Saturday, April 26, 2008

Unemployed...for the moment

My company has been conducting layoffs since January of this year. So I knew it was coming. It happened yesterday morning. When I arrived at work at my normal time of 8:00am, my boss's boss was in her office with the door closed. She's never in before 9am, so I knew something was up. After the guy she was talking with left, she asked me if she could talk with me. As I walked into her office I said with a smile, "So, today's the day, huh?" trying to lighten the mood. She said yes and started crying. Her job is definitely emotionally draining. I got teary too.

I received a nice severance package, even though I've only been with the company for a year. It was a great year full of really good experience. The company paid for me to take an HR course and certification exam, for which I am very grateful. The hardest part was saying goodbye to my wonderful co-workers. I am definitely going to miss them. But I am sure we'll be keeping in touch. I didn't get to say goodbye to my boss, since she was on vacation this past week, but I'm sure we'll catch up soon for lunch. She was an awesome boss and I am definitely going to miss working for her.

A month ago I started looking around, anticipating the layoff. I had several good phone interviews, but no actual in-person interviews. This may be due in part to the fact that I was being upfront with everyone, telling them that I am pregnant at the end of the initial conversation. They all appreciated my honesty, but no one was interested enough to bring me in for an actual interview. I do have several good leads I'm following up on, so that is encouraging. And I'm going to try a different strategy this time: letting them figure out that I'm pregnant when they bring me in for an interview. Maybe this method will work better for me. :) My goal is to find something in my field before the baby comes and before the enconomy goes deeper into a recession.

So wish me luck!! If you know anyone looking to hire a 5-months pregnant, PHR-certified Recruiter in Northern VA, please let me know! :)

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