EARP ARA Training Explained
The ARA is a founder member and business partner of the European Academy of Relocation Professionals (EARP). Over the past year, the ARA has been providing members with the opportunity to attend ARA organised training with a view to attaining the EARP qualifications. The EARP is made up of the four founding members who are; the ARA, The SNPRM, ABRA and EuRA. Each association has nominated one of their council members to serve on the Board. The Board Members are; from the ARA, Mima Hillier of TTH Relocation Management; from The SNPRM, Joelle Touhadian of France Global Relocation; from ABRA, Anita Meyer of am & pm expat services and from EuRA, Christine Winning of Corporate Care, Ireland. It is the job of this Board to oversee the development of the syllabus, the assessment procedures and examine the applications for exemption from Level One. The administrative role of the EARP is to monitor the points of individual trainees, issue certificates for the attendance of training, acknowledge the completion of Levels by individuals and to oversee the receipt of exemptions. Each of the four associations which fund and make up the EARP, have a training committee. It is this committee who are responsible for organising all training events. The committee will decide on the dates for training, source venues and speakers and then accredit the modules that will be delivered. Each of the training committees must include the EARP Board representative. The ARA has made the provision of training over the years a priority, and now has the added benefit of an accredited syllabus enabling its’ members to work towards a professional qualification. At the recent EuRA conference in Copenhagen, 13 ARA members qualified as Certified European Relocation Professionals, Level 1, (CERP1) including all four members of the ARA Training Committee. One of the first people to gain her CERP1, Anita Saunders, was keen to see accredited training take place throughout Europe; “The relocation industry in Europe is constantly evolving and changing. As we address the issues our industry faces the EARP syllabus will increasingly become the backbone of how we train our staff and a valuable tool for new hires. It will also act as a central training resource for the established relocation professional to keep up with industry changes and new regulations that effect us.” Jane Craggs, of Valencia Relocation in Spain, is one of a growing number of people outside the ARA who are taking advantage of the training provided by us; “Obtaining a professional qualification in the subject relevant to one's work can only be beneficial. .. Relocation, as a service industry requires high levels of personal understanding … I am pleased to have participated in so many of the early modules and intend to continue, confident that the EARP qualification will become an asset in the industry. It was interesting to listen to modules outside my daily sphere of influence and to country specific issues, which may be relevant to clients’ pasts and futures if not to their present with us. Professional gatherings always have the useful networking opportunities and exchanges of views, not to mention the advantages of the well-chosen dates and venues so convenient for shopping and the theatre so participants can really make a day of it!” The ARA has been behind the instigation of training and is a leader in the field. We are very fortunate to have such a range of experience and talent within the Association that we can call on to help structure training days. The next full day of training will be on the 18th May, and details of this will be forwarded within the next week. We will be providing a day of Level 2 training on the 21st of September, as well as four regional days which will include two training modules. Full details of these regional events will be sent to members nearer the time. If you have any questions or comments about ARA, EARP accredited training don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you at future events.
ARA About to Welcome New Full Members
As you will no doubt be aware, the ARA has taken the decision to widen the category of full membership to include those service providers whose activities are central to the relocation process. Following the members voting to expand the membership at the last AGM in December, the council set up a working party to oversee the transition. It was agreed that the following list would be eligible for Full Membership; Relocation Service Providers, Education Consultants, Cross Cultural Trainers, Career Consultants, Serviced Apartment Suppliers, Schools offering International Programs, Removal Companies and Furniture Rental Companies. The Rules of Conduct have been revised to meet the needs of the changing membership of the Association and changes have been made to the requirements for Full Members. We will also be going on to look at the way we process Applications for Membership in light of the new rules and undertaking a review of the Objectives of the Association including writing a new mission statement. The Association is also developing an internal grading system for serviced apartments—this is intended to help members when they choose serviced apartment suppliers on behalf of clients. We undertook a broad consultation exercise with the potential new member companies, and some very interesting comments were made. Steve Thorne, Director of Ascott International, who provide serviced residences worldwide, commented; “The changes planned for the ARA will certainly broaden it’s appeal and offer more beneficial membership to those in the relocation industry. Ascott International supports this move and looks forward to participating as full members”
Broadband - What BT Don't Tell You
The ARA office subscribed to Broadband as soon as we could get it. However, we soon discovered a few problems with the service and felt we should bring them to your attention. Firstly, there are many providers of Broadband services, a list of whom can be found on the BT website at www.bt.com/broadband. There are many different deals available, but having looked at the options, the BT small business package came out as a good value. However, for the basic package of around £25, you cannot have Broadband connected to each of your PC’s if you run a network. This said, our IT specialists managed to get around this, and networked the connection. This saves £25 a month in the upgrade fee. Things BT DON’T tell you; Firstly, the Broadband connection will not work on a telephone line that goes through a switchboard. You must have a separate and new line installed. Secondly, if you have your own website, and send emails from this web address (i.e. we have www.relocationagents.com and the email address info@relocationagents.com) BT will not allow your emails to be sent using your web based address, until they have verified that you own it. We were not told this and it took BT four weeks to get the appropriate confirmation that we were the genuine website owners. During this time, we had to send all our emails, using the address they gave us. This does not look very professional. The reason for this is to prevent people illegally spamming using web addresses they do not own, but it would be very helpful if BT told customers this in advance. It was brought to our attention that BT have closed the office that many of the ARA’s members used to get new lines set up quickly for international transferees. We have written to the Chairman and have been assured that they are looking into this. This office was an invaluable asset to many members who could bypass the traditional line activation procedure and have lines installed for clients during those crucial first days of an international move into the UK. We will keep you posted.
