Laid off...but it all worked out!

It’s been awhile, but much has happened.  I was laid off from my previous Company at the end of April.  They had a huge, unexpected layoff in which, among many other things, more than half of the doc team was cut.  Severance was issued, but it wasn’t much and only served to slow the process of receiving unemployment.  It happened to rain all work week during my first 4 weeks of unemployment…depressing since those unemployment checks weren’t coming in and I had nowhere to go.  I spent a lot of time with my cat, but it wasn’t paying the bills.  My days were filled with surfing all the job board sites, applying for relevant jobs and constantly updating my spreadsheet of jobs.  I found that there weren’t many jobs because it was the end of the fiscal year.  I had a year of experience, but most places hiring at the time were looking for 10+ years.  When my eyes were tired from searching, I would clean the house or do household chores to pass the time.  After a couple weeks, I started to get into more of a routine.  That was nice.  I was only unemployed for a month and a half, but that was long enough!

AND THEN IT HAPPENED.

I applied to a company I had wanted to get into since senior year of college.  I had checked the company’s website that morning, to no avail, and a few hours later, it was posted!  It was perfect for me and I hastily applied.  I got a call back the next day.  I spoke with the recruiter who said he’d call me back after talking to the hiring manager.  The next day, I had a phone interview with the hiring manager (it was a Friday), and the next Wednesday, I got a call to come in for an in-person interview to meet with him and three others.  It was incredible!  I scurried home, the 51 miles, and sent thank you emails and wrote out actual thank you cards to mail the next day.

I waited.  I received a call from the recruiter saying things were looking great and I just had to send references and take a drug test.  I was in the clear!  They offered me the job and I gladly accepted and started two weeks later.

The moral of the story: from what I thought was devastating (losing the job), came the opportunity to work at an excellent company with other PWTC-ers and also take a raise and a slight promotion (I was an associate tech writer and am now a regular tech writer).  It’s been one hell of a year, but things ended up very well.