My job is to be eliminated - things will change.....

[Tom]

Last I heard, on average a working adult in the U.S. will work for 12-15 employers in their life time.  FED DOL.  Don't know if that's true but you will be working for more than a couple.  Good luck with fighting for that position.  Consider other opportunities that come your way.

[tris]

Hang in there Scotty

I ducked the axe back in January when the MD made 50% of us redundant. But being in the oil and gas business I'm not overly optimistic about the future

Then out of the blue an old boss called me yesterday with a job opportunity

So as others have said don't despair and ring all your contacts ....... unless you fancy a break that is 

[ScepticalScotty]

Thanks for all the comments guys, and yes we are fighting hard. The "team" approach that I have worked in is a proven approach in my sort of job (enforcing the law - air/noise/water pollution, housing law, etc) and the idea that its best to cut us in half and scatter that knowledge to the four winds seems a bit mad to me.

I am open to new opportunities for sure, and am looking into all of the stuff right now!

[Tom]

Time to freshen up your resume.  Just in case.  Make one with all your chronological employment history.  Use that as your base to make other ones per employer.  Cover letters would be the same.  What state are you in?  There might be some state resources that are available at no cost.  Guzzi content. 

[ScepticalScotty]

In the United Kingdom Tom, but originally from the state of New South Wales.  Yes I'll be going through the resume, have already contacted other members of my profession about opportunities, and also tentatively investigating working for myself one day. One good thing is that due to my pay grade, they have to give me 3 months notice. So looking at the timelines for the restructure, applying for the job I am ring-fenced to, and then if I dont get that..applying for the "lesser" job...it would be January/Feb before I would be out of a job if the worst comes to the worst.

[Tom]

Good luck.  A lot of resources out there. 

some general stuff.

https://www.gov.uk/browse/working/finding-job

[Lannis]

In the United Kingdom Tom, but originally from the state of New South Wales.  Yes I'll be going through the resume, have already contacted other members of my profession about opportunities, and also tentatively investigating working for myself one day. One good thing is that due to my pay grade, they have to give me 3 months notice. So looking at the timelines for the restructure, applying for the job I am ring-fenced to, and then if I dont get that..applying for the "lesser" job...it would be January/Feb before I would be out of a job if the worst comes to the worst.

One thing you need to be careful about ... there's a human factor that is easy to legislate against but HARD to enforce and that's "Age Discrimination".    I don't know how old you are (and don't need to) but on a modern resume, I would not date my college degree or apprenticeship and earliest experience, which is usually not directly relevant anyway.    If the prospective employer sees a B.A. degree earned in 1978, they can do the math pretty quick and gently set it aside, and they will.

Same for a picture.  Don't include one .. unless you want to put your high-school yearbook picture in like Dear Abby used to do ... !

Lannis

[Tom]

Sage advice.  The actual resume you want to send out sans any dates would be more of an experience one vs. a chronological one.  The age factor is a subtle discrimination that if the employer is smart.  They don't say anything related to that.

[Lannis]

Sage advice.  The actual resume you want to send out sans any dates would be more of an experience one vs. a chronological one.  The age factor is a subtle discrimination that if the employer is smart.  They don't say anything related to that.

It's sage because it's hard-won, based on personal experience ... both from inside and out ....

Lannis

[JJ]

It's sage because it's hard-won, based on personal experience ... both from inside and out ....

Lannis

Agree 100% - - and most companies with "online job applications" now have software embedded that will automatically ELIMINATE applications with certain dates...another subtle age discrimination tactic, which is rampant out there!

So again, (IMHO), your NETWORK is one of your most valuable assets!

[John Ulrich]

Most jobs are found thru personal contacts with friends or acquaintances.

[Tom]

 :1:  That's what I tell everyone that I work with.  In getting re-employed be selfish.  Use your contacts, friends and family members.  There are no friends when looking for employment.  Your competition is everyone till you get your next position. 

[Cool Runnings]

The State used to put number of issues on the Boiler Operating Engineers License. They quit doing that about 10 years ago. If they used the old system now, my Chief License would have #38 on it. Still keep renewing just in case. 

