Need Advice

Basement Bias

FlyingWolver9er
This is like a Facebook post, but I'm too proud to post something like this on there. So I learned today that my employer sold our company to a larger business. I think all my co-workers will be good, except me. I did inventory as well as doing AP/AR duties and they have bigger departments & own equipment. Before this gig, which the original owner sold to our current/outgoing owner, I was in loan processing. As many know, the bank I worked for was bought out and the whole department I worked in was let go. If they cannot find a role for me, they "verbally" for now have said they will make sure I get severance pay. That's all fine and dandy, but I have a family to help take care of & support. Luckily my wife has a better paying job, but still doesn't ease this awful feeling. Maybe I'll find a spot, but it seems unlikely with this new company. Also interviewed last week to go back to loan processing, but the pay for that company wasn't going to be close to my current income. I feel like a stuck pig, as I'm not a carpenter or mechanical person nor am I computer whiz that could do support or coding type work. I'm open to all suggestions at this point.
 
This is like a Facebook post, but I'm too proud to post something like this on there. So I learned today that my employer sold our company to a larger business. I think all my co-workers will be good, except me. I did inventory as well as doing AP/AR duties and they have bigger departments & own equipment. Before this gig, which the original owner sold to our current/outgoing owner, I was in loan processing. As many know, the bank I worked for was bought out and the whole department I worked in was let go. If they cannot find a role for me, they "verbally" for now have said they will make sure I get severance pay. That's all fine and dandy, but I have a family to help take care of & support. Luckily my wife has a better paying job, but still doesn't ease this awful feeling. Maybe I'll find a spot, but it seems unlikely with this new company. Also interviewed last week to go back to loan processing, but the pay for that company wasn't going to be close to my current income. I feel like a stuck pig, as I'm not a carpenter or mechanical person nor am I computer whiz that could do support or coding type work. I'm open to all suggestions at this point.
Damn dude, that sucks. I really don’t have any advice, but I do firmly believe that when one door closes, another one opens. I walked away from a company I’d been with for 20 years. I was making $120k a year, but was miserable. I now have a job I love, I’m back in my own state and home, and I’m happy. Keep your head up and keep looking! The better you prepare, the more effort you put in, the better the results. Good luck my friend!
 
Sorry to hear that OP. I know a couple people who are loan underwriters, both can work remote though only one of them does. Experienced UWers can make $80 to $100k. Maybe get back to processing with an agreement that you can prove yourself to move one step down the line in the closing process. In a few years you could work anywhere that has an internet connection.

Good luck!
 
Keep your head up on this. Just because one door closed does not mean life is over. Other better doors will open. One of my friends was let go during Covid, found a new job with a pay raise and promotion. The jobs are out there.

I suggest using this time to find out what you really want to do work wise. This might be the time to move into a different field.

If you need advice or resume suggestions, let us know.
 
Time for a career change

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2020 has been rough for a shitload of people. I guess misery loves company.

My best advice is, don't be scared to try something new. Over my nearly 55 years, I have acquired many different talents. I didn't always start out at a pay level that was great, but, I stuck with it until I learned a skill. Cheap labor ain't skilled, but skilled labor ain't cheap. I'm no expert in anything, but I have enough versatility in the skills I have acquired over the years, that I'm confident I can find a job very quickly. I'm always telling people that I work with, "They can fire me if they want to, I don't give a shit. I was looking for a job when I found this one."
 
Free advice is worth only what you paid for it. That being said, here is my general advice:
Start looking around and see what is available in your area, in your field of expertise. Do not forget that your skills and experience carries over into ancillary fields and industries. You may even end up with a promotion by taking a new job. If you think you have a few months at least, start by looking for jobs one step above your current position, if that is desirable to you. Send out resumes for positions that you would have quit your current job a year ago to accept. Don't forget to check in private and public sector jobs. Best of luck!
 
Something else crossed my mind a moment ago ... education. Contact your local community colleges and see if they offer any certification courses that you need to advance in your field of choice. Depending on state programs, you may qualify to get that for zero or near zero out of pocket cost as a displaced worker.
 
