In November last year, five months after I moved back to Wellington from Auckland, the company I work for announced their intention to move it’s head office from Wellington to Auckland.
Operationally it’s a move that makes sense for the business – it’s former Wellington building was damaged to the point that we had to relocate following the 2013 Wellington earthquakes. Those of us in Wellington are in a temporary office and this gives the company an opportunity to put all head office staff in a single location, closer to key suppliers.
But having just spent close to four years in Auckland I am not keen to go back there. While it’s in many ways the easy option, right now there are a number of other cities in the world I would choose to live first. If I was asked to move internationally (within reason) or even to go South and somewhere I had never lived there before I would be there with bells on as living and working in different cities is a great way to explore the world.
Early last year New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key upset many when he referred to Wellington as ‘A dying city’. Grow Wellington are working to boost the number of jobs in Wellington over the next 10 years but other than Contact Energy, TradeMe and Zero and Z there are few growing brands I can list which are still here. There may be Government opportunities, but they require skill sets other than Marketing, such as Communications. Six years into my career I have only ever worked in Product Marketing roles at the Head Offices of large corporate organisations. All three which I have worked for have moved their offices from Wellington to Auckland in recent years.
My CV is also a mess – I’m a typical Gen-Y who displays little loyalty to my employers. similar to Sonny Bill but minus the titles. I’m not convinced I’ve followed the right career path and if I could afford to travel 3-6 months of every year that’s what I would do.
In the end whether to move came down to a heart vs head decision. While there’s someone in Auckland I would love to live in the same city as, I don’t love my job, and Auckland is not where I want to live in right now. If the result is me being unhappy I’m only going to make everyone around me miserable.