Layed off! Now what? =(

[detroitnative]

Really depressed today. We are being laid off at the end of today.

My story: I never graduated high school. Got my GED at 17 though. Started working odd jobs here and there...

At 21 - i lucked upon one of the greatest jobs a guy without a degree can hope for. It was a mailroom job, which is nothing special. But it paid $25/hr! In comparison - looking on caeerbuilder - i see nothing buy $8-$10 salary range for this.

So for the last 6-7 years i've worked a mailroom job, where i pretty much do nothing... and been getting about 60k a year...

Now im guessing to some of you that's chump change.... but it's really changed my life around to have a good paying job...

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I've known about the layoffs for about 3 months. But am not able to get my foot in the door ANYWHERE!

Either im too old to get an entry-level position. Or i don't have the experience. Or i don't have the education.

I've only gotten 1 call back for an interview! And i went to it and definitely realized i didn't qualify half way through it.

i even tried every mail service in the business and no one is hiring around here!

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Unemployment is going to give me about $250 a week! Which is about 1/4 of what i've been making a week! I have a nice car, a good house, and a lifestyle that is on the edge...

That mailroom job was a dream job (so much money for doing nothing)... and i just can't imagine that i'll be able to find similar....

i feel very very lost now....

 

[speakeasy]

That mailroom job was a dream job (so much money for doing nothing)... and i just can't imagine that i'll be able to find similar....

Sorry to hear that you lost your job. The thing is, you shouldn't have gotten too comfortable with that job in that you weren't at least building some other viable skills on the side in case the sh-t hit the fan at the place you're at. You were getting paid that well out of LUCK, not skill, so you were basing your whole lifestyle and material comfort on LUCK, something which is fleeting and can be here one day and gone tomorrow. It's hard to get a job getting paid well for little work, unless you are well connected. And to tell you the truth, this is exactly what recessions do, they make businesses zero in on who is overpaid, focus in on inefficiencies and what they can cut. It's kinda like the way occasional forest fires serve a purpose of clearing out old growth before letting it accumulate too much.

I hope you find something, but you should also learn your lesson to that you can't get too comfortable when working for someone else. Always keep your skills expanding and realize that in today's work environment, an employee is a necessary evil, if they can save a nickel by eliminating your job, they'll do it.

 

[detroitnative]

Sorry to hear that you lost your job. The thing is, you shouldn't have gotten too comfortable with that job in that you weren't at least building some other viable skills on the side in case the sh-t hit the fan at the place you're at. You were getting paid that well out of LUCK, not skill, so you were basing your whole lifestyle and material comfort on LUCK, something which is fleeting and can be here one day and gone tomorrow. It's hard to get a job getting paid well for little work, unless you are well connected. And to tell you the truth, this is exactly what recessions do, they make businesses zero in on who is overpaid, focus in on inefficiencies and what they can cut. It's kinda like the way occasional forest fires serve a purpose of clearing out old growth before letting it accumulate too much.

I hope you find something, but you should also learn your lesson to that you can't get too comfortable when working for someone else. Always keep your skills expanding and realize that in today's work environment, an employee is a necessary evil, if they can save a nickel by eliminating your job, they'll do it.

Thank you for the reply! =)

I certainly realize i made a grave error. I should have went back to school to have something to fall back on, developed a business or something... I also should have saved a lot more money. I have about enough to get through to the summer time with the unemployment and the little bit i have saved. So im not in panic mode, but i am worried.

The guy before me retired from my position making $32.75. I was already up to $26.25. The owner treated every position with respect and even the file lady got paid in the $20's. There was about 100 employees and i rarely heard any complaining about the job from anyone who worked there.

Then - last year a Swedish company bought the small business i worked for. The Swedish company has about 10,000 employees. They could care less if we're happy or not. But we were all told nothing was going to change.

Well... After today - the 100+ company will have 20 employees! And from what i understand the company as it was for 30 years NEVER failed to turn an annual profit!

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That's besides the point really... just venting a little.

I'm about 6 months from 30. The way i see it is - i have to just settle with a $12-$15 per hour phone rep job (if i can ever get hired) or work 2-3 jobs....

either way... my lifestyle and possibly my house are going to be at risk...

you're right though.... i was living this way off of luck... happened to walk in the right door at the right time...

 

[blinkwatt101]

Cut your loses. Unless you have a wife or child,I'd move back home with parents if that was an option for awhile. Save as much as you can. Get back in the job market.

In the meantime,you know what to do,look for a job. But also I'd take this opportunity to expand your knowledge and go back to school,if you have an ego and don't want to go to campus cause 'you look too old',I'd take online courses.

Keep your head up,something good will happen.

 

[Evzone]

How long can you last on savings until you need to pick up just any job to survive? I'm hoping you haven't made the mistake of most people these days and just spend as soon as the money comes in...if so, then take it as a lesson before you have kids

Why not take this time to work on your education? Find a place that offers good financial aid and get an advanced degree

 

[detroitnative]

Cut your loses. Unless you have a wife or child,I'd move back home with parents if that was an option for awhile. Save as much as you can. Get back in the job market.

In the meantime,you know what to do,look for a job. But also I'd take this opportunity to expand your knowledge and go back to school,if you have an ego and don't want to go to campus cause 'you look too old',I'd take online courses.

Keep your head up,something good will happen.

I have no wife or child; just a few FBs. My parents live back in Detroit. I'm a good 1000 miles away. But, since i have no reason to be here - i guess that might be viable. But, im not sure i could collect unemployment from a state im not living in??? I've been using career builder with no success... Even spent $100 to have my resume get priority delivery and highlighting (supposed to increase my exposure 200% or something). It's really disheartening to be ignored so much... but career builder seems to be more oriented towards people with degrees.... i wouldn't mind doing a labor job really... as long as it paid $20+/hr... like pouring concrete or something.... but where the heck would i go to find one of those? I'm geting beside the point - i may have to do what you said...

online school is possibility... although since im officially no longer employed - not having time is not an issue...

