The current debate on the ‘Big Society’ is highlighting how volunteering can help communities. Becoming a volunteer is also a great way of ensuring you integrate quickly into your new area when you relocate, particularly if you’re a trailing partner.

Volunteering can help you meet new people, learn new things, and feel useful. As a bonus, you may gain skills and knowledge that will be invaluable if you decide to look for paid employment.

Whatever skills you have, your local volunteer centre can match you with individuals, not-for-profit organisations and charities that need your help. As well as recruiting for regular slots, they find volunteers for special events and one-off sporting, leisure and cultural occasions, enabling you to fit volunteering around your schedule, however much – or little – time you have.

To find your nearest volunteer centre, go to http://www.volunteering.org.uk/WhatWeDo/Local+and+Regional/VolunteerCentreFinderGoogle.htm

Ensuring the welfare of elderly relatives is always a sensitive issue, and never more so than when you are relocating.

With life expectancy increasing, many relocatees are having to consider the welfare of their parents, or other elderly relatives, as well as that of their children – a trend that is set to grow in the future.

If you’re in this position, the whole family will first have to consider whether it’s best for your relative to accompany you when you relocate, or stay in familiar surroundings. Your ultimate decision will depend on a number of factors, including how long you are relocating for and any health problems your relative may have.

If it is decided that your relative should go with you, you may already know which agencies in your new location you need to contact, as you may have been through the same procedures in your current area. If not, the following may be helpful.

Residential care

Before opting for long-term residential care, you and your relative need to decide whether it is the most satisfactory solution for all concerned. Your local authority can assess the need for community care services, and, having done so, advise on the best type of residential home to choose.

Once your relative has been assessed, you will have to find out whether you will be responsible for the whole cost of care, or whether you are eligible for financial help from the local authority.

Finding a residential care home

You may already know which care home you would ideally prefer for your elderly relative, perhaps through personal recommendation. Otherwise, the Care Quality Commission can supply details of homes on its register. Social workers at your local authority’s social services department or hospital may also be able to help.

Once you have a list of homes, visit a couple that seem promising, to meet the staff and residents and find out more about the care that will be provided.

Help at home

It may be that, with suitable care and support, your relative would be able to remain in the family home. Contact your local Age UK office for information about support provision in your area.

Age UK is an excellent starting point first point for any further queries, as it produces information leaflets and keeps lists of care providers.

Family-friendly employers

Bear in mind that employees caring for dependants have certain rights to help them manage work and caring, including the right to request time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant.

Employers wishing to be seen to be in the vanguard of good practice are becoming increasingly family friendly, so it’s worth discussing your particular needs and circumstances with your HR department. Your employer may already be aware of the Top Employers for Working Families awards scheme, which recognises companies that help their workers to balance work with childcare and eldercare commitments.

For further information, see http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/DG_10026555, www.ageuk.org.uk and www.topemployersforworkingfamilies.org.uk/

Executive coach Satu Kreula has some good advice for expatriate spouses and partners coming to the UK on how to succeed in today’s competitive jobs market.

1. Learn how things work in the UK

You need to ensure you have an advantage over other candidates by knowing how things work in the UK. Make sure your CV is up to UK standards; get advice on this from career professionals or consult a book on CVs. Spend time looking through relevant journals and websites, so you know who the players are and what the concerns are in your market.

Those keen to broaden their horizons by working abroad will be pleased to hear that a global survey of hiring and firing trends has found that job prospects for professionals and managers are continuing to improve around the world.

Covering more than 9,600 organisations in 55 countries, the Global Snapshot, from international recruitment firm Antal, asked companies in major markets, including western and Eastern Europe, Africa, India, China and the USA, whether they were currently hiring at professional and managerial level. It then asked whether they planned to do so in the coming quarter and whether they were currently letting staff go or were planning to do so in the next three months.

As case studies show, career counselling can help trailing partners buy-in to the move, upgrade their careers and – in doing so – it aids retention.

Career counselling can prove invaluable in ensuring the so-called ‘trailing partner’ doesn’t feel like an also-ran in the relocation process. It gives him or her the chance to consider what they want to get out of the relocation, and how best they can achieve it. A relocation may prove the perfect chance for a reassessment of the direction in which the individual wants it to progress – or, indeed, for an entire change of direction.

A large-scale survey of the views of spouses and partners of international assignees has recently been conducted by Permits Foundation. It finds that a lack of spouse and partner employment opportunities adversely affects international mobility, and that a few simple improvements, including providing work permits for spouses and partners, can create a 'triple win' for employers, families and host countries. Moreover, the research finds that spouses and partners are a highly-educated, under-utilised talent pool that can contribute to the economy of the host country. Sue Shortland reports.

Going global typically means that employers require employees to live and work abroad. Reasons for this include filling skills gaps and training and developing local staff, as well as providing a source of organisational control and acting as a conduit for the dissemination of organisational policies, practices and culture. Employees may also be asked to work abroad as part of their own development as they are groomed for even higher positions within their own organisations.

Today, though, the scenario of the working expatriate husband and accompanying non-working female spouse is long since a distant memory. Expatriates are, typically, accompanied by a spouse or a partner who works and wishes to continue to do so. For some, this is a matter of financial reality, while for others the desire to remain in employment concerns career aspirations and feelings of social acceptance and self-worth.