My Utah Experience
by John Ayer, AICP
Utah Planner Newsletter Editor
Ten years ago I moved to Utah from New
Hampshire, anticipating that my family and I would be here for only five
to seven years. I had left my first planning job with the Town of
Burlington, Massachusetts after roughly two and one half years and was
returning to Orem where I had interned during college. To the core I
am a New Englander and leaving there was difficult despite coming to where
I attended college, met my wife, and got married (sound familiar to anyone
else out there?!), so returning to the Northeast was a main thrust of my
plans from the beginning. The fact that I did not return there according
to my original schedule is only slightly disappointing. Had my Utah
experience been a waste I would be very disappointed, but in fact the
additional time has opened the door to additional opportunities, learning
important lessons, and meeting great people.
Over the course of my years in Utah I
applied for many jobs in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and upstate New
York and was turned down for about 98 percent of them. At one point
I realized that to improve my chances of being an attractive hire from
across the country I should become a certified planner. After the
challenging preparation for the AICP exam, I was thrilled with the news of
passing it. Unfortunately, having those additional four letters
after my name did not necessarily open the doors of opportunity to me and
certainly did not result in large volumes of job offers just because I was
a certified planner.
After the AICP exam I decided to get a
master’s degree in public administration. I did this hoping that
it would improve my look on paper and consequently improve my chances of
getting a job 2,500 miles away. While it may have piqued more
interest in me, the employment flood gates still did not break open in my
behalf. I was really puzzled now because I had everything on a
resume that would be appealing to an employer: AICP, MPA, and seven
to eight years of municipal planning experience. I thought I was a
shoe-in for a senior planner job or a director job in a small town, but it
was not to be.
An opportunity to work in the private sector
as a planner for a very reputable development company in Provo came along.
I thought that this was what I needed - to broaden my planning experience,
thereby making me look better on my resume. Unfortunately, it seemed
that every time I applied for a job and did not get it, I had a stigma of
being in the private sector and therefor being an outsider.
I quickly realized that getting back into
the public sector was what I needed to do to be attractive to a northern
New England or Upstate New York community. After returning to
public-sector work as a director, things started happening! I
qualified for more jobs, I felt like I qualified for more jobs, I got more
job interviews, and I actually got job offers. Now, with the right
job offer in hand, my Utah experience comes to an end and I will soon
return to New Hampshire.
Although I spent a little longer in Utah
than I anticipated, I am better for it. Although I was only trying
to improve my resume, I learned and grew. Although I was just trying
to do my job, I got to know other planners, bosses, students, teachers,
politicians, developers, engineers, secretaries, citizens, interns,
attorneys, managers, friends, and many others and they taught me. I
am more seasoned. I have experienced more of life. I have
gained understanding through doing. I have practiced being a planner
in many aspects of the profession, and now I have a better sense for and
wisdom about the profession because I have had great teachers, because I
have had intimate experience in the trenches, and because I have been
through a variety of learning moments even when it seemed like it was only
drudgery.
There is a lot more for me to know and a lot
of room for me to improve, but my Utah experience has become a great
learning opportunity for me without me fully realizing it in the process.
I would encourage all of you to consider what you are learning and how you
are growing in your career. If you cannot tell that you are learning
or growing, it may serve you well to go out of your way to do something
professionally to give yourself a boost such as volunteer with the Utah
Chapter of the APA, take a class or go for a graduate degree, read a new
book on planning or management, run for political office, become a
planning commissioner where you live (if it is not the same as where you
work!), change jobs, volunteer your professional skills to a charitable
organization - whatever may help lift you from stagnating drudgery and
allow a little more seasoning to rub off on you.
Best of wishes to you all and a special
thanks to those of you who contributed so much to my Utah experience!
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