This past Thursday, I worked my first 8-hour workday in seven months - and did it ever feel good. And while it's a cliché, perhaps the luck of the Irish (OK, only 3/4 Irish) helped end a period of uncertainty that had hung over me for over a year ... as I'll explain after the jump .....
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In January of 2011, my manager informed me that my job was to be eliminated sometime during that upcoming summer. The medical center at which I had worked the past dozen years had been having financial difficulties which (at first) manifested themselves in small reactions: delayed salary reviews, restrictions on business travel, elimination of Christmas parties (although not the annual service awards for long-serving employees), and other small signs.
But due to many factors (high building construction costs, the battles with state governments over Medicaid reimbursements, for-profit health centers siphoning off business, among others) it meant layoffs ... which management had said they'd try to avoid. I was in the first batch of those let go (though by no means the last).
Now, in the past I'd been through this: mergers, my employer being sold, even a bankruptcy. It had happened last in 1999 - but with a strong economy, I was able to obtain a new job within two months. And in northern New England, Dartmouth College's medical center was a solid employer, with good benefits and stability.
But in 2011, things had changed. I now I was in my 50's, with a tanked economy and hearing of employment ads that specified "candidates must be currently employed" (although mercifully, I never saw such an ad myself). And there are undoubtedly some of you reading this that have/still are going through that (with a shout-out to the website Indeed.com which banned such ads).
And while I wasn't someone who had only one job in my lifetime: during the seven months I continued working (and thus didn't need a great deal of help in getting my resume together, etc.) I got very little help from our HR department. That may well have been different for those let go later (as they were developing policies on-the-fly) yet it was cold comfort to me. Worse yet, the New Hampshire unemployment office in this area closed last September - although most correspondence is done on-line, anyway.
I did get several interviews (and some second ones) from after Labor Day to mid-November - but employers were able to look at a bushel-basket full of resumes, with probably the top twelve all well-qualified to be hired. As noted above, I didn't obtain a full-time job during those seven months, nor until an additional seven months later.
So why lucky? I had a few things going for me:
1) The unemployment rate here on the Vermont/New Hampshire border is low, so I was not in the middle of a mass-layoff scenario.
2) I did have a solid work record in accounting and a master's degree.
3) I had a supportive boss. Denis (who helped me when I suffered a leg injury three years earlier) gave me all the time I needed to interview and extended my tenure from mid-June to mid-August before his boss said "enough".
4) During my last week on the job, the medical center announced a voluntary buy-out package (which came as a surprise to my boss, too). Since my lay-off wasn't voluntary, I had little hope. But because my termination was not for cause but to trim staff: that would not be a disqualifier. And then, a triple-bank shot happened: I was leaving after June 30th (thanks, Denis), I had 10+ years of service ... and my 55th birthday took place three weeks before September 30th (our fiscal year end) - I was eligible for several months salary (much more than the ordinary severance package coming to me) and 2-1/2 years of medical insurance at an employee rate. So I would not have to settle for unemployment until this upcoming summer.
5) I did get a part-time job at a prep school only 20 minutes away beginning in late January, and then two weeks ago ....
6) A friend (Becky) told me she was leaving her accounting manager job after twenty years and recommended me to her boss. And she told me that when she called my boss for a recommendation: instead of giving name, rank and serial number: she was delighted that Denis was willing to talk for 1/2 hour about what her job offer entailed and was I up to the task? Even better: I have the same salary I made last year, with a 3-month review (as I was afraid I'd have to take a bath on that).
So for the past two weeks I was working two part-time jobs (giving notice to the school job) and once they replaced me: now I've been able to train with Becky before she leaves. And since my transition from unemployed to under-employed to nearly employed to now fully employed has been gradual: it hasn't fully hit me yet. It will.
I know, however, that many reading this aren't as fortunate. I can only hope that - whatever ancestry you have - will provide some luck to yourself. Maybe some of it will come from the Madman from Belfast, Van Morrison - who sang the ballad Carrickfergus - which Joan Baez performed after hearing Van Morrison's version) on a 1988 album recorded with The Chieftains ... very apropos for March 17th.
Now, on to Top Comments:
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From Crashing Vor:
In my diary about the campaign by Rick Santorum about the porn industry - too late to make Friday's TC, I came to see the pure poetry in karmsy's comment.
From
Pandoras Box:
In the diary by Horace Boothroyd III about the assertion (and not just from Rick Santorum) that women who are raped should simply accept the child - I want to salute this comment by Onomastic - "As much as you may not like it, the United States is a Nation, not your church".
And from
Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by AnnetteK about the arrest of a Tea Partier for kidnapping and raping a 56 year old woman - liquidstoke begins this thread asking where the national media and Fox are in reporting this, with others chiming in on "If this had been an Occupy person, they would have", etc. ... before CA Nana goes on to say quite eloquently: "If this person was an Occupy member ..... he wouldn't have kidnapped and raped a woman".
Next: yesterday's Top Photos (as compiled by Jotter each day) - click on the photo to see the story behind it.
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
1) Apparently, put it on adult sites. by Crashing Vor — 290
2) The State Then is Practicing Medicine by Gooserock — 128
3) I feel bad for the kid by elmo — 114
4) Well, isn't that just.... by lineatus — 106
5) This seems like an opportune time by tytalus — 100
6) Manning was a whistleblower by Jesselyn Radack — 89
7) Priceless! by grannycarol — 76
8) Those Areas are Strong in Out-of-Wedlock Births by Gooserock — 70
9) Still Going Strong by JekyllnHyde — 68
10) and this by snapples — 67
11) Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, by Horace Boothroyd III — 64
12) On Rachel Maddow last night.. by darlalalala — 62
13) I do not consider this a defense of anything by Crashing Vor — 61
14) But not to worry. Because no way would... by Meteor Blades — 60
15) The whole GOP is tarred by this by Puddytat — 60
16) I would go so far as to argue by Steveningen — 59
17) The war against women by A Mad Mad World — 59
18) I don't think right-wingers understand the rage by tovan — 58
19) Manning is alleged to have leaked by Jesselyn Radack — 57
20) Heartbreaking.... by historys mysteries — 56
21) It is pretty standard psychological analysis by Mimikatz — 56
22) the harm being done by Catholic hospitals taking by Catskill Julie — 55
23) It is the military-industrial complex. It's by blue jersey mom — 55
24) While I heartily believe the Republican by Lisa Lockwood — 54
25) He's a bad manager no doubt. by Lightbulb — 52
26) /Sigh by shanikka — 52
27) If I get the job! by Lightbulb — 52
28) How does one get this (and lots of other stuff) by Smoh — 51
29) Friday "good news" dump! by badscience — 51
30) One interesting aspect of this story by tytalus — 51