RE: laid off

[Kimberly <klyle -at- smyrnacable -dot- net>]

I must say, everyone, I am finding this discussion very encouraging. I have 
been unemployed for a month, now, and that is the longest I have ever been 
without a job since I was 16. I haven't been able to commiserate with anyone.

I "got done" (as the security guard so delicately phrased it) as part of a 
dot com funding problem, and though I was surprised by the layoff, I 
certainly didn't take it personally. In fact, I still believe in the 
company and its product. The company sent all the "keepers" home while we 
were "getting done" so we had the afternoon to clean our desks out in 
private and leave quietly.

That was my first permanent tech writing job; now I am probably back to 
contracting. I have found the job market considerably drier than it was a 
year ago and the payscale is way down. So far I am not willing to take a 
$15,000 pay cut to work, but it may come to that. I had three weeks 
severance, but I am the sole earner in my household, so I really need to 
find work.

I was despondent for the first two weeks, but suddenly I lightened up. I 
don't know why -- my prospects aren't looking any better and I've had only 
one interview and no new nibbles --  but I refuse to be freaked out. In 
every case so far in my career a job landed in my lap right about the time 
I stopped pushing so hard.

I am working at job hunting, of course. Portfolio updated, ads answered, 
resumes emailed, phone calls made, follow-ups followed up on; I am doing 
it. But I am also taking a much needed break. The spring in Georgia is 
absolutely beautiful, I am learning FrameMaker (finally), I am catching up 
on my reading for a class I am taking, my house is cleaner than it's been 
in a long while, I caught up with a month of taped Buffy episodes, and I 
finally broke my bard out of level 40 in Everquest.

Heh. Yes, enjoy the breaks that fate gives you.

Kimberly Lyle
Atlanta GA

I'm not unemployed -- I'm on involuntary vacation.


At 11:50 AM 3/12/01 -0600, you wrote: