Day3

As the news permeated throughout the company, farewell emails started to come through. Some folks, unfortunately, were asked to leave on the day of the announcement. Others got an extra day or two. Still, others, like myself, were given a little longer time to get our stuffs organized, projects transferred. I felt lucky to have the extra time, but sad to be receiving these emails from colleagues or I should say, ex-colleagues, whom I greatly admired, talking about their experience here, saying goodbye and wishing everyone the best. The messages might have been worded differently in each email, but it was clear that everyone still wished our company the best and still believed in it. I still believe in it. 

I took a bit of time off today and joined my family for lunch and swimming at the community pool. I enjoyed the time, but could not concentrate much as my mind kept wondering if some of these opportunities would pan out. I kept looking at my phone, reading messages, and sending out resumes. I would be glad when this was all over and I could feel normal and live normal again. Would it ever be "normal" again? I doubted it sincerely. One comment on my previous post was from someone who experienced a layoff and still has not been able to shake it off.  I wondered if that would ever be me. If I became that person, that might be a good thing.  Because, in truth, that would mean I would have a job and right now I could not be sure.

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My new chart of opportunities

In/Out of State	Area	Date Due	Days Remaining
In	Phoenix	8-Jun	0.00
In	Arizona	8-Jun	0.00
Out	Bay Area	8-Jun	0.00
In	Phoenix	8-Jun	0.00
In	Phoenix	8-Jun	0.00
In	Phoenix	8-Jun	0.00
In	Phoenix	8-Jun	0.00
Out	Bay Area	11-Jun	3.00
Out	Bay Area	11-Jun	3.00
Out	Chicago	11-Jun	3.00
		14-Jun	6.00
In	Phoenix	7-Sep	91.00

I am charting out my opportunities to make sure I am not forgetting to follow-up on these opportunities. So, the count is 12 with 3 positions through recruiters, 2 with company HR, 1 through referral and 2 through direct contact and 5 are miscellaneous others that may or may not pan out. The due date column is my timeline to follow-up on the conversations. Hope to move some of these opportunities along tomorrow. I had a priority column, but right now, it might be too early to tell. 

I also want to mention a few links that I visited today that were helpful:

Ventureloop.com - thanks for this as well, Pam. I did a search on "genomic" and saw a number of companies I recognized and though some of the postings were old, it gave me an idea of which company to research on for job opportunities.  

Indeed.com – Thank you, David. I remember someone has mentioned it before, but had not looked at it until now. 

Glassdoor.com - Also, thanks to David - I had visited them in the past, but only to look up companies that are of interest, but had not considered the job search page. Thanks for the reminder. 

It's almost 1AM in the morning, now. I should head for bed, but there just seems so much that still needed to be done. Still, I should go. Before I do, I want to say a few thanks. I am thankful for everyone who wrote in their support, especially Dan, who offered financial support, though we have only met about a month or so over Twitter. I still have a long road ahead, but your words of encouragement will help me push forward. Thank you ever so much. 

I hope what I say on here will also help others who might be in the same predicament. Unemployment seems like such a lonely state of affairs to me. It is almost like people feel ashamed to tell others that they are unemployed. You find a lot of people who would give themselves various titles during their unemployment to hide the fact that they are unemployed. Phrases like "between opportunities" or "exploring options" come up in conversations, but most people don't come out and say, "I am unemployed." Some say it is because it is more difficult to find a job when you are unemployed. For various given reasons, the people who are employed seem more desirable to employers. However, I would argue that this should not be. Many good people become unemployed due to no fault of their own and this should not be held against them. Anyway, I am digressing. Perhaps, this could be a blog topic for another day. Good night, everyone!