Feb. 25 – Day 4
Had an interview with Mike Gilmore from Results Technology. The position is an onsite one with a local customer who needs someone who is a jack of all trades. I had interviewed with Gilmore a year and a half ago for another position. I was surprised that he remembered me. The interview lasted for less than 10 minutes. He told me that I should expect a call back for a second interview as the position needs to be filled within the next two weeks due to the departure of a current employee.
Feb. 22 – Day 3
Received what should have been my last check from Affiliated Computer Services. No explanation of what the check was for (i.e. remaining days on payroll, unused vacation time, etc). Will have to follow up on that.
My former boss promised that I would also be paid for my sick time as well. Will see if that commitment will be honored.
Checked CareerBuilder.com and Dice.com. Found a few more positions that had been posted and applied for them.
Feb. 21 – Day 2
Heard from Kevin Matheson of Technisource, Inc.. He called to clarify some things on my resume and to talk about some openings he is looking to fill. Emailed him my current resume in PDF form. ( I have found from past experience that doing this avoids formatting and other issues by just sending a raw document.) Looked at CareerBuilder for any new job postings today – didn’t see any.
Feb. 20 – D-Day
Today I was called into a conference room to have an impromptu meeting with my boss. When I walked in, the business unit manager for my company, Affiliated Computer Services, of Dallas Texas, was already in there. On the conference table was a closed manila folder. I didn’t have a good feeling at that point. I would find out in the next few minutes that my initial gut reaction was right – I would soon be unemployed.
I was then told my employment was over at that point, even though I was in the midst of a major project that was running ahead of schedule and important to the customer. What I couldn’t make sense of was that I had just gotten my CCNA certification a couple of months prior and was the only one in the department to have it and I was the one being let go.
My access badges, RSA access tokens and company cell phone was taken from me at that point. My now ex-boss told me I was no longer allowed in the data center and he would go get my things. Since there was no local on site HR person anymore, due to other company layoffs, I was put on a conference call where I found out there would be no severance package and would be paid only through the end of the current week. My health insurance would go away the following week. I am supposed to get a packet of information on getting on COBRA and as well as my last check on the 22nd.
I am in a little bit of shock at this point. I had moved across country last year to be nearer my parents to help do more for them as they get older and enjoy being closer to them. I have some savings, hopefully it will hold me through until I can get permanent employment once again.
Here’s my background: I have been in the networking technology area for about 18 years. My first experience was with setting up multi-site Novell based networks. Then I moved on to Microsoft, AS/400, 3090 and Linux. I have worked with just about everything over the years. The last few years of my working career have been in the infrastructure area working mostly with Cisco routers, switches and access points.
After getting home and over the shock of losing my job, I next went over my resume and made sure that it was up to date. Going through my Rolodex of contacts, I put a call into a recruiter, Lance Boecker of TekSystems. I had been working with when I made the decision to move to Kansas City, Missouri over a year ago. At the same time, I forwarded a copy of my latest resume for him to start working with his clients to see where I might be a good fit.
My next step was to re-active my account on CareerBuilder and see what job postings were active in my area. Working through the remainder of the afternoon, I identified six jobs that I was qualified for and applied for them. I will start looking at the other job boards (Dice, Monster, etc.) to see what they offer. From past experience, Careerbuilder will probably yield the best results, due to duplicate posting of jobs between the boards by companies with openings.
