The Best Medicine

I spent a few hours trying to spruce up the place. There are several go-to blogs I've read in the past in anticipation of job changes over in the blogroll. I made a few happy discoveries as well. Jobless, HR types, humor, time wasting. No man lives by job search alone.

I'm going to single The Unemployment Haiku out first. If you can't cry, laugh until you do.

Pulling Teeth

Roughly two months ago, I received a dose of reality when I got an email at work telling me to attend an all-hands meeting led by our CIO. Upon reading said email, I started pinging everyone I knew with the typical questions: what's going to happen, what have you heard, what groups are being affected?

I didn't like the answers I was hearing back: layoffs, outsourcing.

Sure enough, our CIO announced an outsourcing deal with Big Blue. With their big blue cape, IBM Global Services would sweep in and make all things right with our Data Center and Operations. Unfortunately my job was included in those that were being outsourced. The silver lining in this dark cloud? Those on the call weren't one of the 160 people who were walked out the door that morning. Those people were given their 60 day notice and relieved of their job duties while still being on the payroll. Nope, we had the privilege of staying on, and possibly landing a job with IBM - we had a 40% chance of that happening. Unfortunately I wound up on the wrong side of that equation.

The kicker? Those of us who didn't land a job with IBM, earned the privilege of sticking it out through the 'transition' in order to collect severance. In other words, any employee that has been around for a time would have to help transition their job to IBM in order to qualify for severance. If you find a job before you are officially terminated, then you lose your severance. Needless to say, in these tough economic times the pot at the end of the rainbow looks really great, but when that pot runs dry, there ain't no more. But I digress....

The countdown clock over there is tracking my release date. Ironically it's in late August - the same month I was 'right-sized' back in 2001. August is quickly becoming my least favorite month - no offense to my parents who celebrate their anniversary in August, or my two nieces who have birthdays in the month. The release date is set in mud. It may change. I could be told two weeks before the date that my skills are needed for another period of time.

The past 60+ days have been spent procrastinating getting my job search going. I've been slowly tackling the job search to do list: reviewing/rewriting my resume, updating my LinkedIn network, reviewing what the outplacement company contracted by my employer has to offer, and otherwise dreading getting back out there and looking for a job. But I have to do it. One way or another, my release date is quickly approaching with each setting of the sun, and the pressure to find something before then is big.

I flip between optimism and sheer terror. Optimism because I'll be able to take on a new challenge and find a job with a company that will value what I bring to the table. Thankfully I've been blessed with the support of coworkers past and present who have graciously shared their undeservedly high opinion of my work via LinkedIn. Sheer terror, because I've got a family to feed and house, and if I don't find something times will be tough. I'm lucky though, I have a wife who is like a rock. I can turn to her during those moments of sheer terror and she'll tell me we're going to be okay one way or another.

So I try to look at this situation with rose colored glasses. A friend of mine stated the obvious: I haven't been happy in my current situation, this will force me to change that. I can only hope my skills and reputation will be enough find something in this job climate that will be a good long term fit. At a time when the tech sector seems to be hemorrhaging pink slips, it's a scary prospect.

I plan to use this blog to document my job hunting experience, and all the fun things that go along with it. For me, finding a new job is like pulling teeth - excruciating painful, but necessary long term. If those of us going through this can use the experience to help each other along the way, even better.

Say what?

The concept of a grassroots movement in recruiting might seem obvious to some, superfluous to others. I find it ironic that the central figure in the process, the prospective employee, isn't part of the equation when it comes debating best practices. The internets are full of hiring managers, HR experts, start up wizards, corporate and third party recruiters all hashing out theories on finding candidates, measuring success in candidate placement, defining candidate quality, and so on. It's rare to find any of these players engaging the candidates themselves about this in a sustained and meaningful way. To borrow an analogy from the realm of adoption, it's a bit like adoptive parents, birth parents, social workers, judges and attorneys creating adoption policy. While the people in these roles may have tremendous experience and insight, without the views, experiences, preferences and wisdom of adult adoptees, significant errors in policy and practice are likely to occur.

My hope is for this blog to be a forum for the candidate, the person looking to trade an honest day's work for an honest wage. It's time they pull up a collective chair at the table and take part in the discussion about the world of recruiting.

We are after all, humans. Not a commodity to be bought and sold, but people, without whom the remaining players wouldn't exist.

It is possible for this process to respect the needs and wishes of all parties. How that would work is a discussion that is long overdue.

Fellow cogs, share your wisdom.

Employers and recruiters, there is ample representation in the blogosphere of your dissatisfaction with the status quo. We understand this isn't an entirely novel concept. We need to hear what you have to offer as well, or this ship will be listing to the opposite side. There's no hope for a balanced solution without all the relevant parties engaging in this discussion.