Recession Victim - Again

[Stephen Beckham]

Tim,

Have you been to USAjobs.com? It's a site that hires for Army Civilian positions - my wife just sent me a copy of a position open here that went from $80K to $110K directly related to IT. She's mad because I won't give up the store front (making $10K a year) and apply for the IT positions opening left and right on base.

I ran IT and Ohio it came up with just under a dozen ranging from $30 up to the $105K range. Give it a look - there are no guarantees, but give them a shot. Sometimes hard to get in the system but the worst they could do is say no.

Oh and by the way - throw your resume out when applying. Read the job description very close - look for and use buzz words in the job description. The first hack of applicants is done by computer solely on buzz words. Then, when the last handful get to the employer, they review and make calls - that's when you can give up a full resume. Too much is... well, too much. You rather get your foot in the door with the bare essentials than 'over qualify' yourself. Don't take it the wrong way, basically, if it asks if you have a degree in computers, don't say yes, and I've got a minor in hockey, a sub-major in baskets etc. etc. etc. The computer will kick it out if it's just looking for the degree in computers - hope that makes sense and doesn't sound like your resume is unimportant. Just trying to say you have to get past resumix (automated resume computer) first - which is over simplified.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey Tim,
Our prayers are with you also and I firmly believe that when one door closes, God will open another. We just have to be patient sometimes. My brother got let go, Dec 08, from from the IT dept in R & D at Exxon who had the highest profit last year. But R & D is slow now. So he's been applying and interviewing in between his fishing just about very weekend in the Texas gulf coast and filling up his freezer. Well he just landed a job last Friday with the largest container shipping company. It is closer to his home and he can go back roads and get there in 15 minutes instead of fighting the traffic jams into town and with very little pay cut but he said he will save almost 1 1/2 hours a day driving so that more than makes up for it. So there is hope but you may have to move down hear to Texas and if you don't mind, please pick Amarillo if you like it cooler in the winter or if you like it HOT, pick El Paso or South Padre so that you have somewhat uncharted territory and because there are already too many laser heads in the Houston area already to compete with. Just Kidding, there's plenty of room here.

Come on down and ...

[Tim Bateson]

Thank you all for your comments. I've spent the last 8 hours sending my resume to everyone I know and applying to every position I could find. I'll keep you posted. Worst case, I have more time to laser and chat on the Creek.

[Andy Bardowell]

I’m very sorry to hear that Tim, vent all you want man. Check out our company Thomson Reuters, there are many different groups and companies and someone must be looking for an Oracle admin. I searched Oracle and some stuff popped up however I didn’t see anything in Ohio. Good luck and good hunting.

http://careers.thomsonreuters.com/

[Steve Eide]

Hey Tim, I join the others here in hoping you find another open door. I've been through it a few times through mergers and acquisitions and each time it's difficult, but surmountable.

I'll keep on the lookout for anything that matches up for you.

[Gary Hair]

Tim,
You have my sympathies for your situation, but something you wrote puzzles me...

My laser business is surviving the recession, but it won't pay the bills. With the economic slowdown it takes care of it-self & that's about all. I would have to run that puppy 16 hours a day & at least 6 days a week to live off of it. Although I keep busy - I'm not even scratching at that level.

Why do you think it would take 6, 16 hour days to live off of your business? I would take a serious look at your business and see what you can do to make it viable. If you have the laser, software and ability to run it, you should have little problem making a very good living off of your laser.

Even in the current economic situation, actually, especially in this economic situation, you can find plenty of work if you know where to look. The survivors of this economy are going to have to do more to distinguish themselves from the competition and you have just the tool to help them with that. Look for companies that need your help and show them how you can help them not only survive, but thrive!

If you spend 8 of those 16 hours you mentioned, doing sales calls and marketing your business, you should be very profitable in short order.

Don't make yourself a victim of the recession!!

Gary

[Frank Corker]

Hey Tim, sorry about your news buddy, it's happening in every part of the world. I'm sure something will come up for you, I hope that it does and wish you every best getting it.

[Belinda Barfield]

Sorry to hear the bad news Tim. Others have said that when one door closes, another door opens. Sometimes though, you have to look for the door, and turn the knob. If you are not opposed to relocating, cast that resume net far and wide. I know absolutely nothing about your ex "day job" but it sounds pretty high tech, so it seems you would be in demand. I've got my fingers crossed for you!

