Laid off at 25...

[temple240]

Just one year and eight months after graduating with my BSME, I'll officially be laid off on Friday. It's a complicated situation that's due to circumstance and not anything that I or my employer did but it really sucks.

I'm excited to find a new position with a new company but I'm also scared as hell about prospects in todays economy. My bosses gave me a heads up about the layoff a few weeks ago but all of my job applications have gone unanswered so far.

Here's to having more time to brew.

 

[badgerbrew14]

Good luck on the job hunt - hope you find a good position quickly. Enjoy the brew time!

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Best of luck.

I was in a similar situation years ago and haven't fully recovered yet but I'm well on my way to getting back.

 

[freelunch]

No worries dude - you will totally overcome this setback.

I hit a similar bump in 2009 and learned plenty of lessons from it. Stay positive (I bought a motorcycle and played more golf), and establish strategies so you can see what is working or what is not.

 

[Beernik]

Good Luck.

I got laid off 2 years after getting my Civil degree. Found another job. Worked it for 5 years and got laid off again.

It sucks.

 

[neo71665]

Got laid off 2 weeks after I completed the 4 year working/school to get my electrical license. Three of us passed our tests and that was our congratulations. When I started electricians in this area were rare, now you can't throw a rock without hitting a dozen.

Oh well I walked out of there and opened my general construction business I ran before. Had 2 jobs before I left his parking lot. Oh and the bad taste left in my mouth is passed to anybody looking for suggestions for electrician work.

 

[TxBrew]

What do you do?

 

[Rockn_M]

I have been laid off 4 times in my career. It sux but hopefully you can find something better. The last time I was laid off was at the end of 2012. I received a few weeks notice that this was coming down the pipeline and was able to start my job hunt. I was out of work during the holidays and my wife was pregnant with our first baby. At the time it was terrible but I treated finding a job like a job and was able to get a job offer Christmas eve and started the first week of January.

Good Luck!

 

[technicoloraudio]

I have been laid off 4 times in my career. It sux but hopefully you can find something better. The last time I was laid off was at the end of 2012. I received a few weeks notice that this was coming down the pipeline and was able to start my job hunt. I was out of work during the holidays and my wife was pregnant with our first baby. At the time it was terrible but I treated finding a job like a job and was able to get a job offer Christmas eve and started the first week of January.

Good Luck!

Treating finding a job like its a job is pinnacle. Are you tied down to your location? Kids? Mortgage?
Relocation can be stressful, but it can also be a blessing in disguise.

 

[temple240]

What do you do?

I'm a mechanical engineer (like everyone else here). My job was in the construction industry but I'm using this opportunity to try to get into product design and manufacturing.

Treating finding a job like its a job is pinnacle. Are you tied down to your location? Kids? Mortgage?
Relocation can be stressful, but it can also be a blessing in disguise.

I'll definitely be treating it like a job from day one so I don't develop bad/lazy habits. I'm tied down to my location in the sense that I'm about to propose to my girlfriend who has an excellent job in the city. Relocation isn't really an option. I have no kids or mortgage just stacks of student loans.

Overall, I'm not in such a bad position and I'm fortunate to have a safety net when a lot of people don't. It's the idea of having nowhere to go Monday morning that freaks me out.

 

[Beernik]

^^^^ What Rockn_M said.

My first layoff, 1998, wasn't that bad. The economy was still good and I had decided to start looking for other employment 2 weeks before the layoff came down. What sucked about it was that the reason our office lost work wasn't my fault. It was another guy's fault and he was retained on staff. But, as we say in Utah, "He belonged to the right Ward and I belonged to the wrong Ward."

My second layoff (2002), took me by surprise. I knew the economy was down and the office was hurting for work. But I all the contractors I knew were getting busy again. And in this market civil engineering lags construction by 6 to 12 months. So I knew if corporate would just let us ride it out another 6 months, we'd be back to profitability. Instead they closed the office and had to buy back into the market 2 years later.

That layoff hit me hard. In 12 months I had got my master's degree, professional license, married, bought a house, and then laid off. Thankfully they gave me 5 weeks severance.

