I need some help.

[Hardbopjazz]

I have been working 19 years since finishing college. I have never been without a job, not even for a day. Today I was told my position wasn't needed anyore. I feel so sick. I have a family a homeWhat do I do?

[David Ayers]

Tom - I really wish you well - its a sickener. It will be hard turning your efforts from working to looking for work. You have a great employment record for 19 years and it counts for a lot when you are looking for another job. I hope you find something soon. Are there employment agencies you can approach or any kind of advice centre? Has your current employer offered you any help? Over here in UK these would be the first routes, once you have got over the shock. Good luck man.

[BERIGAN]

Tom...sorry to hear about this. A few quick thoughts. First, don't panic. Won't do you any good, and just about everyone gets let go, fired, whathaveyou, at some point these days....you were lucky to work that long for one company. 19 years. Hmmm. Don't know how big the company is, but have other people been terminated before reaching 20 years with your company? Would YOU see a retirement package at 20 years??? You might be able to sue them over this. Won't solve the career issue, but I get awfully suspicious about companies that fire folks at 19 years. Happened to a good friend of mine who worked for one company for 19 years as well. He never looked into suing them though.

There are some pluses to working for 19 years for the same company. It will look great on a resume. Others will have better advice, but get a book, and with your wife or a friend write a great resume!!! Post it on Monster.com and career builder.com.

You may want to consider starting your own company if at all possible. Nothing like being your own boss.

Be sure to file for unemployment right away. Be prepared with whatever documents they gave you. Hopefully, they won't put up a fight, but I had an employer try that with me 10+ years ago, but I was there for the call they made to my ex manager, and I had the reasons I was let go in print with me. So when she tried to claim I was continually late, and missed a fair bit of work, I had the proof with me that those were not the reasons I was terminated, and got my check(Only one, had another job lined up, but it was the principle of the situation)

Like I said before, don't panic, or get too down about this. It will get you down, it's the end of an relationship, but hopefully, you will look back on this as a good thing.

Best of Luck!

[Hardbopjazz]

There are some pluses to working for 19 years for the same company. It will look great on a resume. Others will have better advice, but get a book, and with your wife or a friend write a great resume!!! Post it on Monster.com and career builder.com.

The thing is, it isn't 19 years with the same company. I will begin the hunt.

[AndrewHill]

Did your company offer you a severance package by any chance, because it seems like it was not your fault that you lost your job. If so, that will buy you some time to put together a resume or a CV, depending on your line of work. All of the suggestions of posting your resume on Monster and Career Builder are spot on.

I can make a suggestion based on a friend's experience. A friend of mine lost his job a while back and he got a head-hunter to help locate him a new job- and he even didn't have to relocate. Of course, the down-side is that you have to pay him a fee to search, but if I recall you do not have to pay him until you have a job, and he found a new job relevtively fast. I hope that helps.

Best of luck!

[Dan Gould]

There's some good advice here, Tom. I wish you the best and I think that once you get over the shock everything will work out for you.

[jazzbo]

Tom, I've been battling with the fear of losing my job due to politics for the last seven years. . . .I can imagine the sickening feeling you feel.

Your continuous employment for 19 years will serve you well in your search (doesn't matter that it was not all in one place). Good advice above. Don't panic. Form a plan of attack for the first few weeks and be disciplined about it and I feel you'll be successful in finding a better job.

[JohnS]

So sad to hear about this. I've not been in your position but I can imagine you feel like you've been punched in the stomach and probably a great deal worse. Good luck for the future, I'm sure things will turn out for the best in the end.

Edited July 4, 2007 by JohnS

[Eric]

There's some good advice here, Tom. I wish you the best and I think that once you get over the shock everything will work out for you.

