My Desert House.

Once you have a certain amount of years and companies that have name recognition on your resume, you experience cycles of aggressive outreach from recruiters. 

Lately has been one of the cycles for me. Two years ago it was the same. Last year - not nearly as much.

I won't have my "open to" opportunities status even quietly turned on in LinkedIn, and I will have recruiters reaching out to me in the hopes that I will be interested. (This is a similar situation for others I have worked with over the years in the industry. And we all agree, recruiters are being more active lately.)

"Would you consider moving back to NYC for an in-person role," was a question I got last month from a cold outreach.

Instead of writing back, "Not interested," I decided to write back, "Possibly. It depends on the opportunity for me."

I let them know the level and title for which they were recruiting was interesting. They hadn't shared the company with me... Just a few details about what they do. 

The recruiter wanted to chat. But I am insanely busy in general, and prefer correspondence to be over email. So I cut to the chase...

"I would consider moving back east if an opportunity paid two and a half times what I make now and offered moving expenses," I said.

While the role did end up paying significantly more than I make now - it wasn't worth trading in a work from home lifestyle in a much cheaper market. 

A market where I can take walks in the sunshine nearly every morning, and get treated to this scene...



The blooming morning desert. 

Don't get me wrong, though. There are moments where I think, "I would love to be an introvert in a big city again. It was an easy life."

I'm not ready to jump back to that. But in a way, I've already mentally established what it would financially take to get me to consider it. 

An insane amount of money.

But I'd for sure keep my desert house. 

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