No!!!!

[MrSpkr]

That's awful. I've been looking for work for four months -- finally got a good interview, but may have to move three hours away for the job.

Keep your chin up.

[Gfran64]

Best of luck Ric Mac.

Greg

[Rich Mac]

Again, thanks for the encouragement guys.

I've sent out 4 resumes for "real" positions this weekend. Tomorrow morning I'm headed off to the local temp agency to get my name in there. I'm going to give it about a week and then hit up Lowes, Best Buy etc if I don't get any responses. UglyElmo had a great point in that I need to stay working, so that's what I'll do - even if it's minimum wage.

HR is supposed to contact me tomorrow to go over the details of the severance package. I've only been at this company for 4 years, so I'm not expecting too much, but my GM was pretty adamant about "taking care" of me. I guess I'll find out how serious he was tomorrow.

[DrMike1997]

So what did you do? What do you want to do? You never know maybe someone here will know of an opening or know someone who knows of an opening. Most jobs today are found through networking. Use all of your networks (including this one) for maximum coverage! you never know! I teach a class on interviewing and about 2 weeks of the class is on being the interviewee. The rest of the class is on being an interviewer. It is both the saddest and most rewarding of the classes I teach.

[Rich Mac]

Good point DRMike...

I am a Customer Service Manager. Geographically, I'd be looking for something between Philadelphia and Allentown PA. Unless, of course, someone might know of a telecommuting or work-at-home opportunity.

I have a Bachelor's Degree in History, so I'd also take anything that I could tie in with that.

On the side, I am also a Borough Councilman. So, I do have some practical government experience. I hate to be the butt of a joke, but it seems like there can't be anything funnier than an out of work politician

I have been networking big-time, but there are amazingly few opportunities right now.

[UglyElmo]

Yup. Businesses are using the weak economy as an excuse to get rid of high salaried employees while making the rest work harder. All the while, cutting pay and benefits. Some businesses need to lay off to stay healthy, but the majority now, are just using the economy as an excuse to squeeze their employees.

It happened to the blue-collar work force over the past 20+ years, and now is moving into the service sector. Today it seems luck plays a greater part in finding a job than one's education or experience. There are a lot of experienced, very educated people out there who are now unemployed through no fault of their own.

[norb]

Rich Mac wrote:

I am a Customer Service Manager. Geographically, I'd be looking for something between Philadelphia and Allentown PA. Unless, of course, someone might know of a telecommuting or work-at-home opportunity.

You're not far from the NSD corporate campus There are a ton of jobs listed in the area, but there are also a ton of people applying to each of those jobs. The worst part is no one wants to pay a decent salary. With the market flooded by candidates, they are offering very poor packages. But there are always companies looking for the right person, and if you're great at what you do, you'll find them.

[Rich Mac]

UglyElmo wrote:

Yup. Businesses are using the weak economy as an excuse to get rid of high salaried employees while making the rest work harder. All the while, cutting pay and benefits. Some businesses need to lay off to stay healthy, but the majority now, are just using the economy as an excuse to squeeze their employees.

It happened to the blue-collar work force over the past 20+ years, and now is moving into the service sector. Today it seems luck plays a greater part in finding a job than one's education or experience. There are a lot of experienced, very educated people out there who are now unemployed through no fault of their own.

I will never know for certain, but I am very sure that is exactly what happened to me. I was pretty damned good at what I did and 4 years ago I was hired with a healthy salary. I think that someone decided that a high school educated 19 year old could perform my basic job duties at a third of my salary. Then my management duties could be handed off to the rest of the management team. I pity those that will have to take over my job duties. We were all putting in 9-10 hour days already.

The same person that made the decision to let me go is the same person that is having us start a second shift. It's disgusting knowing that I am losing my job while an entire production shift is being hired - and we didn't have enough work to fill out the first shift's production time! It's really unbelievable.

[Rich Mac]

norb wrote:

Rich Mac wrote:

I am a Customer Service Manager. Geographically, I'd be looking for something between Philadelphia and Allentown PA. Unless, of course, someone might know of a telecommuting or work-at-home opportunity.

You're not far from the NSD corporate campus There are a ton of jobs listed in the area, but there are also a ton of people applying to each of those jobs. The worst part is no one wants to pay a decent salary. With the market flooded by candidates, they are offering very poor packages. But there are always companies looking for the right person, and if you're great at what you do, you'll find them.

You hit the nail on the head. There are jobs out there, but they aren't paying what they did 3 years ago. I'm very resigned to the fact that I will be making much less than I did.

Once you make it big and need a customer service department, just keep me in mind. Send me a PM and I will be happy to discuss my qualifications with you ...sorry, I've been writing cover letters all weekend :blink: :blink: