FlyerTalkers Laid Off Thread
 

Hey gang.. just got my notice today that the company is further downsizing and my job has been zapped from payroll (darn, i'm gonna miss 250/week)... the airline business is always like this... you never know when you are gonna wake up and find out you aren't getting a paycheck!

Just wondering how many of you out there are in the same boat... and any stories along with it.

Thankfully they are letting me keep my flight benefits as long as I maintain the website and do the occasional pass request and handle a few other things... so I think that's a fair trade. I also have a few other job options :-)

I just spoke with another coworker who also got laid off (and he was at the executive level).... we're both going to stay connected to the airline while we sort things out... I'm in major cash conservation mode (if I haven't for the past 6 months) but luckily have interviews with a CRS (computer reservations system) on the 8th and 2 airlines later in January....

Happy Holidays...

i guess

Nate, good luck to you. Three years ago, my last W-2 employer called on 12/27 to lay me off. Said they wanted to wait until after the holidays. I reminded them that it was Kwanza. The callers had only seen me once, so it took them a minute to realize that Kwanza was probably not my main December holiday. Glad to see that you got interviews lined up so quickly.

UAPremierExec:
I wish you all the best. I guess all FlyerTalkers keep "the fingers cross" for you ...

Nate
Sorry to hear the news. Hope the new year brings better news.
Ron & Lynn

I'm just wondering why employers wait until the day AFTER you just got done blowing hundreds of dollars on gifts to tell you that yer gone...

I figured that this is a trend and was wondering who else has received the "axe"..

-n

I got the axe 3 weeks ago, I had figured it would happen but the timing caught me off guard. Makes for a great Christmas!

Fortunately, I have some good prospects and I am hopeful that the new year will be a good one. And I am still taking my family to Hawaii on Dec 27 - that's been a long planned trip that I owe my wife and girls!

To all others in the same situation, good luck, keep smiling and network network network!

Best of luck to both you folks in finding something soon - a couple of my neighbors are pilots with the majors and both are sweating bullets in spite of having a decent amount of time in.

I was laid off in April and still no jobs in Telecom/Internet. My advice is to use your miles and hotel points and treat yourself to a good time in a country where your money goes a long way.

Very smart advise. I would go to Buenos Aires. Very nice town, very nice people and your dollars can serve you very nice, very long..

eh, somehow I'm doing a mileage run w/ my other 1/2 and 2 FlyerTalkers on the 29th of Jan... *lol*

Great tip. Now is the best time to go to EZE and have a blast... these prices are a once in a lifetime thing.

To remain on topic, I left/got the friendly boot from a major bank and am now taking a sabbatical until sometime next year. Im also working towards starting two business ventures with some of the silver parachute I left with. I am spending part of my sabbatical 'down-time' on starting these ventures. The corporate high life was great, but after almost 11 years of it Ive had enough. For me, its time to see if apart from talking the talk I can walk the walk and go at it myself. If things dont go as I anticipate, my gamble is that Ive still have enough clout in my resume to get back into the corporate rat race...

So then, anybody know any trustworthy VC's? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

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Gaucho100K

[This message has been edited by Gaucho100K (edited 12-27-2002).]

Sorry to hear that. Take time off if you can, but I highly recommend hitting the job search ASAP. I was laid off this past May, and was out of a job for 7 weeks, but I was busy trying to find a new job.

Keep your spirits up, something will come soon http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

As one who just recently missed the ax, you have my thoughts. In case you don't know, there is a thread that has been started for FT'ers looking for a job. You can find it at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...L/002139.html.

Good luck to you all!

Gaucho, you've got mail!

Thanks for the note, reply is on its way... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

That would be me. I am currently goosing my revenue -- since the paychecks don't end until the end of this month -- with extra money from retail work. The thing that really scares me is that they treat me better as a $9.50 an hour retail worker than the folks at my old job did.

I'm looking for a new gig, but the retail work should tide me over for a while. In the meantime, I am boring holes in the sky a lot more and having a hell of a lot of fun.

