I need to get something off my chest...

How to begin?

This week has been a really good week. I had several great interviews and was able to secure a job - even if it is a contract gig to start off with - out of one. However, at dinner last night, Amy made a comment that really annoyed me. I was not annoyed at her, mind you, but rather with my former employer and more specifically my former group/department. As we conversed around the dinner table, Amy mentioned that my former group had apparently hired at least one contractor for the end-of-year rush which always occurs. How did she know this? Because she knows this person from his work in that capacity each year and she saw him at work this past week. He would not be there for any other reason.

Everyone deserves a job, right? Except that this individual already HAS a regular, full-time job and would only go back to EPRI (screw it, everyone knows where I worked anyway...) on a contract basis at the end of the year to help out with that rush for the extra holiday money the temporary position provided. Does this person offer anything I do not or did not? Nope. They end up doing the EXACT same job I did every day. The contractors we would bring in at the end of the year were simply hired guns to take care of the inevitable overflow of work our group would get because all research and publishing of reports, updates, etc., were geared to be completed by each year's end. These hired guns would be brought in around October and stay until the end of December or sometimes mid-January to assist in the overflow and clean-up.

Why does this annoy me? Because I did not receive a single call from anyone in my group asking if I would be interested in coming back to help out in this capacity. And I had even offered to do so months ago...to no response.

One may very well ask, "But Sean, you HAVE a job now. Why are you so annoyed?" Its the principle of the thing. I was a loyal employee for just about six years at EPRI. I did my job and I did my job well, as evidenced in my positive reviews each year, yearly salary increases, and yearly bonuses. In the end, I was laid off for no real actually good reason; the company simply THOUGHT they might enter into some difficulty later in the year and felt the need to shore up their defenses by letting some people go, or supposedly "eliminating" positions. If they were going to truly "eliminate" my position, why then bring in a contractor months later to do the EXACT SAME JOB. Call me crazy, but that would indicate to me that there was still a NEED for my position.

I pride myself on trying to develop relationships - work-related and otherwise - with people based on trust, loyalty, and mutual respect. I honestly do not expect anything from anyone that I would not expect from myself. Failing that, well, might get you relegated to the lower echelon of people I know. Over the course of my years at EPRI, I thought I had accomplished this with my managers and co-workers, proving myself over and over again with my hard work and loyalty. Apparently, that was too much to expect in return. My current situation is a direct result of the decisions EPRI made to eliminate 50 positions back in February. I have spent the better part of this year struggling with my job search, trying to figure out how I could evolve and improve in order to become more marketable. Our dream of staying in the South Bay and buying this house...shattered by EPRI. Their choice to treat myself and 49 other people as expendable assets and not as people they had worked alongside of - some for over 20 years - destroyed pretty much all of the plans we had been formulating to provide for my family. Our decision to move to Tracy is related to EPRI's choices as well. Everything we have done or had to do over the course of this past year is a direct result of EPRI's upper management selecting the option of covering their own lily-white, soft asses.

I had just sort of come to terms with all of this, sticking with the line from The Godfather ("It's not personal; it's just business."). But in light of this new info, it becomes harder and harder to believe that.

Ok. I guess I am done. In the end, I think this simply makes it easier for me to turn my back on my years at EPRI and even those I worked alongside of and move on, leaving them in the dust. Anger, bitterness, and frustration? Of course. But the overwhelming sense, what I feel the most when I consider EPRI and especially those I considered my friends and co-workers within my own group? Disappointment. I thought you were each better people than your actions have indicated. In the end, however, I will move on. Each of you, on the other hand, will have to get up every day and look yourself in the mirror and realize what a true disappointment you have become, shadows of the people you could have been by simply doing the right thing.

Peace out, bitches.

Ever wonder what it actually takes to get a job these days?

Apparently, it takes moving out of the area...

The past month or so has been, in a word, insane. Each day moves a wee bit faster than the day before. Events and plans have seemingly taken on a life of their own. In the past 30 days, we have found a new house in Tracy, CA, paid the first month's rent and deposit, started getting quotes for moving companies, scheduled a debris box to be delivered to toss all of our accumulated crap into, started packing, started the paperwork to get Sloan enrolled into a new school...and continued my job search and project management coursework. This past week alone, I have had one on-site interview and two phone interviews, one that wants me to complete a marketing writing assessment and then schedule an on-site meeting at their location in Pleasanton. To top it all off, I received and accepted a verbal offer from a semiconductor company near Militas and actually start work this coming Monday.

See? Insane.

It has been nine month I have been out of work. Nine. Long. Months. In the end, though, I can almost look back on it and say I was somewhat grateful for the time. Not for the lack of income it obviously hit us with, but for the time I was allowed to sort of examine what I was doing, what I wanted to do, and what I am going to do. I have been able to spend a considerable amount of time with Devlin and I can honestly say I am thankful for that alone.

This move has already been hard and we are only in the pre-execution phase. In the end, however, I know in my gut it is the right thing to do. We are headed over to the new house this Sunday to take pictures and video in an attempt to prep where things will go. Will try to post something that night or so for everyone to check out...