11-28-2010, 07:48 AM
Great news Kevin. I too start work next week as a permanent employee, of the company which laid me off 12/08. I can tell you the first 7 or 8 months were hell. I had only one interview in that time, and it was, as has been noted above, with a company which had an employee I knew who got me thru the red tape. Starting around 8/09 things got better as far as landing interviews. I stopped responding to those internet offers on Monster, etc which did not give name and adress of the company. In addition to sending my resume by email or link to their site, I hand delivered one to the receptionist. I always asked, and was always refused, to see the personnel person to hand the resume to. But I expected that, they get overwhelmed with responses, you know. But I had perhaps 5 interviews between 8/09 and 10/09, all but one of which went really well. Yet I got no offers, and an article I read some months back may help explain that (I hope so!). It seems the premiums for a companies health care coverage are largely dependent on the median age of their employees. I am 58. My resume was crafted in such a way they could not tell my age. I only had my work history go back 15 years. I had received unanimous advise that history beyond 10 years was irrelevant in most cases. I had to go back further, as I had worked for my (present!) company for 13 years. Back in 10/09, my old company called me and asked if I was interested in working for 6 weeks to fill in for some people taking extended vacations, 3 weeks as a buyer, and 3 weeks as shipping dept supervisor. Both these functions had reported to me previously. Of course I did, as it rather stroked my ego! While there, I downloaded inventory information and presented a plan to reduce their excess inventory by 3 million, as no one had been looking at it! So I was kept as a temp since then, and now have been offerd a position as a production scheduler, new to me. And, at 3/4 my old salary, but heck, I wasn't having much luck and am getting no younger! It;ll be a new skill and who knows what that might help me land in the future. Best wished to all those still looking.
Gary
Gary