Plus, the cool thing about retail is that since you're on your feet all day and you're moving all over the store, you get in better shape. If it didn't pay so poorly, I'd stick with it.

When I was unemployed during the last recession, I worked retail for a year... ironically, it helped me get a better job in the corporate office for a major retailer. That, in turn, helped me get the job I have now.

The truth of the matter is, I would have NEVER landed in the job I have now (or anything close to it) off the street. The right combination, however, of being in the right place at the right time and having skills that others didn't (picked up in many cases from my "odder" pieces of employment) gave me an edge that was unbeatable.

I interviewed a candidate earlier this year, btw, who was working retail. She said that the majority of those working at her store were laid off professionals. They ended up forming an afterwork group to teach each other job skills they had learned in their previous employment to help each other through their underemployment.

I left a company I founded about 2 years ago and started up a new firm. It has been great. Endings are new beginnings and all of that.

My advice to everyone is to always consider yourself self-employed, whether your income is reported on a W-2 or not.

And with your own business, you can always work a business reason for your travel and meet very interesting people all over the world.

I am realizing this was a blessing in disguise. Since October, I have been able to brush up on my Crossword Solving skills, make friends at the Starbucks, visit friends, and do some traveling w/ more traveling on the way.

I have a question for those of you who've taken advantage of periods of unemployment to get more travelling done. Visa application forms for many countries, and landing cards for many more countries even where visas are not required, ask visitors to list their occupation. What do you write in that space - "Unemployed"? Do you ever get the third degree from immigration officers when travelling without a job?

Of course, I'm even more afraid of what might happen if the USA authorities asked this question on the return trip...

Time to take DANCING or Pottery Classes and call yourself a STUDENT! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Flake, are you telling us we have to lie...? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

It happens.

Loyalty, busting our humps to do good for the company, and being true blue has amounted to zip. That's just the way it goes.

I took a proactive move and got the heck out of this madness last year, 12//2001.

I'm independent now and have never been happier. I'm home a lot, tavel a lot less, and make enough to be comfortable. We paid off the cars, credit card balances, and owe nothing except the home mortage, which my wife's part-time job pays for.

Truly a blessing in disguise for my family.

Last winter, I drove across the border into Canada for a season-long ski trip. I was up front with the length of my stay and the fact that I was between jobs. I'd guess the questioning and checks lasted 20-30 minutes. They wanted to know how much cash I had, bank account balances and did I have proof of them, and so on.

Canadians are very protective of their jobs...

I would definitely agree with this. Just try to stay positive and network, network, network!

factotum asked, I just say that I am a writer, after all this is what I do freelance sometimes. And you are writing on FT now, right? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif or, I say programmer, or consultant. Or, use my old job description.

Yup. And if you need any proof other than what folks here are telling you, just talk to anyone who used to work for Enron, WorldCom, PSINet, Global Crossing, Adelphia, et al. Sure sucks to be the patsy as the execs walk off with hundreds of millions, doesn't it?

Oh, I'm not putting retail down at all. I like what I am doing right now. If it paid better, I'd do it more. I worked retail back when I was in college and had no problem with it. There is something nice about helping people find what they're looking for and sending them out with a smile on their face.

Also, as I tell folks, sales is sales, whether it's a $30 sweater or $30K ad contract, so I am keeping my sales skills fresh.

Best wishes and TONS of luck to all looking for gainful employment in 2003. The past few years have been a major challenge, and it's easy to let your spirits get down, (especially after the wild run the economy had at the end of the past millenium). Don't let the temporary bad juju get to you.

The crud is happening to small business owners such as myself as well; employers are not exempt, either. I've seen sales and gross profit drops of almost 50% in my industry recently after riding out more modest declines in the past 2 years (this with a well established 12 year old company).

We all have to do what we can to keep body and soul together during the lean times. They do get better. For this "entrepreneur", I've pretty much had it with supplying manufacturers...I'm going to liquidate the company if I can get into law school in the fall.