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How long can you last on savings until you need to pick up just any job to survive? I'm hoping you haven't made the mistake of most people these days and just spend as soon as the money comes in...if so, then take it as a lesson before you have kids

Why not take this time to work on your education? Find a place that offers good financial aid and get an advanced degree

about $6000 is what i have. My mortgage is $1170.

doesn't financial aid depend on your salary from the previous year??? i made about 62k last year... i don't think im getting any help from the gov.

 

[AAAgent]

Here are options for you. Definitely talk to you're family and atleast discuss with them to have the option of returning home.

financial aid for school or loans. (i believe as long as you have good credit or a co-signer you qualify for loans.. you also don't pay a penny until 6 months after you graduate. plus you can file for extensions if you haven't found a job by the time 6 months rolls around.)

I've been job hunting like crazy, i'm at over 500 apps right now. Had over 20+ interviews.

Besides careerbuilder you can use:

Monster.com (i get more replies from here than careerbuilder)
Indeed.com (you can type in entry level and you zipcode/state/city)
craigslist (i've actually gotten legit interviews on here...watch out for scams)
Network (talk to friends, family, former co-workers/bosses)

find any type of part time job....that's even been hard for me.

i'd say give yourself a timelimit to find a FT job and if you don't make it by then move out. 3 months sounds reasonable based on your budget. If you're already collecting unemployment by next week/month that should make it a little easier. If you don't find a job by 2 months i would just start packing your sh1t up just in case.

Definitely do other things besides looking for jobs. I just entered in a business plan competition which i added to my resume. It not only looks good, but gives me experience in writing reports. If i do well not only do i get to present but it opens up alot of networking options and a potential new point of income.

Sort out all your responsibilities in your last position and write them down on paper. Find out the exact name of the roles/jobs you performed in you're position so you can explain as well as have other people understand what you did.

In my last accounting internship i have no ****ing clue the names of the stuff i did, so i wrote a whole bunch of bs that sounded like the crap i did....

Wrong move. They asked me what kind of financial statements i prepared when all i really did was follow directions i was given and calculate crap. But i did find out some things i learned like account reconcilations, Travel & Expense reports, Assisted with audit preparations, updating, etc.

You were there for 6 years. I'm sure you can say you did more than just handle the mail. Did you do any projects? did you assist any managers?(i assisted the vice president of finance with projects). I didn't actually have a part in the audits but i put together a whole bunch of paperwork in binder books and shipped them for auditing purposes but "assisted with audit preparation" sounds a h3ll of a lot better.

 

[SmoothTalker]

It sucks that you lost your job, and I'm sorry to hear that.

However, it has to be said that you had no business making what you did given what you were doing and your qualifications. It's pretty much guarunteed now that you will have to take a HUGE paycut and those are hard to swallow, but come on man, it's hard for all of us.

Welcome to the real world.

 

[iqqi]

Try to get a job at a nice restaurant for now as a server, or as a bartender. You might have to pay $200-$300 to take a course on the bartending. You can make $100-$300 a night easily in most major cities, if you get in a decent spot. You might not have any experience, but you DO have a resume that shows you are LOYAL and long term, use that to your advantage.

What city are you in now?

 

[detroitnative]

AAA - thanks for all the advice and encouragement. I will check out some of those other sites. I had forgot about craigslist; the truth is - there's just as many scams on career builder as there is there!

But yes, and good luck to you as well!

You were there for 6 years. I'm sure you can say you did more than just handle the mail. Did you do any projects? did you assist any managers?(i assisted the vice president of finance with projects).

I did plenty of things. Kept inventory on the stockroom (which was also the mail room). Annually - i made suggestions on how to cut down on mailing costs. Once saving the company about 50k a year with one of my ideas. Backedup other workers when they were out (not that i had any clue what i was doing lol). But I could surely stretch the truth a little (not enough to get in trouble with my words like you did) - there's really no way to verify what i did there. The few workers they have left are basically going to act as independent contractors now. All management have been let go as well, except for the few who are taking on new roles.

It sucks that you lost your job, and I'm sorry to hear that.

However, it has to be said that you had no business making what you did given what you were doing and your qualifications. It's pretty much guarunteed now that you will have to take a HUGE paycut and those are hard to swallow, but come on man, it's hard for all of us.

Welcome to the real world.

Yes, i guess i shoudlnt' have spent so many nights bragging to my friends about how i get paid more than them and never went to college... i just never saw myself getting layed off seriously. My job - while being easy, was vital to the company. If i didn't come in on a day and a backup had to do my job - stuff went haywire. I don't mean to seem like I do nothing at work - but i was fully aware that anyone could do my job and that i was being over payed greatly. Just didn't plan for this.

Try to get a job at a nice restaurant for now as a server, or as a bartender. You might have to pay $200-$300 to take a course on the bartending. You can make $100-$300 a night easily in most major cities, if you get in a decent spot. You might not have any experience, but you DO have a resume that shows you are LOYAL and long term, use that to your advantage.

What city are you in now?

I've thought about that. Or driving a truck. Both seem like you could make in the 40-50k range, and both only cost about 400-500 to go to school for. That is an option i would consider.

And i live outside of philadelphia.

 

[Bible_Belt]

My mortgage is $1170.

Holy Sh!t!!! That is going to be a problem. Get rid of that payment. You can either try to sell the house or produce income with it by getting roommates or better yet renting the whole thing. Unless you do something, that payment is going to destroy you.