Every morning I wanted to get up and start drinking. Instead 3 days a week I forced myself to spend all day calling people I knew, job searching the Internet, and scanning want ads. The rest of the week I'd exercise and then spent the rest of the day doing odd jobs around the house. After 4 weeks I found a temp-to-hire engineering job that I never would have looked at if I wasn't unemployed. Kept looking for work. It took me another 13 months to find a job I wanted to stay working at.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

Look on the bright side, at least you are an engineer. People will hire engineers for unrelated positions because they know you can learn how to do what they need. Try that with a degree in English Literature.
I'm an ME and continually get requests from people to consider jumping ship. Keep your attitude up and your reputation will generate interest through word of mouth. Good Luck.

 

[Homercidal]

Hang in there and keep looking. I know something will pop up. In the meantime consider doing volunteer work in your spare time. I'm sure there are people out there would could use the help and it looks really good on a resume too. Plus, it will keep you busy.

 

[mikescooling]

I get fired all the time, you guys are such *****s (small young cats). Keep the faith.
mike

 

[TxBrew]

There are a lot of engineer brewers. I'm a professional jogger.

 

[kh54s10]

It is a good thing that you have a skilled degree. A lot of people with stable jobs and narrow or limited skills and then get laid off are now looking at wages barely half of previous. That is if they can find a full time job at all.

Be glad you don't live in Rhode Island - 48th out of 50 states and District of Columbia. And 8.9% Pennsylvania is 33rd with 7.5%

Good luck.

 

[grathan]

Been laid off / fired too many times to count. Each time the next job was even better.

 

[N7KMS]

I'm 26 and just got laid off on July 1st. I knew it was coming since November so I've been searching for work but I'm coming up dry. I was totally and completely jobless for 2 weeks and received one unemployment pay check then I landed a part time job as an escort for a private boarding school near where I live (where my wife just so happens to work, its good to know people). I went from doing network engineering and systems administration at $25 with OT and full benefits to driving rich kids to appointments for $12 an hour and not to exceed 20 hours a week and zero benefits. I'm cool with it though because I really hated doing tech support.

 

[Yellowirenut]

i would rather be laid off at 25 than at 55.
You are young, keep your head up and keep moving forward.
Look at jobs that may not be in your field. I did 13 yrs ago and absolutely love my current carrier.

Do not put yourself in a box and do not play the poor pita-full me.
two things an employer hates is an employee who is not flexible in what they will do and one who is a sad sack.

 

[daksin]

Also 26 and I've been laid off 3 times since I graduated in 2007. It sucks, but others are right that you have a real skill and marketable degree. You'll be back to work in no time- enjoy the freedom now and hopefully you'll find something even cooler than what you had before. Hey, maybe even squeeze in a few extra brew days.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Each new job has been better for me. Hope it is for you!

 

[rpe290]

I'm a mechanical engineer (like everyone else here). My job was in the construction industry but I'm using this opportunity to try to get into product design and manufacturing.



I'll definitely be treating it like a job from day one so I don't develop bad/lazy habits. I'm tied down to my location in the sense that I'm about to propose to my girlfriend who has an excellent job in the city. Relocation isn't really an option. I have no kids or mortgage just stacks of student loans.

Overall, I'm not in such a bad position and I'm fortunate to have a safety net when a lot of people don't. It's the idea of having nowhere to go Monday morning that freaks me out.

Well, you have some experience, so you should be able to get "a" job local since you are near a large populations center, but to get the "really good" job relocation might be needed.

You should never have a problem with having a job with a BSME if you are willing to relocate, ever. (provided there isn't something else wrong with you).

Good Luck!

 

[beaksnbeer]

I'm a mechanical engineer (like everyone else here). My job was in the construction industry but I'm using this opportunity to try to get into product design and manufacturing.



I'll definitely be treating it like a job from day one so I don't develop bad/lazy habits. I'm tied down to my location in the sense that I'm about to propose to my girlfriend who has an excellent job in the city. Relocation isn't really an option. I have no kids or mortgage just stacks of student loans.

