Thoughts of the newly-unemployed
So, I was right on the money on Thursday and I walked into my last meeting at Random House knowing exactly what was about to happen. In this regard I was more fortunate than the other 13 people to be cut this week - almost 10% of the entire Australian workforce. I at least had been able to come to terms with the whole thing before walking in and hearing the news from the Sales Director and the HR Manager and this made a huge difference. I was composed and understanding and I think the professional way I took the news earnt me a lot of respect among the senior management. This isn't a small thing either - the publishing industry is very small in Australia and chances are I'll be working with some of these people again in a few years under different circumstances. It also made me feel that I had at least ended that chapter of my life with dignity and some measure of control. It's also nice having an insider in the office. Jess kept her job (she's completely indisposable) and she's relaying some of the nice things being said about me in the office. It looks like, out of all the redundancies handed out, mine was the one that most people are upset about.
So, what next? I spent Friday calling up all of my former customers to inform them what had happened and thank them for all their support over the years - and also to network. I had 5 job offers on Friday and a few other leads to follow up. None of the offers are exactly what I want so far and I am holding everyone at arms length for at least a week so I can work out what I want to do and go through my options very carefully. I don't want to jump at the first opportunity that comes up and get stuck in the wrong job. I am also going ot finally set myself up as a freelance editor and run my own business on the side doing manuscript assessment and other things like that. An online bookseller has asked me to write a monthly sci-fi newsletter for them which will be a lot of fun, give me some pocket money and keep me in touch with the industry. Ideally I'd like to get back into one of the major publishing houses either in sales or the editorial/publishing departments but there are some interesting retail positions out their as well, working as the book buyer for example.
So ulitmately, this is all positive at the moment. In 4 weeks time, if I'm still unemployed, that's when it's going to begin to hurt. But I have plenty of short term options at the moment and what I've really been given is the freedom to move where I want to. One month ago I was feeling stuck in my job and I've been looking for another option for a while now. This just means I can focus solely on that next move with the added bonus of 10 weeks severance pay in my back pocket and all the resources of a top notch out-placement centre fully paid for by Random House for the next two months. It's all pretty exciting really.
So, what next? I spent Friday calling up all of my former customers to inform them what had happened and thank them for all their support over the years - and also to network. I had 5 job offers on Friday and a few other leads to follow up. None of the offers are exactly what I want so far and I am holding everyone at arms length for at least a week so I can work out what I want to do and go through my options very carefully. I don't want to jump at the first opportunity that comes up and get stuck in the wrong job. I am also going ot finally set myself up as a freelance editor and run my own business on the side doing manuscript assessment and other things like that. An online bookseller has asked me to write a monthly sci-fi newsletter for them which will be a lot of fun, give me some pocket money and keep me in touch with the industry. Ideally I'd like to get back into one of the major publishing houses either in sales or the editorial/publishing departments but there are some interesting retail positions out their as well, working as the book buyer for example.
So ulitmately, this is all positive at the moment. In 4 weeks time, if I'm still unemployed, that's when it's going to begin to hurt. But I have plenty of short term options at the moment and what I've really been given is the freedom to move where I want to. One month ago I was feeling stuck in my job and I've been looking for another option for a while now. This just means I can focus solely on that next move with the added bonus of 10 weeks severance pay in my back pocket and all the resources of a top notch out-placement centre fully paid for by Random House for the next two months. It's all pretty exciting really.