Those of you who know me are aware of my adventures doing marketing for a corporation with domestic offices in Manhattan and Phoenix. I had been bumming around for about two years in Santa Fe doing basically nothing after my last job in Chicago ended. I was laid-off from my job as director of product design and development for a great international company headquartered in Chicago shortly after September 11th. Their business, as many others, began to tank as our economy took the post-terrorist hit. I really enjoyed the work, the people and the lifestyle—living in Santa Fe and traveling wherever they needed me to be. Chicago is an interesting place (more on Chicago in future posts) and it certainly gave me my "city" fix. Naturally, I saw the lay-off coming, but it is still a little shocking when you finally receive the call.
Anyway, my point in all of this is that I was very young and trying to develop a career, so I knew that I needed to land another job that was at least lateral with my previous position or, if possible, a promotion. It is funny how important the look of my resume was to me at the time (so young and naive). Santa Fe is a small community so I knew that there really wasn't anything for me here, so I concentrated my search on larger corporations, primarily through networking. Well, any of you who were laid-off post September 11th know that it seemed like everyone was out looking for a job, and to complicate matters, most companies had implemented a hiring freeze and were content with a "wait and see" attitude.
I had negotiated with the Chicago company to live in Santa Fe. I had watched my father work for the same company for 30 years, living wherever they told him to live, just counting the days to retirement. I realized that I did not want the same lifestyle and, while still in college, decided that northeastern New Mexico was the place I wanted to be. I thought that if I lived somewhere that I truly loved to be that every day could be a mini vacation (and in hindsight I was right).
But...I had just built a new home. The construction, closing, etc. had significantly depleted my savings. I had a hefty mortgage payment and all the various other debts that we all have. I had no job. After countless networking telephone calls I had no leads. Even though my degree was still shiny-new and my resume was basically a glorified one-pager, I was told by every employment agency and recruiter in town that I was "overqualified" (I will do future posts on employment in Santa Fe). I was terrified—but still living in my idea of paradise. My saving grace was the fact that I was so young and naive. I realized that my biggest fear was not losing my car or having to take a crap job somewhere to pay the bills. My biggest fear was the possibility of having to leave Santa Fe for employment in the event that a good job became available. I had worked so hard to get here. Could it be that the life I had imagined and systematically planned for myself could be so short-lived?
Fortunately, I had some savings to rely on and was quickly able to trim my expenses—no more season tickets to anything, no more dinner out three nights a week, cheap beer from the grocery store, etc. At first, giving up those luxuries that we all enjoy was like torture to me. I thought about why it was so important for me to live in Santa Fe if I wasn't able to partake in all the wonderful things that this city has to offer. But in that forced penny-pinching state, I came to realize that this city rocks. There are so many events, happenings, openings and activities available here that are either completely free or nearly so. A good portion of this blog will be dedicated to achieving a "Santa Fe Lifestyle" without being one of the uber-rich that Santa Fe has become so infamous for.
So, if you have read this far you are probably wondering WTF? this post is titled "Summer has Arrived" and this guy is rambling on and on about his career failures. Well, we are about to come full circle.
As I said earlier, I spent about two years looking for an appropriate job (meaning one that looked good on my resume). Suddenly, two positions became available. One was a Regional Director position for a company based in L.A. (Los Angeles—we quaintly call Los Alamos L.A. here), but the job was in the Denver area with the understanding that there would be multiple transfers across the US during what they referred to as "long-term" employment. There goes my idealized life in Santa Fe.
The other offer was a VP of Marketing position with an international corporation with base offices in Manhattan and Phoenix. They were even OK with me keeping my home in Santa Fe and agreed to a four-day on, three-day off (the weekend plus a day) work schedule. How great is that?? I can spend the work week in Manhattan (one of my favorite cities in the world) and weekend in Santa Fe—how cosmopolitan. I felt just like...well, I don't know who, some cosmopolitan guy.
Unfortunately, the Manhattan company was dragging it's feet with the initial negotiations so, out of necessity, I verbally accepted the position with the L.A. company although I had not yet submitted the signed contract. What to do, what to do? I got out the matches and gasoline and burnt the L.A. bridge down. I didn't feel so bad for the company—I like to think that I am good at what I do, but there were so many people looking for employment at the time that they could have easily gone with their second candidate. I did feel bad for the business associate who had recommended me for the position (he still barely speaks to me). Oh well, I am back on top and packing my bags for NYC!!! with a weekly sanity break called Santa Fe!!
Yeah, right. After arriving in Manhattan to meet the NYC staff, I was told that the company needed me in Phoenix so I would have my office there. Phoenix—like "out of the ashes arises"—like living on the face of the sun—like "I smell smoke, I think my hair is on fire". This sucks.
I lasted at the Phoenix job for about three years until I just couldn't take it any more. ( I will write about my life there later).
Most people I have met who are not familiar with northeastern New Mexico tend to lump all of the desert southwest in to the "Phoenix" category—warm winters, blazing hot summers. Santa Fe is not that at all. A heat wave in Santa Fe is mid 90's F, which is also deceptive. The temperature will gradually reach the mid 90's by about 4:00pm, by 8:00pm it is usually back in the mid 70's—a beautiful evening for all. Now, as I catch myself complaining about the weather, or listen to others lament the "relentless heat" that we in Santa Fe associate with our summer season, I simply remind myself that summer is here. With summer we start all the great activities associated with the season. And, unlike Phoenix, I don't have to worry about burning my ass on the car seat when I've parked at the grocery store too long, nor have I ever felt as if my hair was about the catch on fire.
Summer in Santa Fe is great, and this seasons posts will be about all that is good, bad and Santa Fugly in the sizzling "City Different".
email me: santafesteeze@yahoo.com
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