How Did We Get Here?

Our big announcement took a lot of people by surprise, so here's a little backstory (for those of you who like that kind of thing):

Zac and I both work for ALK, an international allergy pharmaceutical company. Our headquarters is in Hørsholm, Denmark, and the site where we work is in Post Falls, Idaho. Over the 10+ years we've worked for ALK, a handful of colleagues have received outplacements - short assignments (usually 1-2 years) at another ALK site. These are typically reserved for people in higher-level positions that are needed to fill a specialized, temporary niche. When I started my career at ALK back in 2011, I was neither high-level nor specialized, but I did get to travel several times to Denmark for work. Every time, I came back lamenting the fact that I couldn't live there. It was amazing!

Nyhavn on my first trip to Denmark in 2013

The last couple of years, Zac and I have talked more seriously about what would happen if an opportunity for an outplacement came up. With my carfully-honed set of skills and over a decade of experience, it seemed like a much more real possibility, and I hadn't been shy about expressing my sincere interest in such a thing to managment. What a great experience for our family and for our kids, right? We agreed wholeheartedly that we would jump at the opportunity if it came about, but it never materialized. The budget kind of tanked us, I think. (If you do an outplacement, the company pays for your relocation and your housing while you're over there, so costs can add up fast for them.)

One day, in early April 2023, a different opportunity came up - an actual permanent job opening at our Hørsholm site. The job was in the Drug Substance Development department, a group I work with closely in my current position in Source Material Development. I contacted the hiring manager to see if she would even consider an international candidate, and when the response came back positive, I met with my manager and director. I wanted to be sure I had their support before moving forward. I laid out three major points:

• The move is in line with my professional development goals (to learn more about the drug substance process).
• A strong bridge between source material and drug substance would be beneficial for both sites, especially when it comes to process improvements and troubleshooting.
• It opens up a lot of growth opportunities for people in my existing department - I wear a lot of hats locally and globally, and someone will have to backfill those roles.

Of course, they were incredibly supportive (because ALK is an awesome company and my management is top-notch), so I applied. I submitted my résumé and a letter outlining why I wanted the job and why they should want to hire me. I had my first interview at the end of April, took my IQ test and personality test at the beginning of May, had a second interview shortly after, and was offered the job before the month was over!

Well that's great for you, but what about Zac? What's he going to do?

I'm glad you asked! For years, I had been hearing from my Danish friends and colleagues that the Calibration department (Zac's department) at the Hørsholm site could use him. When it was suggested that I might apply for this new position, I asked about the current situation in the Calibration group. I was told two of the three members on that team had recently left and the third was retiring in July, so there were definitely openings. It seemed like a sign.

Three or four people spoke to the manager or director of that group during my interview process (of their own volition) to tell them they were going to benefit from this path we were headed down; they were both excited to talk to him. Once I signed my written job offer, Zac emailed them both to introduce himself, and because of that supportive management I talked about earlier, Zac's director even reached out to them to give Zac a rave review. They scheduled a meeting to chat with him and Zac walked away from his Teams call with the promise of a written job offer, too!

So that's the story. We worked hard, we knew what we wanted, we had the support of friends, colleagues, and management, and now, we're moving to Denmark!

Our beautiful home is for sale!