Processing new offer - Closer to home (9/10/10)

[Engineer]

9/10/10: Update:

Just interviewed (3.5 hours) for a word of mouth job about 7 miles from home. Looked wonderful....I'm excited. The benefits are not the best (especially the medical) but I believe that I can get about 10 grand more than what I'm currently making. I'm going to hate giving my notice (something that I've done only once in my life) because, as much as I dislike my current job duties and parent company, I like my co-workers and my current boss very much. Wow!

8/9/10: Update:

Update: I'm starting to dislike the job. There were 4 controls engineers and one manager (also able to do controls) when I arrived. One guy quit and the other two went back to full time R&D. That leaves me and the manager for all jobs and we were told not to hire anyone until a major sale occurs (if it does). I'm getting assigned every fucking job and if I miss something in all of the hoopla, I am getting lambasted. I've spent nearly 50% (was over 50% of my time on the road and am now being assigned weekend project (the next 3 weekends are now assigned for a job so that will be 26 straight days before I get a day off?!?).

Just heard that my next job has 16 weeks worth of hours and is due by September 30th. They haven't assigned it yet because nobody is available to start on it. They somehow still expect it on time. I have a vacation scheduled (cruise, already paid for) starting in October and I somehow feel that they will try to stop me from going. I'm going as an employee or with a pink slip.....no other way around it.

If things don't change soon, I might hit the road even before I find something else. Fuck!


3/22/10: Scheduled start date.

3/19/10: Received formal offer and accepted.

3/12/10: Called back today. Was told that I was chosen and will receive offer by early next week for job. Wow....wooohooo!

3/9/10: Interview complete. Went (IMO) very well. Should know by end of week. Waiting and still searching. Followup e-mail tomorrow.

3/5/10: Now unemployed. Landed face to face interview from the phone interview. Not sure how many they are interviewing but over 500 resumes were received for the position.

3/4/10: Phone interview with potential to land a great job (or at least it sounds that way).


Update: I took the severance. They only offered severance to 22 of the 40 people because they said that the 18 were laid off too long to quality!

March 5th will be my last day.



Time to start over....

Original message below:
My plant will cease operations on March 5th. There are around 35 people with over 853 years of experience being let go. About 9 of them are over 50 but not of retirement age (55) and will now have to wait until 65 to get any type of retirement.

I will be given a choice to do one of two things:

Take severance (13 weeks) and leave at the end of March 5th.

Stay on until the end of the year but will be traveling 100% of the time and then take severance at the end of the year. If I take this choice, I will have to stay the full time to get the severance...no leaving before end of year. I have a 10 year old and a 16 year old and I spend quite a bit of time helping them with homework and just being a DAD. I'm not sure that I want to give up nearly a year being on the road of their life....

Items to consider:

Getting a new job before end of the year and losing severance.

Government assisted COBRA payment (65% of payment by gov) will end on Feb. 28th so if I don't leave by then, no government assistance on insurance.

Damn, so many dedicated employees being screwed....and a terrible decision to make either way. FUCK.

 

[FoBoT]

will you be able to pay the mortgage/not end up homeless if you are out of work for 1-2 years? if the answer is yes, then take the severance and don't travel (ie take care of the kids)

if you could end up losing your home if you are out of work 1-2 years, then I would do the travel in order to stay employed longer and keep the house

good luck man

 

[Engineer]

will you be able to pay the mortgage/not end up homeless if you are out of work for 1-2 years? if the answer is yes, then take the severance and don't travel (ie take care of the kids)

if you could end up losing your home if you are out of work 1-2 years, then I would do the travel in order to stay employed longer and keep the house

good luck man

Remember, I paid my home off over 4 years ago with all of my overtime. I have no other bills. I started saving every penny about 1.5 years ago when I felt this coming on. I can pay for most of my expenses with unemployment and if my wife keeps her job, should not be an issue. Lower standard of living but no problem living. I think I could work at WalMart and pay my bills if necessary, lol.

Heck, I place over 20% of my income into retirement so even if I took a 20% pay cut, I would still be "even" so to say.

 

[blackdogdeek]

here is what i would do:

if i could find a job before 5 march or i were sure i could find a job in 13 weeks, or like fobot said i could survive being out of work for 1-2 years, i would take severance now.

otherwise, i would stay and keep looking for a new job and take it even if it were before the end of the year and it meant losing the severance package.

EDIT: I just saw your response to fobot.

i would take severance now and look for a new job. you could even look into becoming a teacher so that you have summers off with the kids and the same vacations during the school year, get excellent benefits and still make enough to live decently well. there are lots of programs for professionals who are looking for a career change and there are lots of jobs for teachers.

