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Surviving Downsizing-Tip Me Off W/OApr 11 '06 (Updated Aug 12 '06) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Surviving downsizing can be a relatively painless process if you follow a few simple guidelines
This is my contribution to Epinions member 42ENGLISH's Tip Me Off W/0, in celebration of her 300th review. The objective is to pass on a few helpful tips and answer a few Epinions related questions. As some of you may remember from one of my previous postings, I walked into work on a typical Thursday last November, only to find that my position was being eliminated at the end of the year. It was not a total surprise, since the company had big lay-off two years before in which about one third of the people in my classification lost their jobs. Fortunately, I was financially prepared, and received a very good severance package. However, I have spent a long and often frustrating five months searching for a new job. My job search was especially difficult since I had to look outside my area of expertise, (Vocational Rehabilitation Consulting) an occupation that I had worked in for over 20 years, in order to avoid relocating. I finally accepted a position at a local hospital Emergency Room as a Patient Advocate, which resulted in a significant salary reduction, but what I expect to be a much more rewarding occupation. Based on that experience, I will share a few tips I learned during my jobs, that may sound like common sense to some people, but I found them very helpful: 1) Do not limit yourself to one or two resources, such as Internet job boards or the local newspaper. Use every available resource including company websites, telephone job lines, cold calling, jobs fairs, local Career One-Stop Centers, Professional journals, and networking. 2) In a limited labor market, consider non-traditional jobs or work arrangement such as temporary jobs, contract work, or working from home in a plethora of part-time and full-time jobs offered via the Internet. 3) Be wary of job placement agencies that charge large fees, and Internet based companies that promise to distribute your resume to hundreds or thousands of employers for a fee. 4) Apply for any job for which you feel you may qualify, whether or not you meet all of the requirements in the job descriptions. Some employers are willing to train otherwise qualified employees on specific tasks. 5) Update your resumes posted on job boards regularly to receive more traffic and create several versions of your resume to attract more employers 6) Prepare for interviews by visiting your prospective employer's website, if available, and familiarized yourself with the company's products and services. Employers are impressed by candidates that do their homework. 7) Finally, try not to take losing your job personally. Companies decide to eliminate jobs and downsize for a lot of reasons, and it does not mean that your services were not valuable. In a nutshell, these are a few tips I learned during my job search. I hope you will find them helpful as well. W/O Epinions related questions: 1. Which category/categories do you write most reviews for? I review mostly movies and books, adding in an occasional music review. I also post poems and essays on the Writer's Corner occasionally. 2. Which category/categories do you write the least reviews for? Household items, such as cooking and cleaning products, which hold no fascination for me. 3. What is the worst product you have reviewed? Probably the movie, Battlefield Earth, which is generally considered to be one of the worst films ever made. 4. What is the best of the best? I guess I would have to say, my review on an HBO original movie Something The Lord Made, which has received a whopping 1,321 non-member hits so far. 5. Which was the best value for the money? Probably my handheld PC Compaq IPAQ H3630 Pocket PC, which I purchased for $100 and a 2 year subscription to MSN web service. (which I would have purchased anyway) 6. Which product surprised you most, whether it be good or bad? I was probably a surprise most by a non-alcoholic beer, O'Doul's Amber, which actually has a decent taste despite the lack of alcohol. 7. What is your most successful review, when did you write it and how many hits did it receive? By far my review of company named Globus/Cosmos, that books and provides escorted tours for worldwide travel. This review has received 7, 116 non-member hits to date. Due to the demands of starting a new job, I may not be able to write as many reviews as I have in the past, at least for a while. Hopefully, when things settle down I can become more active. Thanks to all of you who regularly read and rate my reviews. Postscript: A few weeks after I started my new job I received a call from a major insurance company I had applied to months before, that lead to an offer of job that offers a great career path that will enable me to develop some very marketable skills, a salary starting at @70% of the salary I received in my previous job, plus first class benefits. It am very pleased to report that my career is now right back on track.  |
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