Job Loss

Imagine my shock when I found out I was losing my job. I spent 5 1/2 years as a temp at IBM, always wondering if/when I would be let go. In May, I became a regular employee and began all the new-hire training and sales classes. I felt that I finally had a secure job. Rob and I started making crazy, bold plans for our future. And then I get the dreaded call from my manager. IBM calls it a "resource action," which is a fancy name for layoff. You won't hear about it in the news because it affected less than 10% of the software division, so the action does not have to be released to the media.

The timing is really bad. December is a revenue month because end-of-year orders come in, which are deals that often took the whole year to close. Getting laid off in November means that sales people won't get commission on December sales. The company gets to keep that money. Pretty rotten if you ask me.

When I first got the news about the layoff, I was shocked, then I was mad. Next came the tears and a little pity party for my change in circumstance. Now I'm over it and I'm moving on. Rob has been a tremendous help in the re-writing of my resume. My next step is to look for another job. I'll keep you posted...