Unemployment
This happened the Friday after I got back to Boston from my Thanksgiving trip to visit family and friends.
I got into work in the morning as usual, when the owner came down and said there was a meeting upstairs that I needed to be in. I assumed it was related to the project I'd been working on. I was doing most of the development work for a venture capital client's new website and, because of endless delays and revisions in getting them to agree to a design, it was running up against the wire. As it was, we were planning to come in over the weekend to get it finished.
I grabbed my cup of coffee, went upstairs, and found only the owner and director of operations in the conference room. The owner said, owing to economic circumstances, they were making some layoffs and "had to let me go." We covered the details of when my last paycheck would be, continuing health coverage under COBRA, and I was escorted to collect my things and leave.
It was totally unexpected, but I suppose it makes sense to cut the newest employees first, which is what seemed to happen. And there seemed to be a significant number of people cut for a 23-person company. (Still, I wonder: why cut the guy working on the important project less than a week before it's due? They /still/ haven't finished it, almost a month later...)
At the urging of an old friend, I took a week off and did nothing to nurse the ol' ego. Being laid off is unpleasant on many levels, not just for the finances. And, as I recall well, since it was only a few months ago, job hunting shares many of those sources of unpleasantness.
I thought about putting in some grad school applications, since the news came just before the deadlines started coming. In the end, I decided against it. Better, I thought, to put in a really impressive application in a couple years and have an overwhelming chance at acceptance than to keep applying and get known as "that guy" who they stop paying attention to without hearing me out.
Plus this time around, I have a significantly bolstered resume to send to potential employers. Even though it was only three months, I do have experience now, so I can sell myself as someone who's /proven/ that he can do this professionally, not just someone who happens to have the skills. And although the "economic situation" means that new openings are tighter than before, at least I'm not looking for work in Michigan.
And, best of all, I may have a lead on a great new job already, even before my paychecks have stopped coming.
I got into work in the morning as usual, when the owner came down and said there was a meeting upstairs that I needed to be in. I assumed it was related to the project I'd been working on. I was doing most of the development work for a venture capital client's new website and, because of endless delays and revisions in getting them to agree to a design, it was running up against the wire. As it was, we were planning to come in over the weekend to get it finished.
I grabbed my cup of coffee, went upstairs, and found only the owner and director of operations in the conference room. The owner said, owing to economic circumstances, they were making some layoffs and "had to let me go." We covered the details of when my last paycheck would be, continuing health coverage under COBRA, and I was escorted to collect my things and leave.
It was totally unexpected, but I suppose it makes sense to cut the newest employees first, which is what seemed to happen. And there seemed to be a significant number of people cut for a 23-person company. (Still, I wonder: why cut the guy working on the important project less than a week before it's due? They /still/ haven't finished it, almost a month later...)
At the urging of an old friend, I took a week off and did nothing to nurse the ol' ego. Being laid off is unpleasant on many levels, not just for the finances. And, as I recall well, since it was only a few months ago, job hunting shares many of those sources of unpleasantness.
I thought about putting in some grad school applications, since the news came just before the deadlines started coming. In the end, I decided against it. Better, I thought, to put in a really impressive application in a couple years and have an overwhelming chance at acceptance than to keep applying and get known as "that guy" who they stop paying attention to without hearing me out.
Plus this time around, I have a significantly bolstered resume to send to potential employers. Even though it was only three months, I do have experience now, so I can sell myself as someone who's /proven/ that he can do this professionally, not just someone who happens to have the skills. And although the "economic situation" means that new openings are tighter than before, at least I'm not looking for work in Michigan.
And, best of all, I may have a lead on a great new job already, even before my paychecks have stopped coming.