End Of An Era

Hey everyone. I've got a lot of things I want to write about, it's just a matter of finding time away from being lazy to write about it. Work hasn't allowed me much time to post either - the past couple of weeks have been our busiest. But, at least work will be giving me plenty of time in the upcoming months to write blog posts until my heart's content.

You see, I'm probably getting laid off.

I alluded to this in my last post, linking the article regarding Macy's decision to consolidate a few of it's divisional headquarters, including the one here in Seattle. What this means it that the majority of support jobs that our "corporate office" provides (really, we've never been a corporate office - divisional office is probably more fitting) will be folded into the San Francisco divisional office. This essentially provides me with 3 options;

1. Accept a position with the company here in Seattle at the store level

2. Relocate into a new position, most likely in San Francisco

3. Accept a severance package and move on to a new job

There are still many details that need to be worked out, but most likely, I will be choosing option 3.

The first option is somewhat likely, but there are very few Store HR positions available. A job as HR Assistant is not equivalent to my current position but it about double the stress & workload. HR Manager seems to be next in my career progression but they usually prefer to have experienced HR Managers in the Seattle stores, and I'm not willing to transfer to Wenatchee or Idaho Falls or Bozeman to be an HR Manager. There is always an option of transferring to a sales manager position in the store but that is a worst-case scenario - being a sales manager at Macy's is not part of the vision for my career.

Relocation is the least likely option. I love the city of San Francisco.......(I'll pause to give you time to make your gay jokes)......... and would be open to living there, but the cost of living is greater & I don't know if we would actually be able to live in the city. I moved to Seattle to be in an urban area, and aside from our apartment being on the smaller side, I LOVE where I'm living right now. I'm essentially in Downtown Seattle, with everything I need in life (except for Target) within walking distance. If I were to move to the Bay Area, I'd probably have to live somewhere like Daly City or Alameda. I'm not quite willing to do that. I'm open to the idea of moving somewhere else but I want it to be on my terms. Well, mine & Wac's terms.

The last option seems most likely, not just by choice, but by circumstance. My severance package should give me close to three months salary, ample time to find a new job without reducing my quality of living. I would be lying if I said I haven't thought about just taking a month or so off to live off severance, but in reality, the best case scenario would be to find a job immediately afterwards & apply my severance package to things like paying off credit cards & opening a savings account. I've got a goal to reduce the majority of my debt by 2010, but a severance package could accelerate that to 2009. Being able to do that would be absolutely HUGE.

In addition, I'm becoming more comfortable with the idea of moving on. I've been with this company for almost 12 years now. This is the only company I've worked for since high school (aside from the year or so I was still working at Dairy Queen). It's probably time to give myself the chance to try something new. I've been hesitant to do so, fearful that I'd be making a mistake & suffer a setback that would put me into an even bigger hole. But if it's opportunity that's being forced on me, there's not much more I can do. Moving on will be sad because I'm finally starting to grow comfortable in my job. I enjoy working with others in my department, I've got a great boss that allows me to work at my own pace, and I was excited about using this year as a stepping stone towards a promotion. But, unfortunately, the stakeholders are not happy, so our careers are the casualties so that they can fatten their pockets just a little bit more. Just gotta roll with the punches.