Overall, I'm not in such a bad position and I'm fortunate to have a safety net when a lot of people don't. It's the idea of having nowhere to go Monday morning that freaks me out.

Brew tour, LHBS, fishing. Will give you somewhere to go. Sorry about your luck, I just rolled a year where I 'm at so not so far from what your feeling.

 

[njs170]

My company is hiring. I work in Marcus Hook PA. Let me know if that is close to you.

 

[drainbamage]

Best of luck, man. I got laid off (also at 25) in 2009 when the housing market tanked. I was working for a civil design firm and designing plans for a monster subdivision, until the developer decided it wasn't prudent to proceed with construction (even now they're only just grading), and they didn't feel like paying us for the hundreds of hours of work we'd already put in. I pretty much called in every contact I had made at other firms, government agencies, and so on looking for work. As it turned out, the president of the company I used to work for tipped me off to another place that was hiring and gave me a strong recommendation to them. I guess my best advice is to not burn any bridges if you can help it.

It's a helpless feeling, but as others have said, an engineering degree can look good for a lot of other fields. As a ME, you also have the benefit that most jobs won't require a PE.

 

[N7KMS]

You might think about doing some freelancing, just take two or three small temporary jobs to help start your portfolio. Once you've got that start doing bigger jobs freelance or continue your job search and show potential employers that you have been practicing your trade even though you were unemployed. That will show initiative and a desire to work.

 

[temple240]

I'm glad to hear that lay offs have worked out well for a lot of you guys. I expect to find a better position it's just about the when.

You might think about doing some freelancing, just take two or three small temporary jobs to help start your portfolio. Once you've got that start doing bigger jobs freelance or continue your job search and show potential employers that you have been practicing your trade even though you were unemployed. That will show initiative and a desire to work.

I've been thinking a lot about doing some freelance work. I wouldn't mind taking some time to work on some projects of my own either.

 

[temple240]

There are a lot of engineer brewers. I'm a professional jogger.

Professional jogging, that sounds like a career that I could really get into. My current jogging is amateur at best.

 

[Yellowirenut]

Its the first thing that comes to my mind when someone says JOG.

 

[Ryush806]

Sorry to hear about your setback. I don't know how the market for MEs is at the moment but for ChE (like myself) it's definitely picking up steam quickly. My wife (also ChE) and I just got new jobs this summer and we're constantly getting pestered by recruiters trying to get us to look at their jobs. If you're willing to relocate and are flexible about the type of ME job you want, I don't think you'll have a hard time finding a new job at all.

If you haven't done so already, I would suggest setting up a LinkedIn profile and make it very detailed. Use lots of buzz words from your past work experience. Recruiters often search LinkedIn profiles by keywords. My first job was in the paper industry so I used all of the unit op names and general buzz words about the paper industry in my profile. I get at least one call or message a week from a recruiter about a job opportunity. I just switched to oil/gas design a month ago and no sooner had I added that to LinkedIn when I got a call about another oil/gas job.

Good luck!

 

[Beer-lord]

I feel for ya. I bet you come back with a bang.
This won't make you feel any better but it's likely better to be laid off young than older than 45 or so. I know folks in their early fifties who've been laid off and they aren't getting anywhere even with all their experience and know how.

 

[PaintedRat]

Jobs are like women. If you want one, they don't need you. Once you have one, they are all up in your koolaid. The contract and short-term project work keeps you visible to headhunters. Once you find a decent job, all those long lost job applications start panning out more prospects too. I had to accept the first job offer I got after a long unemployment. Turned down two more jobs the first month at work.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I was let go back in February from my job of 11 months after leaving a nice stable position of 7 years. I left for a change, a better career and to save my sanity. Luckily, I saw it coming and literally sent my acceptance letter to my previous employer to come back to a different position that April. I had 8 weeks home with the kids and interviewed a few times during the wait for different options. Best of luck to you. It can be a stressful time. It's a good idea to treat job hunting like a job, but enjoy a day or 2 a week as well. You won't get this time off to yourself often. Especially once you guys have kids. (if you do)

 

[JadeMonkeyStang]

I got laid off about 4 years ago and it was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Not only did it free me from a job I would most likely have been stuck in for a long time (no real advancement potential but not bad enough to have the "I have to get out" feelign) but my new career is much more in line with what I actually want to do. It's excellent to not dread going to work every morning.

btw Temple, you've got a pm.

