Unlaid Off

I got another job the old-fashioned way: networks and good old boys.

1. Looked on the internal online open job requisitions tool for jobs that weren't total non-starters for me.

2. Took note of the hiring manager and then searched for him in the internal online managerial hierarchy tool to see if there was anyone in his group whom I knew.

3. Also searched everyone who reported to his boss and to his boss’ boss to see if there was anyone in the tree whose name at all sounded familiar.

4. Contacted them and asked what they do (and how they're doin' and what's new and blah blah blah).

5. Wrote the hiring manager with a newly-adjusted CV attached and dropped names of people whom I now knew he knew, sometimes with an “unsolicited” comment coming from them as to how good a fit I’d be.

6. Had a filtering interview in which the manager decided how full of shit everyone was, or wasn’t.

7. Had other interviews, mainly technical, with other people in his team.

Did this with several different groups. Looking for a job was pretty much a full-time job, until finally on the Friday morning before Christmas I got a job offer and took it.

It’s true what they say: It’s not what you know, and it’s not who you know, it’s who you know and then it’s what you know.

I know when a manager has open slots, he or she wants to fill them with good people right away, especially here at the end of the quarter cause when a new quarter hits, the money for those openings can be yanked away faster than a Presbyterian collection plate. My new boss wanted it all done so he could go away for Christmas and not have to worry about it any more. That worked for me. I shift over on the new year. Will find out then whatever it is I now do for a living.

It was a strange coincidence that most of the laid off people I knew best were white males over fifty (or nearing it, in my case). It was clear that if I didn’t grab something by year’s end, I’d likely be done at Infamous Megamulti. It would be very hard to get back in (used to be, people came and went a lot during the cycles). Now the place shrinks without growing so much later, and when it does grow, there’s a strong preference to hire the URM*, experienced or not, when bringing folks in from outside. I really have little against that policy. “Diversity” is a modern corporate value, whether or not it benefits the bottom line, and encouraging women and minorities to enter the technical fields is all good as far as I'm concerned. But I need a job too, so the smarter I am about ducking these layoffs, the better.

And no, no pay raise or any other change. You kidding? No more travel either.

* URM = Under-Represented Minority