'Tis the Season. The slow season that is.
What I do for a living is seasonal in nature. In the wintertime, things get slow naturally. This year, due to the lovely building and development market, it was about as slow in the summer as it was last winter. That is bad. When winter came, slow came to stop.
About half of my department was laid off last week. I was one of them. Even though I had worked at that company for over two years, I was the 'junior' member of the office staff. Last in first out is what they told me.
Luckily, I had some money stuffed away that I was originally saving up to use to buy a house until the credit market took a huge dump. Right now, its a lifeline. It gives me time to get my bearings and figure out where to go here. And with the vacation payout, I'm TECHNICALLY still getting paid until Christmas.
Right now, I have very few prospects to remain in my field... again due to the credit market and the economy in general. The most promising one would require me to do work that is mostly OUT of my current field, but I'm at least qualified to do. It is for a tiny company that is looking to diversify, and would like me to help them do it. However, since they have no contracts for the 'new' work, they can't hire me. At least not yet. I went in today (even with the roads that looked more like an ice rink than a road), and started putting together a presentation for them. I'm going to do the rest from home.
I would say that the freelance work is income, but it really isn't. Since I filed for unemployment, I'd have to declare the income and it would be deducted from my benefits. So, unless I make more than 320 dollars this week doing it (which is what I get on unemployment), which I won't, its really not worth charging them for my work.
Tomorrow I finish the presentation. Then, I polish up my resume. Fun times.
About half of my department was laid off last week. I was one of them. Even though I had worked at that company for over two years, I was the 'junior' member of the office staff. Last in first out is what they told me.
Luckily, I had some money stuffed away that I was originally saving up to use to buy a house until the credit market took a huge dump. Right now, its a lifeline. It gives me time to get my bearings and figure out where to go here. And with the vacation payout, I'm TECHNICALLY still getting paid until Christmas.
Right now, I have very few prospects to remain in my field... again due to the credit market and the economy in general. The most promising one would require me to do work that is mostly OUT of my current field, but I'm at least qualified to do. It is for a tiny company that is looking to diversify, and would like me to help them do it. However, since they have no contracts for the 'new' work, they can't hire me. At least not yet. I went in today (even with the roads that looked more like an ice rink than a road), and started putting together a presentation for them. I'm going to do the rest from home.
I would say that the freelance work is income, but it really isn't. Since I filed for unemployment, I'd have to declare the income and it would be deducted from my benefits. So, unless I make more than 320 dollars this week doing it (which is what I get on unemployment), which I won't, its really not worth charging them for my work.
Tomorrow I finish the presentation. Then, I polish up my resume. Fun times.