There was a time when experience carried weight, now companies seem to want that young person with a 4 year + Degree. No practical experience required.

[Tom]

Somehow, Space Cowboys come to mind. 

[Lannis]

The situation sort of brings to mind the question ... Are companies who reorganize, downsize, etc and as a result, lay people off ALWAYS just heartless bastards?

I mean, do we always expect employment forever from any company we join, regardless of anything else?   

Suppose that:

1) Technology changes, and people no longer need buggy whips?   Do you expect the buggy whip manufacturer to re-tool from plaiting leather and hemp fibers to casting water-pump bodies?

2) Suppose they discover fracking for cheap natural gas, and, as a result, the return on investment for building and maintaining nuclear plants drops.   Does the nuclear services company just pay everyone even though though there's no business in repairing and installing new plants?

3) Suppose someone invents a machine that can wind thread onto bobbins 100 times faster than a person can do it?   Do you just keep paying that thread-winding person anyhow even though there's no more need for the job?   Or should that person head off to the company that makes the winding machine and look for a job there, making winding machines?

Just seems like it's something that everyone should expect and be ready for, not something where we just cuss the "bosses" for throwing us out in the cold.   Very often, they didn't invent the "cold" ...

Lannis

[Tom]

Seems that one should on their own become a multi-tasker.  Too often I'm seeing single career goal people coming in looking for employment.  Hard to tell them that age discrimination is kicking in when they want to return to a building trade but their legs or back cannot handle to work requirements or their pay demands.  They have to compete against younger workers for less pay and in better physical condition.

Kona is a resort town and few restaurants and bars want to hire servers in their 50's and 60's plus they bring some employee baggage.  Most of the managers are younger.  Another obstacle.

[Cool Runnings]

The situation sort of brings to mind the question ... Are companies who reorganize, downsize, etc and as a result, lay people off ALWAYS just heartless bastards?

I mean, do we always expect employment forever from any company we join, regardless of anything else?   

Suppose that:

1) Technology changes, and people no longer need buggy whips?   Do you expect the buggy whip manufacturer to re-tool from plaiting leather and hemp fibers to casting water-pump bodies?

2) Suppose they discover fracking for cheap natural gas, and, as a result, the return on investment for building and maintaining nuclear plants drops.   Does the nuclear services company just pay everyone even though though there's no business in repairing and installing new plants?

3) Suppose someone invents a machine that can wind thread onto bobbins 100 times faster than a person can do it?   Do you just keep paying that thread-winding person anyhow even though there's no more need for the job?   Or should that person head off to the company that makes the winding machine and look for a job there, making winding machines?

Just seems like it's something that everyone should expect and be ready for, not something where we just cuss the "bosses" for throwing us out in the cold.   Very often, they didn't invent the "cold" ...

Lannis

As long as there are large facilities, people like me will be required. With me kind of people, you wouldn't get nice conditioned air winter and summer. 

[Lannis]

Kona is a resort town and few restaurants and bars want to hire servers in their 50's and 60's plus they bring some employee baggage.  Most of the managers are younger.  Another obstacle.

Although I must say that I've seen quite a few older guys as waiters in nice restaurants lately.   It's always been fairly common to see older black guys as waiters, usually since they've hung with it since back in the days when it was the only job they could get, and found that they could do pretty well with it later; but lately, it seems that there are older white and latino professional waiters.   

My great-uncle Daniel Perez, who immigrated from Cuba around 1935 and who married my grandmother's youngest sister causing a family scandal, was a professional waiter in the big hotels and restaurants in Washington DC in the 1940s and 1950s.   Fancy restaurants competed for his services, and big-shots who would come in to the place would ask for him by name.  (He used to take me to Washington Senator ball games when I were a lad.   Really nice guy.)    He retired around 1959, and a few years later bought a big home in St Petersburg, Florida and he and Aunt Viola moved there.   They left seven figures of money in their inheritance when they died ....

I don't suppose every one can do that well, but you never know ...

