Behind the Scenes: A Day in the Life of a Relocation Specialist

Aside from reviewing intake forms, helping with rental applications, doing daily check-ins with clients, and coordinating move outs, what does a Transition Coordinator coordinator really do day to day? Here’s an insider look.

Having one of Fresh Start’s Transition Coordinators by your side is like having a Social Worker, a Real Estate Agent, a Personal Assistant and a Job Placement Specialist all in one go-to-person you can trust, available for guidance and direct help whenever you need it. During a stressful time, having access to this type of support can be life-saving for people and is truly a blessing. Every client is assigned a Transition Coordinator to ensure ongoing 1-1 support through every step of the process. They are there to lend an ear, help you prioritize, hold you accountable, walk alongside you, and advocate for you. 

One of our clients couldn’t call in to set up her new electric service at the apartment before the end of business hours the day before move in once she was approved for her lease, because she wasn’t allowed to talk on the phone during her shift working as a Call Center Representative. Our Transition Coordinator stepped in and called on her behalf to get it done and make sure she could pick up the keys to the apartment on time. 

Other clients don’t have access to a printer to sign forms and get them processed quickly; our Transition Coordinator sends the documents directly to their local Staples so they can pick it up, or finds a local mobile notary to go to their home or workplace for convenience. 

We even have coordinated transportation for a client who needed to submit time sensitive documents to a courthouse but didn’t have a ride. 

In another instance, some elderly clients had spent weeks going through a lengthy application process to get approved for their affordable housing unit, and with only 2 days left to go until the sale of their home, the leasing office called and explained the auditor caught an unknown pension payment in their bank statement history – they needed to provide the details for that pension account by the following business day or they’d be denied, leaving them homeless with nowhere to go. Our Transition Coordinator cleared her schedule to spend 5 hours on the phone that day tracking down the information, getting in touch with the right point of contact, faxing forms back and forth, convincing supervisors at the bank to override their typical policies, and ultimately forced the resolution to make it happen in the nick of time. These elderly clients never would have been able to figure all of it out on their own; our expertise makes all the difference when unexpected obstacles arise (and they often do). 

Here’s yet another example: a client had contacted her HR representative at her new job countless times during her 2 week training for the new position, and she kept getting the run-around from corporate regarding the Income Verification she needed for her rental application. They gave her an employment verification instead, that did not have her hourly rate listed with the overtime hours she was working. Despite following up with them multiple times, she was having trouble getting them to correct it. Our Transition Coordinator got in touch with the HR representative directly and obtained the updated version later that same day.

Our Transition Coordinator collaborates with our Relocation Specialist, our Transaction Coordinator, and any involved external professionals (leasing agents, hiring managers, moving companies, etc), to keep everything moving along quickly. 

No matter what the situation requires, we swoop in and save the day time and time again. It comes from experience, determination, and a willingness to always push harder for positive outcomes for our clients.