 

[Darwin18]

I know you've probably heard this a few times but....

You're young, and you're going to be just fine. Seriously! No one wants to get laid off just like no one really wants to get broken up with. You want to leave on your terms whenever possible. Keep your head up and do your best to line up the next position. Talk to former co-workers and network because the best way to line up an interview or a position is through a personal reference and not sending off applications through the internet.

I was laid off from my last company in 2010 when I was 26. It was the best thing that could have happened. I ended up in at a new company, in a better position, with much better pay and benefits and way more options to move up.

 

[temple240]

Thanks again for the kind words. I was fortunate enough to be needed for another couple of weeks after my expected lay-off date. Today was my first official day being fully laid-off. I say it was my first day being fully laid off because I was told last Thursday not to come in on Friday and I received a call from my boss on Friday morning saying that they needed my help with an emergency situation. I guess it's good to be needed but better to be needed all of the time.

Anyway, I'm already a going stir crazy even though I've kept busy with job applications, research, and shopping for interview clothes. I suspect that I'll become less stir crazy as I adjust to being home on weekdays and more stir crazy as I get sick of being home on weekdays.

I have a few job prospects that I'm very excited about and really hoping to get interviews from. I'm definitely seeing how this lay-off could make for a much brighter future. I have a second round interview tomorrow morning for a position that I don't really want. I'm 90% sure that I could get this job so the question becomes; should I hold out for something better? I probably will.

By the way, I think I appropriately placed this thread in the Mindless Mumbling section so as to not offend anyone with more significant problems.

 

[unionrdr]

As an 2nd generation autoworker,I've been through all of this my entire life. 21 with very pregnant wife,got laid off,picket lines,long lines at the unemployment office. Robbin Peter to pay Paul as my fil used to say. On the phone makin deals with just about everybody to keep my car,& the utilities on. Not to mention food,diapers,formula,etc. At least beer & weed were dirt cheap way back then.
Not to mention that it seems the majority of adult couples arguments stem from $$,or lack thereof. When times were good,we saved thousands fairly easily. Life was good & we were happy toward onenother. No arguments,as there was plenty to go around.
Those days are long gone for me. Bad back,bad hips,can hardly walk with a cane...(is that what they call a rollsknardly?). Those $984 paychecks are gone,& what pention I do get,well,2/3's of it goes for this damnable mortgage from hell.
The whole point of this rant is that the autoworker job is very cyclical. Up now,saturate the market,down later. You could count on it like death & taxes. So we didn't have it all that good. I lost our 1st house to that crap that would've been paid off a couple years before my health forced me to retire. I was always getting laid off every so often,loosing at that point what I'd struggled to get trying to catch up from the last time. so keep punchin,keep jabbin. It'll come back around,trust me. It always does sooner or later.

 

[Curtis2010]

OP: You are young, have a techincal degee, and almost 2 years of experience. Count your blessings, you are way better off than 99% of the world population.

 

[Curtis2010]

Another suggestion: broaden your job search geographically. Why limit yourself to just the USA (I assume) and its struggling economy. There are other places where the economy is booming...Panama for example. GDP growth forecast at 7-10%, more jobs than workers, currently modifying their immigration policies to make it easier to bring in more skilled workers.

Beautiful country too...been here since March.

 

[Rhumbline]

I'm just a bit over twice your age and I've also been layed off a few times, walked away from a few other jobs as well.

In addition to the other great advice you've gotten I'd like to add a few lessons I've learned.

Once you're employed again, look for ways you can build up your skill set. Learning different software, etc. heck, you don't have to wait to be employed again to do that.

Keep your resume up to date and periodically check the market to see what skills or disciplines are on the upswing or vice versa. It's will help you target areas to strengthen.

It sounds like you have the right attitude, so I'm sure it will work out fine.

Good luck and happy brewing.