Well, I became a statistic at about 3PM today. I was brought into HR and told my position had been eliminated, and I could either take a temp intern job (at about 40% the pay) or a severance. I took the severance.
Some background: I started at this company 5½ years ago, when it was a small startup (biotech). I was employee 25 and there are now ~125, though that will be shrinking shortly from the sound of it. For the first 2 years or so, it was a dream job. The kind where you look forward to Monday mornings; exciting, interesting, adn you reeally felt you were a part of something. We were then acquired twice within 6 months and it all began to go downhill from there. All the original management is now gone, and they were replaced by asshats that took us from profitablility and a position as one of the most rapidly growing companies of our size and type in the nation to a company that lost several million last year and will probably downsize 20% of the work force this year. They did get nice acquisition bonuses, however, so they’ve got that going for them. :rolleyes:
It sucks when a company that you have a lot of sweat equity, time, and pride in is run into the ground by latecomers and people that don’t have the same commitment. But, that’s the game I guess and no one ever said life was fair and equitable.
I’m a little freaked out still. I’m 31 and had a job since I was 12 and I’ve never been asked to leave. Plus, I have a 2 month old daughter now, so the timing sucks (not like there’s ever a good time to lose your job).
I’m not looking for sympathy though. The severance was actually fairly civil and there’s a lot of people out there that are a lot worse off. I did manage to get my work to pay for half my tuition for my MBA while I was there, so hopefully that will pay off.
Anyway, just needed a place to vent, I guess. And hopefully all you Dopers can learn to always keep your resume updated amd your eyes open for opportunity, cuz no one is really safe anymore it seems.
Thanks for listening (or reading).