:42:26 PM

my company hired a moving company that came to my apartment, packed up all my stuff for me while i watched, loaded it onto their truck and unpacked it for me on the other end.

They also paid me by weight and mileage to move any remaining stuff that i needed within a time frame before the moving company was able to unpack my stuff.

it came out to around a grand plus hiring the moving company.

4/26/2007 4:48:01 PM

just remember - signing bonuses and relocation expenses legally have to be claimed as income.

I don't think that applies if your job moves you, but when getting a new job (or first out of college) the relocation is not tax-free.

4/26/2007 4:59:43 PM

but you can classify it as a business expense and deduct it

4/26/2007 5:22:55 PM

Quote :

" How did they handle paying for things? Reimburse you for expenses, give you permission to use some kind of company expense account or just a lump sum?"

For new graduates, lump-sum, but you have to sign a waiver saying if you leave the job within x many days, you have to pay back the money.

4/26/2007 5:28:06 PM

i didnt get any moving expenses, but i have gotten about 20k in increases the past 2 years so all is good.

4/26/2007 6:58:55 PM

I got offered $5000 for all moving expenses.

4/26/2007 7:21:24 PM

I got $5000 signing bonus, $5000 lump sum relocation package, packed and hauled all my stuff, set up with a realtor, shipped one car and paid mileage rate/food for me to drive my other car up here.

While very nice financially, I also was taxed highly on the signing bonus (30-40%), and had about 8500 grossed up for my W2 income. I've heard that this comes off at tax time, but still... this will be an interesting year for taxes. I'm not a complete newb when it comes to taxes, but I really am curious how all the relocation "income" will affect my tax bracket, and how much of it I can deduct.

4/26/2007 8:35:33 PM

I moved to Roanoke after I graduated last year. Send me a pm if you want more info about the area. My company gave me $2000, which ended up being about $1200 after taxes got taken out so make sure you ask for enough to account for that. If it isn't a huge company you should be able to get $1500-$3000, considering Roanoke is a low cost area. And just a heads up, you'll end up spending around $1000 by the time you are done paying personal property taxes, switching your vehicle registration and getting a new license and being ass raped by the utility companies with their ridiculous deposits that are dependent on their own arbitrary criteria and not your credit rating, so make sure you plan for all that too.

4/28/2007 8:37:08 PM

i was offered corporate temp housing(3 months) or take $1600/month check for living expenses for 3months, also moving vans and any personal expenses by a big corporation. a mid size company offered $2500 signing bonus,movers and 1 month temp housing in hotel. i instead took a job with a small company with no relocation and only 1000$ signing bonus, but a 10k raise in the 1st year kinda make up for it i guess. packed all my stuff in the back of a jeep and drove for 10 hours. you can get screwed when it comes tax times regarding your relocation package, just be careful. good lick

4/28/2007 10:24:49 PM

I didn't get a signing bonus but I got a $1500 relocation bonus that was taxed up-front. Other coworkers got up to $1500 in reimbursed expenses.

Senior engineers in my firm have been known to get $20,000 signing bonuses and $5000 to move

4/29/2007 12:08:55 AM

Quote :

"but I really am curious how all the relocation "income" will affect my tax bracket, and how much of it I can deduct."

The bonus and relocation should just be income, nothing special about it.

4/29/2007 12:15:27 AM

I'm getting a sign-on bonus of $4,000 minus taxes next week sometime

they also gave me a week's paid vacation to start off with

but like others its a thing where if im not there for a year, i gotta pay it back

4/29/2007 12:29:17 AM

^^Don't forget you can write off work-related moving expenses

4/29/2007 1:13:46 AM

They gave me $3,500 (before taxes) that will tacked onto my first pay check. It seems from the responses in this thread that its not to far from what I should expect.

5/8/2007 3:05:05 PM

nevermind

[Edited on May 8, 2007 at 3:30 PM. Reason : d]

5/8/2007 3:30:17 PM

I was told to figure out what I needed and trying to figure out how to go about writing a formal proposal.