Lannis

[Cool Runnings]

Matthew Boulton and James Watt's Steam Engine: Why Industrial revolution started only in Britain 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWppmWCW0Qw

[Lannis]

As long as there are large facilities, people like me will be required. With me kind of people, you wouldn't get nice conditioned air winter and summer. 

But it's always something you didn't see coming that rocks your employment world.

Suppose they invent a pocket-sized power source that produces a personal invisible shield, within which you control the temperature and humidity independent of outdoor conditions?   HVAC people would be hosed.

I suppose the contingency is remote, but when I was running PDP-11 computers from huge RK05 hard drives with 2.5 megabytes of storage, I would never have believed that you would soon be able to put a TERABYTE of non-volatile storage on something that would slip into your pocket.   

So stay mobile anyway!   

Lannis

[ScepticalScotty]

I the end I always think there will be certain jobs that human beings have to do - I have always thought that my job is one of those jobs. I inspect properties for compliance with the law and then launch and se through to the end prosecutions resulting in fines of more than £20,000, can be unlimited. In some cases jail time is a possibility. Confiscation of property etc....

However there is a trend to "flat" management structures where there seems to be less space for the highly trained expert. In fact we are under threat not from machines, but from bean counters with a "tick box" mentality.

We have 5 days (counting today) in which to put our objections to the restructure. Our draft submission is in my hands and I'll read it later; it looks good but there's no accounting for what will happen. But we will have given it a very solid shot.

[pikipiki]

Skeptic,
    If you are in the UK and may be facing redundancy it can be worth knowing what your rights are. If you are served redundancy you may be entitled to additional days off to go to interviews or apply for other work.
You can get advice by joining a union such as Unite, (getting accelerated immediate full membership costs slightly more but its not a lot and you can sign up online) although employers take a dim view of union membership so its best just to use them for advice and to check over redundancy paper work if you are given notice. If anything is a miss or your getting screwed over Unite would spot it and represent you should you wish.
Also worth finding out what your companies policy is for references some companies state they only give a simple letter stating what your attendance record was in last 12 or 24 months employment.

[ScepticalScotty]

I'm in the Popular Peoples Front For The Liberation Of Judea. Not the Peoples Popular Front!! Splitters!!

Been a union guy since 1991 and since being in the UK have been in UNISON. 

[Steph]

Laws in the UK are heavily bias towards the employer. I went through this exact scenario less than 2 years ago. My advice is start networking for a new job like your life depended on it. However depressing the thought of looking for a new job is, you will have some options no matter what happens. I have a friend who became a motorcycle instructor and loves it.
- & I ended up with a new job paying a hell of a lot more.

[Tom]

Like they say.  "One door closes.  Another one opens."

[Steph]

Like they say.  "One door closes.  Another one opens."

In my case, the door didn't close, they just shot themselves in the foot!   

[Tom]

Good to hear that it worked out for you.

[Kentktk]

  Oh, I have never taken a dime from the government.

They take from us. I would have no problem taking some back.

[charlie b]

I the end I always think there will be certain jobs that human beings have to do - I have always thought that my job is one of those jobs. I inspect properties for compliance with the law and then launch and se through to the end prosecutions resulting in fines of more than £20,000, can be unlimited. In some cases jail time is a possibility. Confiscation of property etc....

However there is a trend to "flat" management structures where there seems to be less space for the highly trained expert. In fact we are under threat not from machines, but from bean counters with a "tick box" mentality.

We have 5 days (counting today) in which to put our objections to the restructure. Our draft submission is in my hands and I'll read it later; it looks good but there's no accounting for what will happen. But we will have given it a very solid shot.

Unfortunately you seem to have one of those jobs that is the perfect target for management.  They can put together a little spreadsheet that shows how few people it takes to do the job and then fire the rest.  The middle manager that suggest it will get a bonus until the company is sued due to mistakes made in the processes.  Then he will get fired and the company may or many not survive depending on it's size.

It also seems to be a job that is not readily available anywhere else.  I hope you survive this part.  Not an easy thing to go through either.  About the only thing I could think of to do would be to put together a small package that shows how much money you have 'made' or 'saved' the company over the past 5-10 years.  But, that might fall on deaf ears too.

Good luck.