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SPA HOPPING Securing employment would present a challenge, as Bermudian applicants would be the toptier choice for employers. Among the challenges of working in balmy spa locales such as Bermuda are marketing and client retention during non-peak tourist seasons. therapist and founded a holistic healing center in Vermont, has devoted his entire adult life to a career focused on health, healing and well-being. He has owned, managed, directed and consulted with a range of independent as well as hotel and resort spas; served as trainer and educator for various programs and institutions; and sat on numerous committees and boards, including his current stint on the board of directors for the International Spa Association (ISPA). Despite all of Schmidt's accomplishments he, like many in our industry, was adversely affected by the economic recession. When in 2009 a spa project he'd been hired to build and open suddenly terminated due to a loss of backing, he was thrown off-guard. But he also saw the sudden change as an opportunity to reexamine his career goals and to consider new ways in which to achieve them. Enter Lori Hutchinson, a friend and spa industry colleague, as well as founder of hospitality recruiting firm Hutchinson Consulting. In late 2010, Hutchinson notified Schmidt about an assistant spa director position at the award-winning Willow Stream Spa at the Fairmont Southampton Princess on the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda. Although the idea of working for the venerable five-star Fairmont chain, and in particular their prestigious Willow Stream spa brand, held considerable appeal, the notion of actually relocating to the small (21 square miles, to be exact), foreign nation of Bermuda held a giant question mark in his mind. Plus, he was clearly overqualified for the "assistant" title. Still, Schmidt was intrigued enough to jet off to Ber- 26 DAYSPA | JANUARY 2013 muda for an interview. What he discovered there was one of Fairmont's original Willow Stream spas (branded as such in 2002), perched regally above the resort's 18-hole golf course, and framed by a pink-sand beach and the dazzling aquamarine-blue sea beyond. But Schmidt also discovered a major obstacle to making this big move: immigration. Bermuda is a British territory and, as a potential ex-pat, Schmidt found that securing employment there would present a challenge, as Bermudian applicants would be the first-tier choice for employers. And, as it turned out, the assistant director position in question subsequently became unavailable to him. Thwarted, he returned to the States and took on a long-term consulting contract to rebrand a domestic spa. Months later, in the fall of 2011, Schmidt received another call from Bermuda: The position of spa director at the Willow Stream would be opening up at the