 

[Engineer]

here is what i would do:

if i could find a job before 5 march or i were sure i could find a job in 13 weeks, or like fobot said i could survive being out of work for 1-2 years, i would take severance now.

otherwise, i would stay and keep looking for a new job and take it even if it were before the end of the year and it meant losing the severance package.

It's tough. I'm talking to my wife/kids right now and my kids need my help almost every day (or at least a few times a week) so traveling 100% if almost out of the question. I have brushed up on my skills (refresher if you will) and even expanded them to include new things over the last month (laser usage for example in a stripping application).

 

[blackdogdeek]

It's tough. I'm talking to my wife/kids right now and my kids need my help almost every day (or at least a few times a week) so traveling 100% if almost out of the question. I have brushed up on my skills (refresher if you will) and even expanded them to include new things over the last month (laser usage for example in a stripping application).

i edited my response after reading your response to fobot. take severance now. find a new job at your own pace.

 

[FoBoT]

i see, so you are in good financial shape

then i'd take the money and not do the travelling thing, no need to have regrets of not being there for your kids

 

[EagleKeeper]

Traveling full time is rough on a family. Almost tore my marriage apart.
You have the skills - whether you can find another position in the local area will be up to you.
Remember, that if you stay; all those that leave on 5 March will have a chance to get a replacement job ahead of you.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

sucks man, but at least you get severance.
13 weeks? so 6.5 paychecks?
how long have you been there?

 

[Engineer]

sucks man, but at least you get severance.
13 weeks? so 6.5 paychecks?
how long have you been there?

Nearly 18 years. It used to be 1.5 weeks per year service up to a max 48 weeks. Our damn new asshole CEO decided to limit it to a max 13 weeks. Hell, even GM gave 2 weeks service up to 26 weeks for their employees being kicked out, and they were bankrupt when they did it. Bastards.

By the way, the "industry standard" is 2 weeks per year service and the average is well above 26 weeks, FWIW.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

here is what i would do:

if i could find a job before 5 march or i were sure i could find a job in 13 weeks, or like fobot said i could survive being out of work for 1-2 years, i would take severance now.

otherwise, i would stay and keep looking for a new job and take it even if it were before the end of the year and it meant losing the severance package.

EDIT: I just saw your response to fobot.

i would take severance now and look for a new job. you could even look into becoming a teacher so that you have summers off with the kids and the same vacations during the school year, get excellent benefits and still make enough to live decently well. there are lots of programs for professionals who are looking for a career change and there are lots of jobs for teachers.

Great advice. If it were me and I had a mortgage, I'd stay on and look for a job in the interim and sacrifice the severance. However, since you don't have bills, you might just go ahead and take the severance and look for something else. It is a tough call and depends on the amount of savings you have and how confident you are that you can find a job soon in your market.

 

[sjwaste]

Honestly, it sounds like a good opportunity to take a break. If you can afford it, get the severance now, and start looking for work. But seriously, you've been doing this for 18 years, a lot of it with OT. Take a couple of weeks and go somewhere really nice with your family. You don't have the expenses that most people have and it sounds like you're a saver, so if you can afford it, do it. For you, this is an opportunity.

Please take a little bit of advice from someone a bit younger than you here - you may have to move for your new job. Get the family prepared for it, but depending on where you live, work might not be there. Hire to retire is no more, and the labor market these days is more mobile. If you really need to work now, there are almost always jobs here in the DC area. Our unemployment rate is ridiculously low, but things do cost more.

Good luck. 13 weeks of severance is more than most professionals are getting these days.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Nearly 18 years. It used to be 1.5 weeks per year service up to a max 48 weeks. Our damn new asshole CEO decided to limit it to a max 13 weeks. Hell, even GM gave 2 weeks service up to 26 weeks for their employees being kicked out, and they were bankrupt when they did it. Bastards.

By the way, the "industry standard" is 2 weeks per year service and the average is well above 26 weeks, FWIW.

that does blow.
you would love our policy. we get 1 month for every year with the company, and then 3 months on top of that.

 

[Veramocor]

Engineer, What field are you in? Also how close are you to retirement age, more specifically to getting Medicare (65). Cam you and your family be covered by your wife's health insurance?

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Things you should know!

Unemployment should last 15-months and reduced COBRA is now 15-months as well.

You can start claiming unemployment after a 1-week wait.

The new JOBS bill may extend unemployment past the 15-month mark.

 

[SearchMaster]

Unless you just WANT to travel (some people love it, doesn't sound like you are one of them), it is a no-brainer to me - take the severance now and find a job at your pace.

