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Last Friday: Company has company-wide meeting discussing the realities of the situation (vs the sugar-coated nonsense [to put it nicely] we'd been getting). Sales are down, my company was very very heavily invested in the US investment bank business. Some of you know I was working with Lehman Brothers for 2 years of my 2.5 year duration at my consulting company. Dubai is our only bright spot, but I'm unwilling to move there.
Monday morning: Word came down the company grapevine that quite a few support staff (unbillable types -- project coordinators, marketing, sales, designers) got laid off. Not good. Rumours have it billable consultants are next.
Monday evening, 6pm: I get email from my "personnel manager" (which has nothing to do with my current project) to "Connect" with him at 10am in one of the big, private executive ofices. Extremely vague.
Analysis: In 2 weeks, the project I'm working on is done. By law, they must give 2-weeks notice before layoffs (or pay in lieu of). I'd been "unbillable" for significant portions of time between Lehman's collapse and today because my speciality (C++/unix in financial services) is not exactly in demand. I've done other things elsewhere, but my salary is high for the kind of work I've been doing in the meantime, not to mention the unbillable time where I didn't generate any revenue.
They appear to be targeting consultants who are not on any project currently ("on the bench") or who will be off a project shortly (like me). Looks like the bank accounts are running low and they can't afford to keep people on and hope the economy turns around soon. I'm a prime target due to my salary (which is quite a bit higher than the salary they hired new grads at last year) and speciality skillset (which is in a demand lull due to general world ****ed-upness), on top of being done my project soon.
As a result, I'm confident in 2 weeks I'll be unemployed. The good news is, the timing could be worse. My SO graduates from university in April (which is the entire reason I moved to Ontario and took this job anyway). I've got some money saved up and access to a relatively low-interest line of credit to leverage.
It's just kind of stressful. My SO's job that was lined up in Calgary has fallen through since the Oil prices have fallen as much as they have. As soon as I hear the news of the layoff for certain, I'll be giving my 2-months notice to vacate my rental apartment here. I'll begin applying for jobs immediately across the US & Canada, though I'm not expecting American companies will be hiring someone whose current residence is Canada right now. I'll be focusing mostly on Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa. As will my SO (chemical engineering). If I don't find a job in those two months, I'll be putting my stuff in Ontario in storage (either in a locker or at my brother's place in Waterloo) and making the trans-Canada drive back to Calgary for the third time, and crash at my parent's place I get work, or my SO does.
So circumstances beyond my control over the next little bit will decide a big factor of my life: where I live. That's kind of exciting, actually.
Monday morning: Word came down the company grapevine that quite a few support staff (unbillable types -- project coordinators, marketing, sales, designers) got laid off. Not good. Rumours have it billable consultants are next.
Monday evening, 6pm: I get email from my "personnel manager" (which has nothing to do with my current project) to "Connect" with him at 10am in one of the big, private executive ofices. Extremely vague.
Analysis: In 2 weeks, the project I'm working on is done. By law, they must give 2-weeks notice before layoffs (or pay in lieu of). I'd been "unbillable" for significant portions of time between Lehman's collapse and today because my speciality (C++/unix in financial services) is not exactly in demand. I've done other things elsewhere, but my salary is high for the kind of work I've been doing in the meantime, not to mention the unbillable time where I didn't generate any revenue.
They appear to be targeting consultants who are not on any project currently ("on the bench") or who will be off a project shortly (like me). Looks like the bank accounts are running low and they can't afford to keep people on and hope the economy turns around soon. I'm a prime target due to my salary (which is quite a bit higher than the salary they hired new grads at last year) and speciality skillset (which is in a demand lull due to general world ****ed-upness), on top of being done my project soon.
As a result, I'm confident in 2 weeks I'll be unemployed. The good news is, the timing could be worse. My SO graduates from university in April (which is the entire reason I moved to Ontario and took this job anyway). I've got some money saved up and access to a relatively low-interest line of credit to leverage.
It's just kind of stressful. My SO's job that was lined up in Calgary has fallen through since the Oil prices have fallen as much as they have. As soon as I hear the news of the layoff for certain, I'll be giving my 2-months notice to vacate my rental apartment here. I'll begin applying for jobs immediately across the US & Canada, though I'm not expecting American companies will be hiring someone whose current residence is Canada right now. I'll be focusing mostly on Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa. As will my SO (chemical engineering). If I don't find a job in those two months, I'll be putting my stuff in Ontario in storage (either in a locker or at my brother's place in Waterloo) and making the trans-Canada drive back to Calgary for the third time, and crash at my parent's place I get work, or my SO does.
So circumstances beyond my control over the next little bit will decide a big factor of my life: where I live. That's kind of exciting, actually.
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