Agree 100% This happens to damn near everyone in this day and age. Another bit of advice - network, network, network. Call anyone you think might be able to help and ask them for 15-20 minutes of their time. DON'T ask them for a job, rather - ask them for their advice. There is a psychological reason for making this distinction - most people want to help, but they usually don't have a job handy and they also don't wanted to feel pressured into "finding" someone a job. BUT, if all they are doing is offerring their two cents, they are happy to do it. I have been on both sides of these situations and trust me, it WILL work. Remember, the goal going into any meeting is just to get another contact (i.e. keep the networking alive).

When you meet with people, be sure to have a pitch together - tell them what you are lookng for. This sounds like a duh, but I have met with folks who don't do this very well. The point is - people WANT to help - but they have to know what you are looking for (i.e. who to send you to next).

Think of networking as your new job. Get up at the normal time, get ready as if you were going to work and get on the phone (or get to your meetings). Put in at least 6 hours a day (allow a couple extra hours for record shopping as your gift to yourself).

Depending on the type of job, salary you want, etc., this could take some time. Six months is reasonable. When the offer comes, be prepared to negotiate and get what you want.

There is NO shame with any of this and as you search, just think about how you will someday pay it back - because someday you will

Edited July 4, 2007 by Eric

[porcy62]

Sorry to hear this, I wish you all the best, and, as Conrad said,: Don't panic! I subscribe Eric's couseil too. A good one.

Happy hunting, sometimes from bad things come better ones.

Edited July 4, 2007 by porcy62

[MoGrubb]

Really good advice here.

I agree, #1 don't panic, #2 don't despair

Be realistically positive, it's not the end of the world.

Edited July 4, 2007 by MoGrubb

[Big Al]

Some great advice here! My thoughts and prayers are with you while you begin this process of healing and restarting.

[catesta]

Sorry to hear your bad news.

Solid advice has been passed on already, so I'll just add one piece.

Be prepared to relocate unless NY has a strong job market for what you do.

Good luck.

[(BB)]

There's some good advice here, Tom. I wish you the best and I think that once you get over the shock everything will work out for you.

Agree 100% This happens to damn near everyone in this day and age. Another bit of advice - network, network, network. Call anyone you think might be able to help and ask them for 15-20 minutes of their time. DON'T ask them for a job, rather - ask them for their advice. There is a psychological reason for making this distinction - most people want to help, but they usually don't have a job handy and they also don't wanted to feel pressured into "finding" someone a job. BUT, if all they are doing is offerring their two cents, they are happy to do it. I have been on both sides of these situations and trust me, it WILL work. Remember, the goal going into any meeting is just to get another contact (i.e. keep the networking alive).

When you meet with people, be sure to have a pitch together - tell them what you are lookng for. This sounds like a duh, but I have met with folks who don't do this very well. The point is - people WANT to help - but they have to know what you are looking for (i.e. who to send you to next).

Think of networking as your new job. Get up at the normal time, get ready as if you were going to work and get on the phone (or get to your meetings). Put in at least 6 hours a day (allow a couple extra hours for record shopping as your gift to yourself).

Depending on the type of job, salary you want, etc., this could take some time. Six months is reasonable. When the offer comes, be prepared to negotiate and get what you want.

There is NO shame with any of this and as you search, just think about how you will someday pay it back - because someday you will

I would agree on all points here. At first it is a horrible feeling and when you have kids, or are a provider in any way, it is worse. I like to solve problems and figure out the best way to do things, and have looked at job searches in the same way, for me it makes the problem a little less personal, but you will figure out what works for you.

[Guy Berger]

Tom, good luck. Be sure to let us know how this develops.

