To all the victims of the recent and not so recent rifs; if you are in the job market or have landed a new job how is it going? I was laid off last year around this time and I have 2 jobs now - full and part time.
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I am the OP and I was rif'd in 2015 from the IT department. My job is being moved to India and we were training them. I found a job right away but took a serious pay cut. I also found a part time job with good pay that I love. Hopefully the part time job turns full time in the near future.
I been gone for a few months now and I couldn't be happier at my new job. Every one here is amazing to work with from my same leve co workers to the owners. It's literally night and day compared to Verizon. They been so nice that I actually teared up recently for a nice gesture they did. I haven't been treated with such respect by my employer in a long a-- time. I don't feel like a number anymore I feel like a person and am treated as such.
Anyone from IT got riffed? How is job search?
@2tsy: Re: "..Immigrants come to our shores without two cents in their pockets and not speaking English and in a few years they are owning one or more businesses..."
BS ! NONE come here that broke with 2 cents
Once they get here (and in a Sanctuary City) they get FREE government handouts(rent,food, college tuitions.) , dont pay ANY taxes, they pay their employees under the table. Live 10+ people in a 2 bedroom.
tsy Sorry if people complaining about the corrupt way that people are selected for a reduction in force offends you. For those thinking of starting a business - a good idea, but be very careful - the odds are not with you. "Small Business Administration, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% fail within the first five years. In his book Small Business Management, Michael Ames gives the following reasons for small business failure: Lack of experience. Insufficient capital (money)"
Many here complain about being kicked out in your 50s. I always wonder what the hell did you do with your life and income in the last 30 years? You were well paid with excellent benefits. Did you invest some of that in yourself? Did you start a business? Did you think that you would never lose your job? Christ, why did you not prepare for hard times? You are old enough to have experienced economic ups and downs in this country for five decades. Some of you lounged around spending your severence pay and dipping into your IRA just waiting for some bird to sh-- on your head with a job offer. Still, it is not too late. I started a business when I was in my 50s and it was very successful. Immigrants come to our shores without two cents in their pockets and not speaking English and in a few years they are owning one or more businesses. Get off your a-- and make your own way in the world.
56 yrs old, 20 yrs VZW, Job offer after 11 month's. Interviews with Wireless industry went no where. Several companies said they where very interested, then did not respond to emails or phone calls (one way or the other). One company even set up a phone interview and when the date and time arrived, they did not call. In the North East, try the utilities, the MTA, the railroads, and the Port Authority they seem to be hiring right now.
58 yrs, 35 yrs service , RIF'd Dec 2015 , went to about 25 interviews mostly interviewed by Millennials , I felt like Robert Deniro in the movie "The Intern" No Luck to date
Spouse is 55. He found something right away through friends. It's a pay cut, but he negotiated a few benefits. The medical has the high deductible that you hear about in the news. I don't know how the lower paid employees are managing because I had one little oopsie and there went $6500 in three days. I know this is minor, but it really s---ed being laid off in January. With 5 weeks of vacation gone in an instant, it would have been great to see some of the US and Canada before he got back in the grind. So I wish the time off had been in the spring or summer. There was always a double standard so we never took a long vacation - Americans got grief for taking more than a week while others went off to India for three weeks and that was fine. To those still looking - have you tried attending a User group meeting if they have one in your specialty in your area to network? Also look in local utilities, sometimes there are jobs on their websites. And keep your resume updated on Indeed.com so it pops up first. So hard interviewing with gray hair even when among friends. Has anyone tried hair dye or anything like that? I wanted my guy to get a facial for those pores, but he said no way. It still makes me tear up to think of the day he went off for that interview, no longer a young man in a fitted shirt with jet black hair. How did they decide to lay off the older employees and those with a medical issue. Did they sit in a meeting and deliberately say their plans out loud? No printable words for them. Best wishes to those still looking.
58 years old.
30 Years in.
Took nine months, and got a job as a contractor. Plenty of work to keep busy, but took a pay cut. Fortunately, not a big issue for me.
No luck.
Took me 5 1/2 months to find a job when I was let go in early 2015. I had almost a year severance so I wasnt looking very hard until the last month or so. I was able to find a higher paying job, but the benefits are not as generous, so all in all, I was about the same financially. I did get a 4.7% end of year raise, so I do make more now than I did.
I am at a much smaller company now (~2k), so I dont have the support I did at Verizon. I miss being able to say so and so's group does that or asking another group to do something. At my current company, it is do it all yourself. I work more hours than I did at VZ but I have self-sharpened my skills since there isnt the same amount of talent around to rely on.
The part I like the most is that I make a difference where I am now. At VZ, I would work on a project for years and then it would get killed. I work directly with sales and customers and can make a difference immediately.
57 year old.
25 Years in.
Still looking.
No luck.
53 year old with nerve disorder..
Now just a man wh--e!
Someday a federal prosecutor will go after verizon for age and medical discrimination!
Rot in hell funka
I was kicked to the curb at the end of 2015 as well. I found a new job 2 months later and cannot believe how different the culture is. Far less stress, no backstabbing, no 10 layers of management, no plethora of directors and VP's all trying to compare d--k sizes.
Verizon pays well, but it truly is a piece of $hit company. I hate them and spread my gospel of how they ran me into the ground with a heavy workload, ridiculous deadlines and then kicked me out the door. How all these people depended on me while I was there and then instantly turned their backs on me.
I hope to live to see the day Verizon fails and karma catches up to them. They are having a terrible 2016 and I would like to think it is because of what they did to us in 2015.
Here's to you Verizon. I hope you have a $hittier 2017 and keep providing me with entertainment on the layoff website. I want to see it all unfold on here. I can't wait. Burn in hell Lowell.
Don't worry... your White Knight will soon occupy the White House.
lol
Still looking
55 yo
White
Male
No luck
The end