Keep on keepin' on, all! BTW, great idea to go on vacation...nothing like a change of scenery to brighten the spirits. Spit in the face of adversity!

well it looks like I now work for Air Canada. I think. I was told to come in tomorrow at 815A to the airport to get all the paperwork done and go get my drug tests... and make sure I have my 10 year background check, IDs, etc.

:-) :-)

Congratulations UAPremierExec! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif Best of luck.

Congrats!

Blame Canada. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Congrats!!!!

After being stabbed by a shoplifter with a screwdriver who really wanted a bike for Christmas a few years ago, I found a winter job delivering motorhomes and trucks out of Indiana. Funny thing is, it sounds rotten, but you get alot of time to listen to yourself, learn all of the songs on the radio, get paid to go to NYC, and if you stay on the road, clear $900-$1000 a week. I would love to work for the Red Sox again for Spring training here in FL, but driving pays 3x as much.

JudyJFLA
driving on a road near you, but right now heading to Hawaii tomorrow!!

What do you write in that space - "Unemployed"?

just and simple 'Manager' (that always worked).

Writer or Novelist is also good.

You could also put down "sales" because if you are looking for a job, you are selling your skills, right?

To give a more detailed answer, here is my experience. For the last eight years or so, I have been an independent contractor for a company I used to be employed by. I wanted to do this so I could take long vacations abroad -- as long as three or four months.

In one case, back in 1995 I was leaving France after two months there. In the UA check-in line, a French security guy (not sure what his official title was) started asking questions pertaining to the length of my trip, and the interview degenerated from there into a lot of leading questions. He looked at my passport and noticed I had been in Turkey the previous year, asked if I knew anyone in Turkey (no -- I was on a tour), asked if I was carrying any electronic devices -- yes, a cassette recorder -- asked to look at it, and so on. The look of disgust and exasperation on my face seemed to help end the nonsense. Maybe he thought I was trying to carry a concealed explosive on the plane, hidden inside the cassette recorder, planted there by my Turkish terrorist friend -- who knows? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

In 1997, I went to the British Isles for 3-1/2 months. Upon entering the UK at Heathrow, I was grilled by the immigration official who behaved as if I was up to no good. My mistake was giving an honest answer to his first question: "Where will you be staying in London?" I replied that I would be staying with someone in their home. (I should've just given the name of a hotel.) He snapped, "Are they English or American?" In fact, they were neither, but seeing I had only two choices, I stammered, "English." He was also concerned about the planned length of my trip. Things went downhill from there. He finally asked to see my return plane ticket. I presented him that, and it (perhaps along with my facial expressions) convinced him to let me in. I suppose the UK immigration people are concerned about us Yanks entering on tourist visas and then illegally taking jobs.

On all other occasions, however, I have encountered no problems entering or leaving countries. Most of the time (especially in EU countries, with the exception of the UK), you are just waved through without even a stamp in your passport. And returning to the USA is entirely routine and uneventful.

On visa applications/landing cards, I would suggest that for "occupation" you put whatever your usual one is.


Kathy



[This message has been edited by KathyWdrf (edited 01-08-2003).]

Having been recently unemployed and travelled to Europe, here's a tip, carry cash or cash equivalents with you when entering.

I ran into trouble at the J/F passport line at heathrow. In the occupation section of the landing card, I wrote "unemployed" (I was honest), and I had less than $300 on me.

Now what I usually do is withdraw money from my citibank card at citbanks all over the world right from the ATM. Not only is it easy, it saves me money and the hassle of the money exhange.

I was staying with a friend, who is English, who is also unemployed (by choice). So you can see the problem.

Needless to say her majesties customs grilled me. They asked me how much money I had... I told them that I had money, 2 credit cards and futhermore I asked them "Would anyone who doesn't have money fly Biz class?"

Then they asked to see my return ticket, which was 2 weeks later. I wasn't really dressed well (jeans, fleece, t-shirt), but I offered them my phone to call them bank so that they could verify that I had money to use. By this point the line had built up, and upon seeing my return ticket (also in J), they stammed my passport and let me through.