This is like a Facebook post, but I'm too proud to post something like this on there. So I learned today that my employer sold our company to a larger business. I think all my co-workers will be good, except me. I did inventory as well as doing AP/AR duties and they have bigger departments & own equipment. Before this gig, which the original owner sold to our current/outgoing owner, I was in loan processing. As many know, the bank I worked for was bought out and the whole department I worked in was let go. If they cannot find a role for me, they "verbally" for now have said they will make sure I get severance pay. That's all fine and dandy, but I have a family to help take care of & support. Luckily my wife has a better paying job, but still doesn't ease this awful feeling. Maybe I'll find a spot, but it seems unlikely with this new company. Also interviewed last week to go back to loan processing, but the pay for that company wasn't going to be close to my current income. I feel like a stuck pig, as I'm not a carpenter or mechanical person nor am I computer whiz that could do support or coding type work. I'm open to all suggestions at this point.
Sorry to hear this. Sometimes you have to take a lower paying job and then work back towards getting the job you want/need. Been there. A lower paying job is better than no job. Hope this helps. You can do it!

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Thanks for all the support and encouragement. I've been spending all of today looking up all kinds of avenues through Indeed. My biggest problem yesterday was going home to tell my wife that I may not have a job at some point in 2021 if I don't get something new. Could be January, but most likely somewhere between March to July. I know July would be the latest for sure. My fear is that it could be January (not likely but still possible). Sucks that I had an interview a week ago, but I'm certain that salary range I was considering was too high for what they were looking for. Knowing the news from yesterday, I would have lowered it and worked my way back up. I've got to have the tough conversation with my cousin and his fiancé (with all their young kids) about either buying the house (I own one that I don't live in) or finding a new place (they most likely will have to choose this option). If this wouldn't have happened, I would have been ok them making rent they could afford. Of course the holiday season makes that conversation miserable. If that sale happens in one form or another for my asking price, I will have enough profit to pay my debts off and would feel much better.
 
Thanks for all the support and encouragement. I've been spending all of today looking up all kinds of avenues through Indeed. My biggest problem yesterday was going home to tell my wife that I may not have a job at some point in 2021 if I don't get something new. Could be January, but most likely somewhere between March to July. I know July would be the latest for sure. My fear is that it could be January (not likely but still possible). Sucks that I had an interview a week ago, but I'm certain that salary range I was considering was too high for what they were looking for. Knowing the news from yesterday, I would have lowered it and worked my way back up. I've got to have the tough conversation with my cousin and his fiancé (with all their young kids) about either buying the house (I own one that I don't live in) or finding a new place (they most likely will have to choose this option). If this wouldn't have happened, I would have been ok them making rent they could afford. Of course the holiday season makes that conversation miserable. If that sale happens in one form or another for my asking price, I will have enough profit to pay my debts off and would feel much better.

Hang in there brother. about five years ago, I went thru a layoff and ended up unemployed for 14 months. It wasn't easy and lucky for me, I had enough in the bank to get thru it once I trimmed down all my non-essentials. Hell I even had my oldest daughter and grand daughter living with me during that time, and they could not afford to move out, so I had that extra pressure to keep a roof over their head. I just kept talking to recruiters and applying for everything I could. What sucked is I have over 20 years in IT so most companies weren't willing to pay me what I would normally make and others just did not want to take that chance I would take anything then jump ship once I found something better.

Also, my main specialty is application packaging for distribution systems like SCCM so they can deploy rollouts and upgrades, to their enterprise. Needless to say there is not a huge demand for that in Chattanooga. If I had been willing to relocate to Atlanta or Nashville I would have been fine but I could not uproot my family, and I am too damn old to live out of a hotel or small apartment and travel back and forth... but eventually one of the head hunters called me back and offered me a foot in the door kind of job, with a global insurance company. Two years of doing contract work for them to show them what I could bring to the table, and they hired me on full time.

Now, I am good till retirement. You never know what opportunities will just come out of nowhere. Network with others and keep going after it.
 