Relocation Tracking Systems
The ARA is currently looking into Relocation Tracking Systems, by which members would be able to track clients movement through the use of one single software management system. We hope to find a system that we can recommend to members at the same time as negotiating a saving on the cost. Any company handling more than 50 relocations a year would find it difficult to run efficiently without such a system, and to this end we have been looking at what’s available for Relocation Service Providers. The primary function of the tracking system is to be able to log all issues to do with a client relocation. This will include all client details, entrance and exit dates, centralise all communications between staff and clients and importantly, accurately track invoicing. Another primary advantage of some systems is your ability to keep the HR department informed online through a web based interface. This allows you to select that information which you would like the HR department to have access to, concerning the relocatee. Just such a system is already in use across Europe by small and large companies. GlobeEase is an easy to use, single system for tracking national and international moves. Globe Ease can be accessed through the web allowing both relocators and HR people to keep up with moves from anywhere. GlobeEase is built on a Windows compatible platform and is very easy to use. For more information go to www.ieconsult.com JFK Solutions Ltd have also developed a system. One of the primary advantages of this system is the ease with which it can be expanded and contracted to suit the needs of different sizes and types of company. The system is compatible with Microsoft operating systems. For more information go to www.jfksolutions.net Tracking systems cut down the need for multiple telephone calls, as all the information is in one place viewable by all who are given permission to access the system. This is especially useful when dealing with clients in diferent time zones. Tracking systems are not cheap, indeed the very largest relocation management companies can invest hundreds of thousands of pounds in their systems. But a far smaller investment can save time and money as well increasing the efficiency and attractiveness of the services offered by relocation companies.
US Visa Waiver - Important Changes
The USA has dramatically increased security at ports and airports since September 2001, but from August this year, a new wave of security measures will be instituted. These new precautions are expected to lead to increased check-in times and much stricter rules concerning what can be carried in hand luggage. But the measure which is causing the most uncertainty are the new rules surrounding the visa immigration waiver. This is the system whereby most EU nationals can visit the US without a Visa. There are two important changes to the current system; firstly, everyone travelling to the USA will need their own passport. This is relatively straightforward and will only affect those people whose children are included on an adults passport. Since 1998, UK children have automatically been issued with their own passports so this new rule will only affect children born before this date, who have been included on a parental passport. The second change has more far reaching implications. Anybody wishing to travel to the US now has to be in possession of a machine readable passport. The machine readable part is the stream of letters, numbers and chevrons which appear in two lines at the bottom of the identification page. Passports including this information have been standard issue in the UK since 1991, and as all passports expire after ten years, all non-machine readable passports will have expired. The only current non-machine readable passports in circulation are those that have been issued abroad in a consular outpost, so if you lost your passport in Canada and were issued with a new one from there, this may not have the necessary machine readable information and you will not be able to use it to get into the US. There is a second issue with this. The new US rules state that a passport issued after October 26th 2004, must contain biometric data, if its holder is to be allowed entry into the US under the Visa Waiver Programme. Passports containing biometric data will need to include a chip into which a photograph of its holder has been scanned. This allows US immigration officials to tally the photo in the passport with the one stored on the chip, with your face. If these three do not match, you won’t be getting to that meeting on time. This new rule regarding biometric data in passports was decided prior to September the 11th and all 27 countries who are part of the Visa Waiver Programme agreed to it in 2001. However, the UK passport office, true to form, will not be issuing passports with biometric data until “mid 2005”. This means, if your passport expires after the 26th of October this year, and before the new biometric passports are issued, you will need to apply for a visa to enter the USA. This is a lengthy and time consuming process. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, all Visa applications have been heavily scrutinised and can take considerable longer than before to be agreed. A visa costs £65 and for everyone over the age of 16 applying for a US visa, a visit to the US Embassy in London or Belfast to be interviewed is mandatory. If you are in this position, start your application process as early as you can, as any last minute trips to the US will be impossible.