... until I land my next job, that is.
Apparently my company has been struggling with ratcheting up their sales amid the US teetering on the official definition of a recession: 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. It also doesn’t help when a segment of our business relies on the US housing market, which as we all know, is in dire straight.
You guessed it. My pride is a little scuffed up right now, as I didn't escape the sudden and massive round of layoffs announced today. It was pretty much straight to the managers' office in the morning, but at least they were nice enough to not shout, “You’re fired!”
So right now, I'm sitting at home early, stunned, and wondering, “What went wrong?” Was my performance unsatisfactory? Was my pay scale too rich relative to peers? Was I not getting along with co-workers? For sure it's a tough decision for management to axe a selected group of individuals. I don't envy their position. We let go some pretty solid people. I also don’t envy the colleagues who have multiple mouths to feed. Finally, I don’t envy the colleagues who have enrolled and kept the company shares from the Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
The silver lining is that my severance package is 3-months pay + 2.5 weeks of accrued vacation, which presents an exciting opportunity for me to re-examine my career path. It's still too early to say, but a few random ideas have crossed my mind to dabble with:
* Find another job in the same field — Software Engineering.
* Go back to school to pursue a career in personal finance/investment.
* Go back to school to pursue a career in photography.
* Become a full-time blogger as Financial Jungle is carrying a little momentum.
* Become a full-time investor hunting for undervalued dividend paying stocks.
* ???
Well, I guess I'll have to sleep on it as I'm frazzled from this episode.
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