Part of me wants to sell everything and buy new stuff but should i still use moving quotes to get money or is that not truthful. I am wondering if they will just send me a check or try to do reimbursement.

4/26/2014 5:32:18 PM

I had to file a reimbursement for the actual moving expenses (boxes, labor, truck, gas, storage, unload, unpack, etc).

Money for everything else (hotels, personal car/gas, realtor fees, concierge, meals, incidentals) were given in advance in one lump sum -- no receipts or reimbursements needed

4/26/2014 5:58:57 PM

^^You should just ask your recruiter/HR person. Different companies handle relocation differently.

Some will require actual receipts only for approved expenses (moving, boxes, etc). Others will want to just settle a flat amount with you and hand you the check. When I moved, everything was handled for me. No out of pocket expenses at all, was all handled by a contract company.

4/26/2014 10:36:23 PM

I've been paid to relocate twice and both times I got a flat $5K. Some of that is deductible if you use it on actual moving expenses. In both cases I didn't spend it all on moving, so I ended up owing a touch more for taxes. If you are moving longer distances I think food is partially deductible, so save those receipts as well.

4/27/2014 10:16:26 AM

Federal employee here. Didn't get a signing bonus but I had all relocation expenses paid for down to the mileage I put on my car while driving here. They also got a moving company to move my stuff but as a recent college graduate I barely had anything to move. They brought me here for a few days to look at local apartments too.

Before I got my current job I had an offer from the Air Force which had all of the same relocation stuff but had an additional $10k signing bonus.

4/27/2014 3:57:52 PM

No signing bonus. Full relocation coverage which included packing and shipping my belongings from overseas as well as from my storage unit in nc, up to 18000 pounds. They also included shipping for one car, 450 pounds of air freight, international flights, and excess baggage allowance. It made moving a very low stress process.

4/28/2014 9:26:29 AM

My wife got a $10k signing bonus. They moved all of our stuff from Raleigh to Baton Rouge free including custom wood crates to move my 2 large flatscreens. They also paid us $3200 for moving expenses and $1800 for us to break our lease.

One year commitment on the signing bonus

[Edited on April 29, 2014 at 8:24 AM. Reason : year]

4/29/2014 8:23:16 AM

^damn, that's nice. What does she do, if you don't mind my asking?

4/30/2014 9:12:18 PM

Funny story. My first job (small company) offered me a base salary, with a portion up front to be used as a relocation bonus. Well, next year rolled around and my base salary was actually the amount minus the relocation, so i was making about 8% less than I thought.

Rolled outta that joint. I learned a lot though and it got me my new job. I don't hold it against them, but it taught me a lesson about making sure things are very clear. I went back after the talk and reread the offer letter. It was so vague, and could be interpreted either way.

5/5/2014 9:14:24 PM

I’m in the process of interviewing with a company in LA, meaning if they make me an offer I would have to move from Houston to LA. There are several factors to consider here. The increased cost of living, state income taxes, loss of second income from my wife, breaking current lease, deposit and first month’s rent on new lease among other things. They would have to offer me 40 grand more a year, full relocation, travel stipend and $10k signing bonus for me to even consider taking the offer seriously.

5/6/2014 9:54:45 AM

^

Be really careful about where you live. If you get housing in the "wrong place" for commuting you could spend more than an hour each way. It's worth it to me to pay a premium and live in an area close to where I work. A coworker was commuting an hour and thirty each way, which a lot of people seem to do, before he came to his senses and moved closer.

5/6/2014 5:36:20 PM

I commute about hour each way now. If I can get that down to around 45 mins I would be happy. I'm looking at the Santa Clarita area. Rent seems to be about half what it is closer to the city like North Hollywood or Pasadena area. Something in the 2,000 sqft range, 3 bdrm, 2-1/2 bath with garage is about 4 grand. Same digs in Santa Clarita is about 2 to 2.4 grand. Would love to find something in the Silver Lake area though. We have an 11 yr old so being in a good neighborhood with good schools is important. I'm open to suggestions. I have no experience with LA and have only been going on what I've read on the internet.

5/7/2014 8:39:46 AM