After 24 years PFFT

BAMAAK

Got laid off after 24 years. No warning just boom.  The buttholes made some accounting errors last quarter and are facing lawsuits and the stock tanked so now they have to cut back.  Of course they didn't say that but that's what's going on.  Sales have been better than expected so its all I can figure.

zorba

After 24 years?!? Wow, that sucks.

Spk

Maybe they should've started the firing at the accounting department first.

After 24 years, what a bunch of A-holes!

If they're not closing their doors for good. You need to pile on to that lawsuit bandwagon pronto.

BAMAAK

They ain't closing the doors its a good size company.  At least not yet.  The current CEO may run it into the ground eventually.  They have lost so much talent in the last few years and they think they can just hire new grads to replace them.  That and its so top heavy with management and empire builders they may close up shop one day.

bullsi1911

Damn. That sucks

what industry are you in?  

BAMAAK

Telecom but any electronics really

earlyagain

Bummer.
I hope you find alot better. 

I moved a bunch of their switching machines back around 1990 or so.

Make_My_Day

After 24 years? Who the hell is left? So sorry you are left out in the cold. I bet the big-wigs all have "golden parachutes."

CHIRO1989

One door closes, another opens, hope the next job is even better as far as your liking it and pays even better. Don't be the last guy to sell your house if you have to move.

zorba

Make_My_Day said:

I bet the big-wigs all have "golden parachutes."

Yep - the executive class takes care of themselves - usually on the backs of the worker bees.

BAMAAK

I'm 60 years old, close to 61. Not going to be easy to find a comparable job.  While I have somewhat uncommon skills, the number of jobs are just as uncommon.

bullsi1911

One thing that was told to me by someone that went through a whole bunch of “reductions in force” (RIF) at Motorola back when the first tech bubble popped.  He told it to me when I got caught in a post 9/11 round of layoffs at Apple:

”everyone I know that has been laid off is in a MUCH better place a year later”

it it turned out to be true. I was in a much better job with a really fun company in less than a year. 

Here are some suggestions from someone that’s been through it (granted, not after 24 years.  Damn, that has to suck): take a couple of days to do some stuff for you.  Go shooting. Go fishing.  Mourn the loss of the job.  Spend some time with friends and family.  

THEN- you now have a full time job of finding a job.  Wake up at your regular hours, get dressed, and start job hunting. Work it 9 to 5. Activity breeds results- the more you do, the more options and opportunities will be found.  Network. Get on LinkedIn (and any of the other social media sites) talk with old coworkers, old friends, etc.. and let the, know you are looking. Connect with your old boss and get a recommendation.  Look at company names on buildings as you drive around.  Look up those companies when you get home and see if they have a jobs site on the web.  If the company that laid you off had a placement service as part of your severance, then use it!

BAMAAK

If it been 8 months from now, I could have waited it out till 62 and said screw it and be a Wal-Mart greeter.  But I only have 3 months of cobra paid by them.  24 weeks of pay and there is some placement company available after I sign the severance paperwork and its list of companies I can't work for.

Good advice, was going to shoot the MS state match this weekend. Thought about not going but everything is paid for.  Taking family and going to an amusement park Sunday.  Just gas money mostly.

zorba

"Too old to hire, too young to retire." I feel your pain.

Gila

BAMAAK said:

I'm 60 years old, close to 61. Not going to be easy to find a comparable job.  While I have somewhat uncommon skills, the number of jobs are just as uncommon.

Knowing your profession now, I'm surprised you weren't replaced by an H1B 20 years ago.  That's what happened to me, and it worked out for the best, although I had to change my profession because of it.

Six-Gun

That's a tough break, BAMAAK.  The timing certainly sucks, not that there's ever a "good time" to get laid off.  I hope that what bullsi said rings true and you find yourself in a much better spot here very shortly.

Rafterman

I'm surprised they didn't have you training a new hire only to find out you were training your  replacement. This stinks. Best wishes and have as much fun as you can this weekend.

Varmintmist

We are bleeding techs and low level mang because of the excel spreadsheet management and it is happening everywhere. They are not trying to replace, and to be frank, they way they have the job description written they never will unless they are willing to pay 3 digits before the dot/hr.  This is going to be interesting when there is a major outage.

I needed 4.5 years before the wife took off, probably need 6 min at this point. I have been buying more lottery tickets this past year.

NN

GunNut

I second bullsi’s advice.  Take a couple of days to sleep late and go fishing in the middle of the week.  A mini vacation if you will.  Then hit it like a full time job.

The good news is that your looking for a job in the best economy we’ve had in a long time.  There are a LOT of good openings out there and companies are not being as picky as they once were.

JerryBobCo

This really sucks.

Something you posted earlier caught my eye.  Did your former company really tell you in order to get your severance package, you had to sign a statement that you would not work for certain other companies?   Makes me wonder if it would be better to tell former company to keep their severance package and go knock on the door of one of the companies on the list.

I wonder if this is even legally binding?

bullsi1911

BAMAAK said:

24 weeks of pay and there is some placement company available after I sign the severance paperwork and its list of companies I can't work for.

That is pretty common in sales gigs.  To get the severance, you have to sign a non-compete that you wont go into sales for competing companies for a set period of time.

BUT- its pretty easy to get around it.  Maybe you wont be in SALES, but you will go into Business development... or customer service... or a trainer/ consultant for 6 months and then move into a sales position after the time is up.

Look at the wording, see if there are ways to work around it.

BAMAAK

I'm not about to turn down 30k plus 1700 in cobra money for a little self satisfaction.  It about a dozen competing companies, I don't think any have design operations in my area anyhow.

Great Outdoors

In my state- if you are laid off/fired a non compete is not valid even if signed to get benefits- better call a labor lawyer in your state. Sucks to be laid off at any age but the older you are- the harder it is. Maybe you should look into consulting or free lancing for your prior field.

Vic's Viewpoint

Maybe you should listen to Spk.   I've neither training nor experience in the law, but if a class action suit is being put together, my "nose" tells me you should be a party to it.  There's something about your being terminated because of financial mistakes made in-house that doesn't quite pass the smell test.  Maybe you should indeed consult a labor lawyer, and/or a CPA.  In any event, please keep us posted.

BAMAAK

Kind of digging this unemployment thing for now.  Went camping and shot the Mississippi state championship in 95 deg. heat.  Went brass scrounging and shooting a little Friday.  Even did a resume and filed for unemployment.  A whopping 265 dollars a week.  Now in 6 or 8 months when I'm broke it may be different but after working nearly every day for the last 40+ years, kind of nice.