Guy

[connoisseur series500]

Sorry to hear the news. I've been unemployed for about a year now and this has been exacerbated by my desires to seek a career change. NW Ohio and Michigan job markets are dead. I've been trying to get back into teaching at the college level, but fulltime positions are hard to get. Anyway, you can get some funds to get by via home equity line of credit. It would be difficult to get a home equity loan once you are unemployed, but you might have a line of credit already established. Then you start hitting your 401ks and IRAs. It's not fun to do that, but it is a source of funds. Main thing is to be working towards finding a position. Welcome to America! You were lucky to have been employed for the last 19 years. Good luck to you. Things will turn around. Some job help suggestions:

1. Go to the local employment agency in your city or area. They have a database of jobs.

2. Set up an appointment with a counselor at a local college. They can help you find what you like to do.

3. Network with your contacts. This has already been mentioned.

4. Monster is a good source.

5. Visit Temp agencies in person with your resume. Temp positions often lead to full time positions.

6 Enjoy the time off! It's hard to get a perspective of life when you work all the time. Sometimes some enforced downtime really helps. I've spent a lot of quality time with my son over the last year or so. I needed the time to get him headed in the right direction. After being off work for so long now, I've seen that most Americans are in automoton-mode. They have no idea about life around them, because it has been all work and their minds are fixated on their work issues.

Whenever a door closes another opens somewhere else. It's just that the opened door might not be in front of you and, in fact, has opened in a direction you never considered.

[mikeweil]

My best wishes for you - the appropriate advices are here already! Get a good resume from your company!

[Jim Alfredson]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. All the advice here is great. My step-mother was recently unemployed. She got up every week day at 8am and made it her goal to send her resume to at least 2 companies every day. Sometimes she spent all day on the computer looking for opportunities. It took 6 months, but she just recently landed a dream job with a very established company that is paying her the salary she wanted and the benefits. She's happy as a clam.

Have faith in yourself and your abilities and be aggressive! Go out there and get what you want!

[sheldonm]

Tom,

Sorry to hear about the bad luck. One thing I can offer is that with each job change I've had in my career, each of them have been progressively better positions with more opportunies as well....keep your head up!

Good Luck and keep us posted!

m~

[medjuck]

Good advice from Eric. Don't be shy. Tell everyone you know that you're looking for a job and just ask them to keep their eyes open for you. Tell them what kind of jobs you've had, what you're looking for and what your skills & knowledge are.

Good luck. I'm sure we're all rooting for you.

[PHILLYQ]

Don't know what field you were in, but if you dealt with suppliers, competitors, etc. reach out to them and let them know you are available. If you dealt with these folks before at a job, they'll be familiar with what you do and know what kind of worker you are. They'd certainly be more inclined to hire you due to your experience and the fact that they know you somewhat already.

There's been plenty of good advice dispensed here, and I wish you the best of luck.

Edited July 5, 2007 by PHILLYQ

[sidewinder]

Not much I can add after all the good advice and sorry to hear it but I suspect that once this has settled it might be a blessing in disguise. At the end of the day it's always good to be where one's services are appreciated and sadly, many (if not most) employers now treat their people as slabs of meat to throw work at. Sadly also, emploeys tend to change their spots over time so what is great today may turn into a total liability tomorrow, therefore forcing most of us into flexibility. Hope it works out well and very best of luck.

Edited July 5, 2007 by sidewinder

[Hardbopjazz]

I will be okay. The laid off 20% of the work force. The CEO's bonus wasn't as good as it was last year. They needed to get some money to up his bonus. It was just 103 million this year. Last year 140 million. More corporate greed. The way America works these days.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

This is bad news, Tom, but you've got some top whack advice in this thread. I did all my dole queueing before I was 26, but there was a lot of it. It's very easy to get depressed, especially if you get such a continuous supply of "no" that you feel you're not getting anywhere. Eric's advice about treating networking as another job is the perfect antidote to this. Keep going, keep trying.

MG

[GA Russell]

I will be okay. The laid off 20% of the work force. The CEO's bonus wasn't as good as it was last year. They needed to get some money to up his bonus. It was just 103 million this year. Last year 140 million. More corporate greed. The way America works these days.

I was discussing this sort of thing with a friend just a couple of weeks ago. It is my opinion that quite a number of people are going to go to hell for this.

All of my best to you.