Another New Life Change

The news of becoming a father this summer is not the only life change I've received in the last few months. I have had a couple of life changes lately. One big change, my job situation, has come full circle. So, I feel more comfortable discussing it all in “public” now.

Last summer, the department I worked for announced a 20% labor reduction. This was the third lay-off wave in two years. Lots of reduction in workforce had already been done – the remaining people were very overworked. The first two reductions “cut the fat” to "lean" us out, so a third cut was a scary one. There weren't enough people for the work as it was, so this reduction was going to make things even worse. At this point I saw receiving a lay-off notice as a potential positive; while of course, not receiving one was also a positive since I’d keep my job. If I got a notice, I was receiving a clean break, a free college degree, and I was not going to be around to be even more overworked and underappreciated.

On October 29th my manager set up a meeting with me to discuss the reduction in workforce. I knew what was coming – she was only setting up meetings with people getting laid off. The meeting was a mere formality – a part of the process so my manager could cross it off her to-do list. To this day I do not agree with the decision and the reasoning behind it, but it turns out it was for the best, sort of.

January 4th was my official last day, but my final working day was December 23^rd. The company closes for about 10 days at the end of every year as paid holidays. So up until a few weeks ago, I was still being paid as if I was still working there (via this holiday break, severance package, vacation time payout, and the annual bonus). During this time I also collected unemployment while I finished my Associate’s Degree (which I finished on Feb 13) and looked for a job/career that I wanted to do. Financially, I was going to be okay for a while, but the uncertainty of the future was frightening. Trouble was that I also did not know what I wanted to do; or at least as a realistic career choice. I would love to someday become a sports journalist (or something to do with sports). I would love to make a career out of following, talking about, and writing about sports – namely Seahawks football, of course. Until that time comes, I have to make due with other career choices.

I found some jobs that looked interesting and applied to them but never heard anything back. I am certain these companies were flooded with applicants and the numbers game was not playing in my favor. I gave myself two months time to find a job that fit what I wanted to do before I would then include any job that would pay the bills. I was going to take what I could get to support my family - that is what is most important.

My deadline was reached and I began to apply to more jobs where I previously worked, and jobs similar to what I was doing before. I also added my resume to job placement sites to see what would come my way. A couple weeks later and I got a bite!

I applied for a job at my previous employer through a recruiting company. The company rep called me a day after I applied to discuss the position and ask me a couple questions. Five minutes later my resume was sent to the hiring manager. But wait! I had to know who the hiring manager was because if it was my previous manager, I knew I was not going to be hired. Let’s just say she did not like me for some reason (I still don’t know why) and I will never work for her again. So if the recruiter told me it was my previous manager then I was going to move on….but this job was for a different manager, and one that I had worked with in the past. So I sent the hiring manager an email to re-introduce myself and express my interest in the job. Within a few hours of the email, my good reputation from previous work earned myself a job offer!!

I am now back to work - today is my second day back. The funny thing is that I am back with a promotion (to the position I was working towards but my last manager did not want to promote me to) and a raise too! The one major down-side is no medical benefits. Yet. I plan on becoming a permanent employee again so my family and I get their good benefit package back. Another down-side is no more working from home (my department is ending that program very soon) – which I know this will please you previously jealous people out there! ;) I have to drive in to work again, like most of you do.

In October, I was disgusted with my previous manager’s decision but remained optimistic that I would land on my feet and move on to bigger and better things. I have done that in some ways and am enjoying the last laugh now! My previous manager didn't deserve to have someone like me working on her team. Now I am with a team that has always appreciated me and I look forward to the future. I feel I am in a good place now and am interested to see what happens in the coming months. Having the weight of an uncertainty of having a good job or not is now off my shoulders! =) That makes focusing on baby and mommy/wife much easier.

I wanna thank my wife, Sonia, and my mom for their support during the last few months. I also thank the rest of my family and friends who were there for me. It meant a lot to have that support and encouragement.

--Tony