Life's wonderful suprises..

IT/IS layoffs are a bitch dude...a friend of mine got downsized about 2 weeks before his second child was due, and he still hasn't found a job yet. He got laid off back in April/May, and was in the IT/IS Auditing area in the Ohio/Kentucky area. I can tell you for a fact that the Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana area has *squat* for tech jobs. What's strange is that my father-in-law can get me a contractor job with the military in a heartbeat. I passed along some info to my friend who is unemployed, and according to him, the paperwork to fill out for a civilian contractor at an AFB was a pain in the ass (after 3 attempts he gave up). That's the bad news...

The good news is that certain parts of the country are in a big shortage of qualified IT/IS workers. The southeast and the west are the two biggest areas that offer the best chances for employment. Hope this helps. I've found that the best way to find IT jobs is through a contractor service...

Good luck.

Keep the positive outlook jbh, and everything WILL be good!

JB - any news yet on the impending layoffs, or is the company keeping mum on it?

as far as posting on Monster, don't stop there. Post on every resume site you can, focus on the biggies like Monster, Dice, OCC, Techies, HotJobs, ComputerJobs.com, etc. Also look for local sites as they are the ones that local companies will focus on first.

Also, unless you are intrinsically tied to your locale, you might want to expand you search to nation wide. The "hot spots" that I found in the past few months are Texas, Atlanta, San Diego, and San Francisco. All of those had more job postings than any other area. Florida, Tampa Bay area, isn't too shabby right now either, so you might want to focus down there too. In general though the mid-atlantic states, and the north east states seemed to be fairing badly in the IT world when I looked.

The hot areas that I found are government contracting, and the financial industry. Both of these have been ramping up security at a much faster scale since Sept. 11, and because of that their infrastructure has been growing fairly fast.

Good luck once again dude, we are all rooting for you... heh no pun intended :)




El Diablo

Bleh... Atleast you'd be laid off becuase of something happening inside the company. My dad once had the missfortune of working with a guy who wanted to fire his co-workers nearly all of whom have worked there for nearly 10-30 years. One mistake these guys made and BOOM next thing you know someone would get fired and the peaple getting fired would then be replaced by that jerk's buddies. The only reason he never got himself fired was becuase he was dateing the boss's daughter and the boss didn't want to see the look on his daughter's face when he fired the guy.

While I have faced a possible layoff like you I have also fortunately never been layed off (unless you count a job in High School and even that sucked a lot).

Don't just update your resume either get a good book on writing resumes or get it together and take it to a professional Technical Writer. When I was looking I started with my resume. Then I bought a book (10 Best/Worst Resumes) and mine fit one of the worst categories. Rewrote it to be similar to one of the best and got excellent response to it. Later when my company was looking possible layoffs they made thier technical writer available to help with resumes. She took mine and absolutely transformed it with just a few minor changes and the addition of some color lines etc. I have used her basic design since and merely updated the content every so often to make sure it is ready.

Advice on the business. Be careful. Note what the one poster said about his father, they both knew what they were responsible for and consulted together on major decisions. Businesses are tricky, dangerous, and often fail. Partnerships are worse. However, a successful business is a wonderful thing and a successful partnership is powerful. Be sure to go into this with things in writing and official. Talk about every aspect of the business and then find someone to help you come up with more issues. If it isn't in writing it doesn't exist. Your partner may be putting up the money but that does not mean he should control everything. Also, you said you could start if for $20K. I considered going into business for myself but did not, I do not have the temperament for it. Again, get a good book for advice. The one I read suggested a resource of money to carry you through your first 6 months at a minimum and first year preferrably. That includes all expenses for storefront (assuming traditional brick and mortar business), wages, etc. I seriously doubt 20K will cover that. Knowledge is power, get all of it you can before opening a business. A good book will also probably help you and your partner find things you need to discuss before taking the leap.

Please don't take either of these as a negative. Be positive. Just remember if you fail to plan, plan to fail. Most big hits in our lives (like being layed off) will either drag us down or make us stronger. From your posts you are working so it doesn't drag you down. In my opinion that means you are certain to become stronger. That means this is not a hit but an opportunity. It may not look like it today but I hope that in a year or two you will look back and realize the best thing your job ever did was let you go so you could excel.

Sincerely

No word as of yet on the lay offs, but I get so nervous around my boss, and jumpy about e-mails. I forgot Monday was a holiday, and I got nervous when I recieved an e-mail stating the managers meeting was canceled on Monday. I have also started my classes for the fall semester, and working on starting this business. I'm sorry if I don't keep up with all my PM's, but I have been really busy, and a tad bit edgy lately.

JB...keep your chin up and try not to worry about it. You've done your best, so there isn't much else you can do to affect the situation. Everything will work out just the way it is supposed to work out. Remember...you were looking for a job when you found that one...right?

Do agree with Captfb. I had been working in the financial industry for the past 10 years and had worked my way up from the clerical to the position of a system admin, network admin and suddenly am pushed down to the postion of a clerk once again, just because i disagreed with the IT Manager on certain issues. With all my allowances slashed, i am back to square one. However for the past year had been sending out resumes to all advertistments. Incidentially I had been short listed for another financial institution a year back but did not get the job. However just two days back the same institution sends an email was enquiring if i was interested for the Officer IT postion. Could not believe my this. anyway i have applied and am awaiting for their confirmation, a better deal than my present job. so don't lose heart, one door closes and another opens, is really true. Hope u have upgraded yourself during your tenure there. this will definately be a plus point in your resume no matter how old u are.
Cheers
ffive