[Chip Peterson]

Tim, I am sorry to hear about your misfortune. I just checked my company's internal job postings and unfortunately, I only found one IT job availabe and that is on the east coast. If you'd like information, I'd be happy to pass it on to you.

The dificulty in our current economic enviroment is that there are jobs in certain areas of the country. The reality is that people are loosing jobs elsewhere, and because of the housing market being so bad, they can't move to those areas. Houses aren't selling.

But enough of my pep talk!

Good luck to you Tim. If I can help in some way, please don't hesitate to ask. We are all in this together.

[David Fairfield]

Yeah I lost my employer a while ago, too. I'm without a boss but not without work. Its been cool. 16/6 is doable, sounds about right for a fledgling business.

Dave

[Martin Boekers]

Tim, Stephen was right check the Government sites, If you have a military base near you there may be unadvertised job positions available.

Try to get hold of someone at HRO to give specifics about the hiring process. Appropriated fund job are fairly secure and pay well, depending upon position.

A big plus is if you have a security clearance, then you would be available to start immidiatly.

I went through this in 2001 after the towers were hit. I produced trade show graphics (17 Years for one company) so needless to say that industry died quickly and still has not fully recovered. I have been "rediscovering myself" continouisly getting back to commercial photography and short run publishing, when I discovered this engraving job a few years ago. (on a military base) I wasn't even aware at the time that this was available to civilians.

Good luck on your future and spend this transition time wisely.

On the upside this gives you opportunities to explore possibilities that you would have chanced earlier!


Marty

[Bob Cole]

I wish you the best.

My day job is also IT and my company has decided that if anyone leaves, they will choose not to replace them. It seems that is the theme for companies who would prefer not to layoff. They also put a freeze on capital spending and no new hires.

I get e-mails every few weeks from vendors that know of IT related job losses looking for work.

With large companies not spending, the downward spiral is only going to turn into an unrecoverable flat spin.

[Tim Bateson]

To clear the air - I have taken no offense to any comments made in this thread.
I appreciate the encouragement and honesty of my fellow Creekers.

[John W. Love]

Hey Tim,
Really sorry to hear about your situation. I have been in that predicament quite a few times over the years in the tech industry. Unfortunately, I was always in the manufacturing side of technology, so no matter what your manufacturing skills are, there are 100 billion screaming Chinese taking the mfg jobs away from us. But in your field of expertise there are lots of oportunities if you look in the right places.
My last lay-off was in Early December and I decided to look outside of mfg and found a job with a company that handles a significant portion of the lotteries around the world. Oh, including Ohio and New York, and NJ, Fl, IL, Texas and about 25 other states. Also lotteries around the world. I do phone tech support for the retailers and love the job. It's a fun, relaxed atmosphere that really has only one criteria for job and that is to be accurate and thorough with what you do. So, as it was said before, when one door closes another door opens. And good thing about lottery is that when times are tough people play the lottery more trying to get lucky. Downside is I and any member of my household are blacklisted from playing. Upside to that is, I am not having to worry about losing my money gambling lol.
Right now, Austin, Texas is still riding pretty much steady. It's not near as bad here as other parts of the country. And Austin is a tech city. Once again, if you don't mind relocating Austin is a great place to look for someone with your experience. Check out companies like Dell, National Instruments, IBM, 3M, and the gillions of smaller yet still large companies that reside here. IT is always in demand here and a lot of companies use oracle based programs.
Austin has done well by diversifying itself with a large Tech base, plus state and federal, University of Texas which has around 75,000 plus students, Movie industry, research and development, gaming (Sony and Blizzard to name a couple have offices here). I just did a quick search for Oracle jobs available at Statesman.com (local newspaper) and found 25 oracle positions available.
Could be that you find a home with mild winters and ... well ok I won't try to fluff up the summers any. However, the summers aren't as wicked as Houston though. lol And we do have several lakes, rivers and we are at the center of the "golden triangle" meaning you can get to Houston, Dallas or San Antonio in just a few hours.
Psst. Also don't let Steve know this or he will be down here in a heartbeat, but there are herds of beautiful women here. Even if your married it helps improve your eyesight straining to see them all.

[Steve Clarkson]

Psst. Also don't let Steve know this or he will be down here in a heartbeat, but there are herds of beautiful women here. Even if your married it helps improve your eyesight straining to see them all.

John,

My flight lands at 10:05am tomorrow......please pick me up at the airport........

Oh, and I expect you to post Saturday's winning Mega Millions jackpot number by 5pm Friday so I can go out and buy the ticket.......come on.....we all know it's rigged!