Thanks for all the support and encouragement. I've been spending all of today looking up all kinds of avenues through Indeed. My biggest problem yesterday was going home to tell my wife that I may not have a job at some point in 2021 if I don't get something new. Could be January, but most likely somewhere between March to July. I know July would be the latest for sure. My fear is that it could be January (not likely but still possible). Sucks that I had an interview a week ago, but I'm certain that salary range I was considering was too high for what they were looking for. Knowing the news from yesterday, I would have lowered it and worked my way back up. I've got to have the tough conversation with my cousin and his fiancé (with all their young kids) about either buying the house (I own one that I don't live in) or finding a new place (they most likely will have to choose this option). If this wouldn't have happened, I would have been ok them making rent they could afford. Of course the holiday season makes that conversation miserable. If that sale happens in one form or another for my asking price, I will have enough profit to pay my debts off and would feel much better.
Good luck to you man. You will come through this and it will work itself out. I can't really give job opportunity advice to you, it's been 20 years since I have had a job that my paycheck came from someone else. It seems to me that there is some good advice in this thread. These guys know what they are talking about.
 
Sorry to hear this man. A couple things come to mind, one tactical and one philosophical.

First, do not limit your search by geography. Companies’ work from home responses to COVID have allowed them to expand where and how they cast their recruiting nets. Cannot overstate the seismic and lasting impact this is having on talent acquisition. Many more jobs can now be performed from literally anywhere, and this will not change post-COVID. So think about expanding your search beyond just opportunities in your city or state. As someone else mentioned, this reality can really bring into play any number of great opportunities in some adjacent lines of work you might have not seen or considered before.

Second, don’t paint your own self into a corner of “my job is who I am”. That’s the pathway to defining who you are by what you do (or don’t do) for a living, and you need to keep in mind throughout this that your job does not define your merit or worth or value in this life. To you or to anyone else. Need confirmation? Compile a personal Top Ten list of “Best Moments of My Life”. How many of them happened at work?

Be the ball Danny.
 
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Sorry to hear this man. A couple things come to mind, one tactical and one philosophical.

First, do not limit your search by geography. Companies’ work from home responses to COVID have allowed them to expand where and how they cast their recruiting nets. Cannot overstate the seismic and lasting impact this is having on talent acquisition. Many jobs can now be performed from literally anywhere, and this will not change post-COVID. So think about expanding your search beyond just opportunities in your city or state. As someone else mentioned, this reality can really bring into play any number of great opportunities in some adjacent lines of work you might have not seen or considered before.

Second, don’t paint your own self into a corner of “my job is who I am”. That’s the pathway to defining who you are by what you do (or don’t do) for a living, and you need to keep in mind throughout this that your job does not define your merit or worth or value in this life. To you or to anyone else. Need confirmation? Compile a personal Top Ten list of “Best Moments of My Life”. How many of them happened at work?

Be the ball Danny.
This was the reason The Big 8 was the best conference EVER ! Smart thinkin'.



....and Nebraska won it A LOT !
 
Just to give an update. I so far am with this new company (the one that bought us) but just for the transition for now. I am meeting with another local company after work tomorrow. I will most likely be taking a pay cut, but at this point am thinking about jumping ship. This company has no sign of selling anytime soon and is all about the local community. Hopefully tomorrow goes well, as I'm getting excited to think about what could be. I'm getting the same type of feeling I had when I was first hired on at the bank. You can tell when you're talking with good people that have morals and care about the community you live and work in.
 
Just to give an update. I so far am with this new company (the one that bought us) but just for the transition for now. I am meeting with another local company after work tomorrow. I will most likely be taking a pay cut, but at this point am thinking about jumping ship. This company has no sign of selling anytime soon and is all about the local community. Hopefully tomorrow goes well, as I'm getting excited to think about what could be. I'm getting the same type of feeling I had when I was first hired on at the bank. You can tell when you're talking with good people that have morals and care about the community you live and work in.
Good Luck.
 
Just to give an update. I so far am with this new company (the one that bought us) but just for the transition for now. I am meeting with another local company after work tomorrow. I will most likely be taking a pay cut, but at this point am thinking about jumping ship. This company has no sign of selling anytime soon and is all about the local community. Hopefully tomorrow goes well, as I'm getting excited to think about what could be. I'm getting the same type of feeling I had when I was first hired on at the bank. You can tell when you're talking with good people that have morals and care about the community you live and work in.

You got this. Keep us all informed on how it goes.
 
You got this. Keep us all informed on how it goes.
Will do. Just hoping I can convince them to try to match my current pay a little more. If I take the job, I will be increasing some costs in childcare as well. Hopefully I can convince them. Otherwise, might just have to suck it up and hope they offer more pay as I go. I've yet to see a new role offer with the current gig.
 
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