Recently laid off - bored and frustrated

[Thornir Alekeg]

Getting back to exercising should help a lot. Hopefully the weather will turn and you can get out of the house.

My worst stint with unemployment was in the middle of winter in Syracuse, New York. I ended up with severe depression and insomnia during that period. Thanks to the freezing weather I left the apartment to drive my wife to work and pick her up. Occasionally I went for a drive to learn the area and allow the car to run a little longer(we had moved there only a few months earlier), but we had so little money I didn't want to spend the gas. Anyway, once the weather started warming up and I started getting out and exercising, I started feeling better and was able to shake the insomnia and knock the depression down to occasional bouts of it.

It amazes me still that my marriage survived its first year with all that going on.

Good luck to you. My only other advice is to try and stick with the recruiters who are good to work with. My experience in Biotech is that the good ones, who actually understand your job and what you are looking for, are worth it. The others are a waste of your time.

 

[Dominic]

Keep at it man - looking for a new job is a job in its own right.

It sounds like you have a good handle on all your resources. I found that there were a lot of support groups that setup networking opportunities in my area (Minneapolis) when I was laid off four years ago. It seems like everyone knows someone, or has been laid off themselves in the past few years - use their experience. In my case it was an email list that led me to my current (and best) job. If recruiters aren't getting you what you want, find the folks that do what you want to do - professional societies or user groups - and ask them how they got their positions.

Good luck

 

[Arnwyn]

You can always right RPG reviews

I think most would prefer to "write" the reviews instead.



Elodan, keep on plugging away. Actually, while it's exhausting, it may not be too bad with all those recruiters calling you. Though they may not be offering positions that you're interested in, it may still be a good way to keep your finger on the pulse of the job market.

 

[Lockridge]

Some notes:
1. Keep exercising. Give yourself some sort of structure in your day. Shave and take a shower first thing in the morning even if you're not going anywhere. Determine that you will do some online or phone job hunting from this hour to that hour. After that spend an hour finishing up that miniature painting you have at the back of your closet. Work on an interest even if its reading a book or renting a movie. Offer to DM and spend some time preparing a game.
Not having structure is a killer because it allows all those negative thoughts to dwell in your head. Learn to cook.

2. Practice interviewing. This is SO important and very underestimated. Do this by first preparing a "speech" and then bouncing it off of a friend, your wife or a mirror.

3. Before an interview research everything about the company. Commit it to memory. The fact that they do not send you materials ahead of time doesn't really matter if you can show them that you got along without it.

4. At an interview, never talk about wages or benefits. The interview should focus ONLY on their needs, NOT yours. Repeat: NOT YOURS. Focus only on how your skills and experience can benefit them (even if they really can't).

5. Your strength seems to be stability and maturity since you've been with your previous employer for 10 years. Use these in the interview. You were not fired for any negative reason so make other companies understand that. Employers hate babysitting their younger employees and they hate people who stay for a year and put them through the trouble of hiring again.

6. The interviewers are not your freinds. Do not make jokes or talk about how rough its been for you. You did interviews yourself. Before you say something think about how you would have felt if someone you were interviewing were to say it.

7. Do not decide in the interview itself whether you want the job or not. No matter what impression you get, always act like you want the job. Often, people are so nervous during the interview that they actually convince themselves of a reason to leave: company is too big, company is too small, the manager looks mean, whatever. You can always decide later not to take any job offer after you have had time to think. In the interview YOU WANT THE JOB.

8. One of the problems with the IT field is that professionals are not well regulated. In my profession I am required to constantly stay up to date and to prove it or lose my license. I find many IT people get certified in something and then that technology goes out of date. In your case, your IT skills may be ten years old. Find out whats in demand. Even if it means taking six months off, getting into debt to go back to school and learn new skills.

9. For gods sake be positive in the interview. These people want to know if they want to work with you day in and day out. If all you do is sit there complaining about not having this skill or "we're wasting each other's time" then they just won't hire you.

10. No job is perfect. Most people wait for the perfect job in the unemployment line. Get something now and then keep looking if you're not happy. Find that perfect job while you're working somewhere else.

11. Whenever you feel like saying "I don't have that skill" say "I can learn that in a week" or something. Turn every negative into a positive. Prepare for interviews by anticipating questions they may ask.

12. Volunteer your time to something worthwhile even if its not in your line of work. Does your church need help with ushers. Not to play the church card but you might be very surprised at how your networking can accelerate in a church community. If you tell the right person that you need a job and you are a member of their church they may help you as though they've known you for years.

Last: Don't waste too much time or hope with recruiters. They do have their own interests that may not be in line with yours. Pounding the pavement is something that I've found is a huge time waster at the professional level. Would you want out of work IT people walking in on you during office hours? Use each of these two things with discretion.

I hope that helps. Cheer up and keep yourself too busy to get down.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Excellent advice, Lockridge. That post should be on a website somewhere.

I was laid off in late January after 11 years of service. Fortunately, I have a really good network of friends and found a job within the week (a reasonable one, too, not something I hate). I'm one of the lucky ones, though, and also not so picky. Then again, I have a family so my priorities are to find a job, any job, and then maybe worry about getting a better job later. It's MUCH easier to find a nice job when you already have one. So, take the DB admin job and then look for a development job later on before you burn through your entire savings.