Remember, this is EXACTLY why you worked your ass off, paid off the house and other bills. You're in great shape, heck take a couple of months to do what YOU want to do (learn woodworking, get some of those projects around the house done, etc.)

 

[boomhower]

You've planned your finances well. Take advantage of that and spend time with your family. From what you have said not working will not really hurt your lifestyle much. That year you would spend away is a year you can never get back with your kids. Take the severance and start looking for another job.

 

[dmcowen674]

Even though you knew it was coming sorry for the loss.

Just shows things are getting worse in the U.S. with no sign of it turning around.

 

[Engineer]

Engineer, What field are you in? Also how close are you to retirement age, more specifically to getting Medicare (65). Cam you and your family be covered by your wife's health insurance?

I'm a Electrical Controls/Automation Engineer. I'm 41 so 24 years (or more) before I get to retire assuming that stuff is even around when I'm ready. My 401k, like many others, tanked but came back somewhat this year. If necessary, I can tap my Roth's as you can take your contributions since the tax has already been paid on them at any time (Roth worth less than what I've put in it so I can take them all if necessary).

 

[Engineer]

Even though you knew it was coming sorry for the loss.

Just shows things are getting worse in the U.S. with no sign of it turning around.

I knew it was coming but losing my job doesn't hurt nearly as bad as watching those that had worked for over 30 years, but because they are under 55, they cannot retire. Some of them are just 8 months away from retiring...now must wait until 65 and will never get the retiree medical insurance or other benefits that have been promised for nearly a 1/3 of a century. 850+ years of experience spread out over 35 employees or so just pissed down the drain. These guys have beat every other tool plant out over the last 15 years....we are the last one...the 4 others closed, including the extremely cheap labor Mexican tool plant, first because of the ability and skills of these guys.

It will be interesting for me to answer my cell phone when one of the plants call needing assistance. We can talk about the weather...basketball....but unless they have deep pockets for contract work and all expenses....fuck em. Might say fuck em anyway.

 

[dmcowen674]

I knew it was coming but losing my job doesn't hurt nearly as bad as watching those that had worked for over 30 years, but because they are under 55, they cannot retire. Some of them are just 8 months away from retiring...now must wait until 65 and will never get the retiree medical insurance or other benefits that have been promised for nearly a 1/3 of a century. 850+ years of experience spread out over 35 employees or so just pissed down the drain. These guys have beat every other tool plant out over the last 15 years....we are the last one...the 4 others closed, including the extremely cheap labor Mexican tool plant, first because of the ability and skills of these guys.

It will be interesting for me to answer my cell phone when one of the plants call needing assistance. We can talk about the weather...basketball....but unless they have deep pockets for contract work and all expenses....fuck em.

Might say fuck em anyway.

Amen Amen

You've had that first part of your tag line for a long time but I just noticed the College one. So true. Don't forget George said hamburgers is manufacturing. He really was quite prophetic. Of course that's easy when your doing the design.

 

[JEDI]

I knew it was coming but losing my job doesn't hurt nearly as bad as watching those that had worked for over 30 years, but because they are under 55, they cannot retire. Some of them are just 8 months away from retiring...now must wait until 65 and will never get the retiree medical insurance or other benefits that have been promised for nearly a 1/3 of a century. 850+ years of experience spread out over 35 employees or so just pissed down the drain. These guys have beat every other tool plant out over the last 15 years....we are the last one...the 4 others closed, including the extremely cheap labor Mexican tool plant, first because of the ability and skills of these guys.

It will be interesting for me to answer my cell phone when one of the plants call needing assistance. We can talk about the weather...basketball....but unless they have deep pockets for contract work and all expenses....fuck em. Might say fuck em anyway.

so your company is folding? if not, why cant the guys so close to retirement xfer to new site?

and for the guy 8months shy of full medical, cant he work w/100% travel till end of year to get full medical?

and no pension???

what retirement package at 65?

as for you:
since u r a dad to a 10yr old, take the serverance now (the 16yr old who cares ). you'll be on Obama 1yr 3month unemployment pay plan. as for health insurance, lookup how much if you buy yourself at ehealthinsurance.com

 

[Gibson486]

You did automation stuff, right? If so, my job may have a spot for you....we are located in MA, ME, NY or RI.

 

[oddyager]

Without a mortgage to pay and yourself being in rather good financial shape with no debt this becomes a no brainer. Take the severance.

 

[lokiju]

Take the severance and leave now.

If you were single and no kids I'd say do it till the end of the year, but family is ALWAYS first priority IMO.