will be dumped

[shootingstar]

So my job is being eliminated. Without going into details, am in limbo state. But my work colleagues are safe. Great ----they know about my situation and now I have to work through the next few weeks. A good friend (same employer but totally different dept.) insists I continue to actively be present in the life of my home division.

[rebeccaC]

So sorry to hear this shootingstar!
hoping it's about things falling apart so better things can fall together.
sending thoughts of caring, strength and peace to you

[lph]

I'm sorry to hear this, shootingstar. I hope things work out for you.

[shootingstar]

Working through several scenarios. Tell me of your experiences..

[Crankin]

Sorry, Shootingstar. What are your ideas?

[emily_in_nc]

That's a bummer. There must be other places where your skillset could be put to good use? Hoping you'll land on your feet! Will they give you a severance package, I hope?

[Sylvia]

In what field do you work? If I remember correctly, I think its computer related. Is that correct?


I work in Software Engineering as a QA automation engineer and got hit a couple of years ago, and was able to get another job in about 4 months.
But that 4 months wasn't a vacation, I spent the time looking for another job and keeping my skills up to date.

What worked for me was having my resume updated and posted on LinkedIn. This made it easier for recruiters who were looking for someone with my skills to find me.
Also allowed me to collect names of recruiters in my area that I could contact when I did get hit.

Next I used various online job boards to search for positions in my area. glassdoor.com was really helpful because I could sign up to get emails when new jobs opened that met my search criteria. I would also search various job boards, and job postings on company sites where you might be interested in working. You might find a good lead at an online career fair. If you find a job posting that sounds good, consider going on LinkedIn and see if you can't find a recruiter that works for that company, then message them and tell them you found this listing and would like to find out more about the position.

Between searching for the latest openings, and contacting recruiters, I also spent my time going through online tutorials to keep my job skills up and pick up some new skills, I found Udemy.com particularly useful, but don't ever pay full price for their courses. Go google for a discount code. You should be able to get a course for $20 or less. There are also various free online training places too. FreeCodeCamp.com comes to mind. But I think Udemy was one of the more useful sites I found and the cost wasn't that much if you used the discount codes.

For me it was tough and stressful, but I got through it and I feel more confident that if it happened again I could get through it again.

Good Luck!!

[Trek420]

I am so sorry to hear that!

I’m considering retirement in 126 days (who’s counting) and likely looking for something less stressful till 67 ish or Knott’s retirement whichever comes first. There are odd things going on in my industry which I won’t talk about till gone. But jobs which once seemed secure are now not and often the jobs most needed.

I plan to take 1-5 months off to recoup mental and physical health. Already keeping my eye on Linkedyn and Indeed.

[Geonz]

How are things going?

I'm catching up on a few thinsg here and saw this... and also the thread about websites that spans a few years... it made me think of the wait! wait! DOn't Tell Me "bluff the listener" segment where the true story was of women in tech never getting answers to their emails until they invented a man (the last name was even Mann...) ... then people responded... like the REmington Steele show of years gone by. Something to think about...

[shootingstar]

We'll see where things go (soon). Meanwhile I was organizing a clothes closet..so much clothing for self. Anyway will keep it since it's all in good shape and wearable. I'm a bit of a hoarder, so have enough non-perishable foods socked away, frozen fruit for winter..and for whatever reason, I've bough multiple bottles of body lotion (strong stuff is needed in our area. Dry, very cold prairie air) and shampoo when there were sales. Only certain brands work for me.

Because of my tenure in the workforce, I have a longish resume that's been rewritten drastically several times just so I can fit it all in 2 pgs.... My partner tells me just to list the employers and 1 line of top accomplishments per employer. Skills, skills, ...yes, dearie I agree and I have it summarized. But I don't want to give to the impression to prospective employers I'm hiding info. either. I hate resumes that hide a lot, and those that aren't chronological, when I've had to hire people in the past. Have eliminated years when I got my university degrees.

Yea, I actually do include cycling in interests. The message here is: I'm an experienced worker...and also quite active/fit/energetic. How else should I knock down ageism and similar impressions?

[Crankin]

Jean, when I was getting ready to graduate from my grad school program in counseling, I had the head of career services check my resumé. She was a woman my age, so I was pretty frank with her, about my concerns. So even though, I've been pleasantly surprised to find that I now work in one of the few fields where age is seen as an asset, she definitely encouraged me to include and keep my volunteer work as a bicycle trip leader for AMC on there. She also noted that it would back up the fact that I present as a fit person and I don't dress like an "old lady."

[Sylvia]

Because of my tenure in the workforce, I have a longish resume that's been rewritten drastically several times just so I can fit it all in 2 pgs.... My partner tells me just to list the employers and 1 line of top accomplishments per employer. Skills, skills, ...yes, dearie I agree and I have it summarized. But I don't want to give to the impression to prospective employers I'm hiding info. either. I hate resumes that hide a lot, and those that aren't chronological, when I've had to hire people in the past. Have eliminated years when I got my university degrees.

How I handled keeping my resume to 2 pages was I removed the positions that were the furthest in the past and didn't fit on the 2 pages. And at the end of that employment timeline I said, "For more extensive employment history see my LinkedIn profile at" with the url to my LinkedIn profile. I also had the url to my LinkedIn profile at the top of my resume with my email address and contact info. On my Linked-In profile I have a full dump of my employment history. This way if they really want to see it, they can, but typically they aren't going to care what I did 20+ years ago.