Preserved Topic: downsized (Page 1 of 1)

Yesterday was an interesting day to say the least. I am a Designer for a branch of a larger investment firm. June 2001, the top portfolio managers ( the people who chose what stocks to buy/sell) left the firm to begin their own company- they took with them 20 employees from my branch. Company went from a busy 110 employee branch to about 80 people. Many departments were left with huge voids to fill. This practically killed the branch- low moral, etc. The branch went from #1 within its niche market to #20 in less than 1 year! Millions of dollars in accounts were being lost by the day. . .

I was hired to fill a vacant position. The past 8 months my boss has hinted that the firm was in the process of re-organizing- but not sure what changes would be made . . rumors circulated that we would all be laid off- or people would be relocated . . but just rumors.

Yesterday morning our Managing Director called the entire company for a meeting, and read to us a prepared statement. Due to the poor economy- and lack of new accounts and loosing old accounts by the day- the firm is going to take necessary steps to protect the stock price. People were given an option to relocate to an office 4 hours away or take a package- basically 4 weeks severance plus $2,500. I think the firm knew most people would turn down a relocation and simply leave. From a legal standpoint the firm is not laying people off- simply relocating. Tricky way to get rid of employees.

I got very lucky. My boss was promoted from Director of Marketing of the branch to Director of Marketing for all US products. My department (6 of us) will be moving to Manhattan. Great thing for me- I am still single with little baggage. I will be working in a real design department- and not on my own- which I have been doing for the past year. My commute will increase from 20 minutes to over an hour. Bottom line: I get to keep my paycheck. 60% of the people in the branch got the option to either relocate (move entire family, life, etc.) or find other employment. The firm gave people until Jan 1st to look for another job. People were crying . it was a pretty bad scene. People were 100% surprised this happened. Rumors, but nobody saw this coming so quickly.

The perils of corporate life. My father is a retired teacher. He always encouraged me to teach, get tenure, and not take the corporate path . . this time I got off lucky.

CRO8

I've been considering unemployment/freelance work to be sort of a fun game... "will I be able to pay rent this month? Ah, the suspense!" It's a challenge! Learn to stretch ten dollars into two weeks worth of meals! Learn seven different ways of phrasing "temporary (snort) financial hardship" on loan forbearance applications! Not looking desperate to potential employers becomes a deadly and high-stakes balancing act of adrenaline-fueled enjoyment!

Ettie, your six figures a year for doing Powerpoint in Korea sounds good, incomprehensibly good, unearthly, to a lot of people right now... people (I'm not talking about myself here) who have a skills list longer than their entire body. I'm doing well, myself, for a moment. I've got two projects active, they're paying my rent; but I keep hearing horror stories of high-end ex-coders who've gone from $80,000 a year to being unable to find an $8/hour job as a file clerk.

There's nothing to say about the current job market that hasn't already been said more than once over the last two years. We can only hope that things pick up. Maybe some day I'll be able to start making student loan payments again...

yup.

I am sorry to hear that everyone was laid off. It's good you were lucky and have some prospects. What sucks is that these things tend to run in cycles. I was laid off from FIVE jobs in two years. While I got some severance out of each one (everything from 1 weeks pay to 6 months pay) it was a hassle to keep having to go through the degrading job hunt/resume/ application/interview thing. Especially when alot of people seemed to hold it against me that i was laid off so often. They treated me exactly as if I was fired from each job and would offer me less pay or less benefits than other applicants. Really messes with your self esteem.



[This message has been edited by Moth (edited 10-27-2002).]

yeah- moth, my buddy was one of the people let go. He is in shock and afraid to tell people- especially his father. He graduated school at age 25. His first job he got laid off, then got this job, then got laid off. Two years, two jobs, two laid off.

I am an f***ing lucky bastard.

Congrats!

My company is 'restructuring', as well (SAP)...we are all walking on eggshells around here...the next 6 months will be telling...

quote:

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horror stories of high-end ex-coders who've gone from $80,000 a year to being unable to find an $8/hour job as a file clerk.

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*raises hand* Something like that...

but I try not to worry... I'm still pretty young. What I'm trying to do now is gain entry-level experience in as many
tech-related fields as interest me... I've grown extremely untrusting of my ability to get a job as soon as I get laid off...

...gotta pump myself full of experience points to I can grab the brass ring of mana, I guess.

....And not starve in the process....


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