Here We Go Again
Link to article
– Anonymous
In my final year of college, I picked up a paid internship with a local steel company in their IT group. After college, they hired me on full-time. They even paid for me to go back to school and get a Master’s Degree. I worked at that company for almost 15 years. I had risen to the level of UNIX System Administrator.
Then, a merger, followed by downsizing. My layoff came in November, 2003. I was not worried, as I had a great deal of experience, and a pretty good skill set. I did not seriously start my job search until after the first of the year (2004). I did not have employment again until January of 2005. I ended up picking up work at a financial institution (for a three-month project) through a contracting agency. Luckily, the agency found me a second contract position at another financial firm.
The pay for both of these contract gigs was low, but not ridiculously low, and at least I had benefits. Anyway, after working a year-and-a-half on that second contract gig (where the customer kept extending the contract month after month), the financial institution hired me on, full time, with a salary close to what I had at my first company.
It truly amazed me what the unemployed are put through. It really seems to me that organizations who claim that they have jobs are really “just kidding,” and never seem to hire anybody. I went through unemployment, savings, and then credit cards. I’m staying afloat, but I am still digging out of debt. It can be really frustrating. Oh yeah, and that financial institution where I finally got hired? They have initiated a merger with another financial institution. Here we go, again.