Job Hunting sucks

alabama_old_fart

Shared on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 10:45

All right, here's the deal.  I've worked for the same company for over 15 years.  In all that time, I hadn't even submitted an application anywhere else because I have loved my job and the people I work with, and made a decent living without having the boss looming over my shoulder.  I set my own schedule, pretty much, had a new car every 18 months I could use for personal use for $160 a month, and the work was challenging and fun.  Yes, fun.  About a year and a half ago, the company was bought out and taken private.  The new owner is egomaniacal, secretive, and a, well let's just say he believes a contract is written in stone and the stone don't break.  So I'm not real happy with the change, but the job is still fun.  A week ago, I get a call from my supervisor at 8:00 in the morning.  The exact wording has become a blur, but the gist was this is your last day with the company, I spent the night in your town and I'm coming to your house to pick up your stuff.  Well, now, over the years the line between my stuff and the company stuff has become a bit blurred so I tell him a need some time to seperate it.  I get one hour.  After 15 years, I get one hour.  The company let go 17 people in the field, most of them with as many or more years of service than I had.

It's not all bad.  The severance package will tide me over for about 3 months, and if I find a job shortly, I can replace the company car with no problem.  The thing is, I"m spending about 3 hours a day job hunting.  I'm sending resumes to everything, from wildly overqualified to wildly underqualified, trying to get an interview, or just some response.  So far, nothing except one very nice guy who said I was wildly underqualified.  About one more week of this, I'm going to get a complex.

Sorry, nothing profound here, just needed to write it down somewhere and I know many of you have gone through this before and I knew you'd understand.  On the plus side, that gold cross in CoD4 has never seemed closer.

Comments

BalekFekete's picture
Submitted by BalekFekete on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 10:49
That, well sucks. I know all to well how to get "the call" (fortunately for me, it was at a job that absolutely SUCKED ASS and led me to my current dream job). I'm not sure what kind of work you do, but my company is growing like mad, and might have something open depending on your background/skills. B.
h8z_u_all's picture
Submitted by h8z_u_all on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 10:51
Stop playing COD!!!! I will never catch up!
Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 10:54
Loyalty doesn't count for much. I hate it for you.
wilderz's picture
Submitted by wilderz on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 11:02
It almost seems like a myth nowadays to hear of someone that has worked for and retired from the same company they spent their entire career at. Just doesn't happen anymore. I work as a production artist, and our jobs have scaled back to a point where I need to pick up some part-time work for a bit. Good luck man, Something will turn up!
alabama_old_fart's picture
Submitted by alabama_old_fart on Sun, 04/13/2008 - 10:28
Hey Whistler, I'm in the computer hardware and networking field. I've installed systems, printers, pc's and networks for the last 15 years. It's normally a pretty open field but kids straight out of tech school will work for half of what I was making and employers don't realize 90% of this job is customer relations. The knowledge is definitely secondary
TANK's picture
Submitted by TANK on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 12:13
It does suck and since it's bee 15 years for you, things have changed significantly. You should read some modern resume building and cover letter building tips to update your documents. Good Luck
Jett_Fuel's picture
Submitted by Jett_Fuel on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 12:32
Good luck with the job hunting. I can only imagine what that must feel like to get that call. I have been with my company for nearly 20 years tho the last 5 plus have not been fun and I can't wait to quit. I went back to school to pursue a different career and am nearly done with my Masters and once I am, I hope to land a job in my "chosen" field. My company use to be more personal and like Family but the owners brought in a new guy to run things because they did not have a clue how to grow the company to make themselves an insane amount of money...so we have a more "corporate" feel and it sucks. Some days I PRAY to get that call so I can leave w/o having my husband get mad at me for quitting a well paying, secure job.
DrWhistler's picture
Submitted by DrWhistler on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 16:01
Sorry man, what kind of work you looking for?
VenomRudman's picture
Submitted by VenomRudman on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 20:20
I feel your pain and I know how much it sucks. I was an IT programming consultant making 6 figures back in 2001. Then the contract was cut, 9/11 happened and the IT market went right into the toilet. I was out of work for 16 months and ended up getting a job for $11/hour doing tech support. 6 years after I got laid off, I'm only making 60% of what I used to make. I hope your story turns out better than mine.

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