Chris Winningfounder of the Corpoate Care Foundation
I SET UP THE business in 1997 after having been a "trailing spouse" in the US twice. My husband, who was working for an IT multinational, was relocated to California and Chicago.
The first time we went I had a two-year-old child and was expecting a baby. The second time my eldest was nine. I loved both experiences, but it made me realise there's a need to help families coming to Ireland under such circumstances.
My typical day starts at 8.30am, when I check my e-mails. If it's an office day I make the five-minute commute from home to Blackrock, in Cork, to start organising schedules for clients. If it's an "out" day I'll go and pick them up from their hotel at around 9.30am and take them to see sample areas, houses and schools.
In the last few years the number of families relocating has fallen because of corporate cutbacks. It's much cheaper for a company to relocate a single person with no attachments - what they term "globally mobile". We're also seeing the length of assignments falling, with the traditional two- or three-year posting much more likely to be a six-month assignment.
It's because relocating a family is expensive. To move the family of someone on a typical middle-management salary of $100,000 (€70,000) for three years typically costs $1 million (€700,000).
When a company does decide to do it, therefore, it's very important that it works, which is why they hire me.
I'm totally honest with people about life here. Realistic expectations are crucial. Americans in particular are always shocked at how much it costs to live here. To give them some idea we ask them what car they drive. A Toyota Rav4, for example, costs three times as much here as it does there.
They are also shocked at the price of comparable housing. A typical US middle- management executive may have a 5,000sq ft house. Here the average four-bedroom house is 1,200sq ft, and to get what he or she is used to costs a fortune. On the other hand they tend to love the lifestyle - not having to be in work by 5am, for a start.
I'm normally home by 8pm. Once a month we run a social night, so I might be helping with that. The pub culture is a big negative for people relocating here. Those with small children worry there's no other way to meet people than the pub.
We match clients up with people who have made the move already, and once a month we run the social night, and that helps them all find each other and get their social lives started.
When I started I thought it'd be a paying hobby. I didn't realise it would turn into a business with four staff. But the greatest thing about it is how it has broadened my kids' horizons. We know people all around the world now.
In conversation with Sandra O'Connell