The guy that heads my job has called a meeting at 2 pm today. It doesn’t sound good. All of the supervisors/ project leads were in a meeting yesterday afternoon for a long time. I think it has something to do with the contract work that our organization does for a large government organization. I have to be cryptic because what I do fall under a confidentiality agreement with said government agency.
Two days ago another coworker said he heard something was going down, but he didn’t know what, but was sure it wasn’t good. He is not usually the kind of guy to get people all worked up over nothing.
So I have this meeting at 2 pm and I have a sick gut feeling that I am going to lose my job- along with everyone else who works here :eek: and I will be so screwed if I do.
I have been looking for another job for months and months now to replace what I do now- because it sucks. It is supposedly easier to find a new job while you already have one- not!
I guess I always have the option of filing for unemployment to help out temporarily, but that will just cover my bills- barely. I am so bummed and I don’t know what to do.
My husband is on his way over to pick me up for lunch. I just hope I can hold it together through lucnch and not fall apart worrying before the meeting. I especially hope I can hold it togther during the meeting.
Well… I have returned from the"Meeting of Doom". We were informed that our budget was cut by 50% and that layoffs need to be made. They figure they need to let 4 people go. To make this sound worse… we have a total staff of 12 including our project leads- so that is 1/3 of the staff that gets to go bye bye.
I did some thinking while I was in this “Meeting of Doom” I did a lot of thinking. Maybe this is the push I need to be able to find a job in a career that I was actually trained to do. I have a B.S. in Geology and do nothing of the sort right now.
I went to our head director and told him that if they had to make a decison between me and my coworker, who does the same job I do, that I wanted them to let me go. She needs this job a whole hell of a lot more than I do. I trained here well, so I know she is damn capable of doing this job without me. I told him that I have enjoyed working here for the past 5 years and that I appreciate the experience I have gained and so on and so forth. but maybe it was a “sign” that it is time thatI move on from here. I was trying to make thier decision easier. They will make their decision by Monday or Tuesday.
I am extremely calm about this right now, but I am sure I will fall apart as soon as I get home, but I have a nice chilled bottle of white wine in the fridge to help me out .
Thanks for the good thoughts :::thinking happy thoughts::: And I will check back and update as I know more. As far as I am concerned, it would suck if my job went away, but I hate this job- so maybe “It’s a good thing”.
One thing to think about is that being part of mass layoff in some ways leaves you better off than getting fired or even just quitting. Prospective employers won’t wonder if you did something wrong. They don’t even need to know that you were job-hunting. As far as they need to know, you were happy in your current position and you’re only looking for a new job because you have to. But you should line-up recommendations, references etc. as soon as possible. If your supervisors also get laid off, it might be hard for a new employer to reach them.
:eek: You’re a better man than I! (and you ain’t even a man!)
I lost more jobs in Vegas than were lost to NAFTA. I always found another one, and NEVER had to get a job in a casino! Hope that cheers you up! Good luck.
Uh… thanks I figure it was an easy way out of a job I don’t care much for anyway, plus she needs this job a whole lot more, financially, than I do.
I was told today before lunch that I am being laid off (yippee… um I am mean uh…), the whole spiel etc… I have a job through the end of September plus 28 days of paid vacation (that they do have to pay me for). They want me to use up some of my days off- of course… but we’ll see.
But sometimes when a door closes, another opens… My husband called me and said that this engineering firm is looking for staff to be part of a drill rig operation, logging core water sampling etc. It would be 7 days on, 7 days off :eek: So I took my resume and stuff over just for an informal chat with the guy for that. He works in the same building as my husband, and they know each other. So anyway, we chatted and it sound like a great opportunity to get some real good work experience. Plus, I have experince in 95% of what they would be doing. The down side is that work would not start until December. So I might end up with a month off. Filed with unemloyment of course. Even though this looks promising, I am still looking for other jobs.
I’m sorry. I missed that whole “down side” thing. Would you be so kind and spell it out for me? Lets see: 28 days paid vacation. Check. November off. Prime college football season/nice weather in Vegas. Money in the mail from Carson City. Check.
Well, I get bored easily… but my house would be really clean! and I would be able to get a lot of house stuff done like painting… OK maybe it wouldn’t be that bad
Yeah, not a lot of geology going on in the casinos except for some of the spiffy counters in the bathrooms and at the “check-in” counters and the floors at the higher end places… granites, marbles, and some really nice gneisses. They seem to get upset when you start looking at their contertops and such with a hand lens not that I have ever done that or anything…
Not to put a damper on the good vides in this thread, but has this other employer actually offered this new job to you? If they have, congrats!! If they haven’t, keep sending out those resumes.
A lot can happen between now and December, or whenever they actually fill the position. You should ride the good vibes and continue to send out resumes because it is so much easier to look for a job when your mood is upbeat. In addition, you might even get a better offer that the one you have (or might have).
Duckster; I have been submitting resumes. In fact, I submitted another resume last night to a different environment firm. So that brings me up to 4 resumes submitted within a week. I am not saying I will get the job mentioned (the drill rig operation), but I am staying positive.
Jobs in the geotechincal/environmental/etc arena are very competitive, and if you have little or no work experience it makes it all the more difficult to get your foot in the door. Jobs are pretty thin around here also. Alot of layoffs were made after 9/11 and the market is just starting to recover (here). So a lot of people whe were laid off in 2001 are out there looking for work too, and they have experience. I have a fair amount of experience, but most of it comes from school (field classes, independant projects) but only 1 year of actual “real world” work experience. They don’t seem to care what you did in school.
The job I have been doing for the last 4 years isn’t adding to that experience. So, I am trying to find a “foot in the door” entry type position… which there are very few of.
Yep, except for this “downer” post (and my therapist will be proud of me )
I figure it was an easy way out of a job I don’t care much for anyway, plus she needs this job a whole lot more, financially, than I do.