Laid Off Again

Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, Indeed.com, Ziprecruiter.com, etc…ring a bell?
Well it should, if you are out of work, these are the sites that you frequent on your job search

How many of you out there are looking for work? Too many to count, right?
I can relate and sympathize with of all you. For the past few years, I have been working
on and off as a consultant. I call working as a consultant ‘looking from the outside in”
meaning, technically you are working in the company but not for the company as the agency that hired you pays your salary.  

As a consultant, you are not involved in any meetings that relate to the company, no paid holidays, sick days and vacations. I don’t know how you feel but for me, it’s like a guest visiting someone’s house, it’s nice, but you know at some point you have to leave.

There was a company that I worked for in 2012. I loved working there, the people were great, the manager was caring and I enjoyed the work I was doing. It was mid-week in early November when the manager called and wanted to see me.
At first, I wondered what this meeting could be about. There was nothing planned, we already went over what had to be done, what could it be?

I sort of had this bad feeling but I just assumed it was me worrying. Wrong! After a few pleasantries, the manager told me that they were not extending my contract and my stay with them will end mid-December, wow I was really surprised. Why? Because I thought I would be there at least early spring of 2013, so yes it was a shock to me.

The manager told me how they loved my work and what a great worker I was, (a lot of good that does me now). After shaking the manager’s hand and expressing my thanks for the opportunity to have worked there, I walked out of the office with my head between
my knees and back to my desk. Here we go again!

My whole attitude changed from that point on. Yes I still worked hard and cared about my work, but you feel different, you feel mad, angry, sad and empty. Why couldn’t they have kept me longer, I was thinking to myself?

You see what happened was, during the time I was there, the company where I was working was bought out by another company and they needed to cut costs, so many, workers along with myself were let go.

Many of those workers were permanent, so most of them received packages, I know it still is hard to lose a job, but at least they got something. I did not get anything.

What do consultants like me get?  We get the consolatory going away party if you’re lucky. Don’t you just love that? How does everyone else feel? I know that in most cases temporary work is the only option out there, that’s because companies want to save money and avoid having to pay for health care, vacations and paid days off.

It is a bad state of affairs that we are in today. Will things ever get better?