I have lost my job. No, that is wrong. I have had my job taken from me. I was the victim of a reduction in force layoff.
Occasionally, employers ask that you be loyal to the company. Don't discuss work with friends at the competition.
Then when they have a layoff, they say, "It is nothing personal." When they take your job, it is very personal.
I was not short of work. I was busy and working overtime every day, doing tech support and helping users. My real problem was my age. Nearly every person laid off was over 50. Now, I could sue, but to get a new job, that might cause trouble.
I feel disconnected, unimportant. I need a purpose, and I need to be around people. I am skilled at database design, but only in FileMaker Pro. I am a good computer systems administrator, but I don't have the certifications. I am working on a nice resumé, but there has to be a job here in Richmond to fit me. What can I do?
If I was an electrician, it would be different. There are lots of electricians, but there are lots of jobs for them. I have special abilities, but they are best suited for my old job.
I can learn any technical subject quickly, but I don't know what I could learn that would do me any good with no experience. I would love to try something new and different, but I need some reasonable pay. Any ideas, folks?
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2 comments:
No ideas but it's demeaning being told you are no longer necessary in the function you were doing well and maybe even liking(?)
Bare in mind any change whether enforced or chosen can be a good thing if you approach it in as positive a way as possible.
However hard I try there's nowt I can do to alter your maturity of years. If there were, I'd try it on myself.
Your reality is my nearly constant fear, Kent. I'm 57 and waiting for the axe to fall. I've seen it too many times. Here's my parable:
Hank, the cow-hocked horse.
I worked at a horse farm several Summers in late high school and early college. I got to know the horses well, and they all had different personalities. Hank was a really nice gelding. He liked people, and would often seek me out if I was out somewhere in the pasture or woods. I would lay across his back and he would carry me back to the barn for lunch. But he wasn't a show horse, and they raised horses for show.
The horse trainer, Dave was very callous. "Aw hell, Hank's worthless. He's cow-hocked. He doesn't have the right confirmation to be a show horse. We will sell him to a barrel racer and they'll run the hell out of him for a year or so until he breaks down, and then he will go to the glue factory.
So you're nice and do all the right things until you're not needed any more, and then it's the glue factory!
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