Trial Retirement

When I first got the news I was being laid off, I jokingly referred to my unplanned sabbatical as my "trial retirement". One thing I didn't mention in the post "All Things Must Pass", was that I have saved a bit of cash over the years, so I wasn't in a panic about finding something else right away. As a matter of fact, I could probably skate for close to two years without breaking a sweat.

So I first thought that I'd relax for a few weeks, enjoy the time off. There was the long weekend in Las Vegas to help celebrate my sister's birthday, followed by a week in Florida visiting with my dad for Thanksgiving that were coming up. Funny though. On one hand I knew I could relax and not worry. But on the other hand there's that feeling of urgency and that I if I'm not looking for a new job I may miss a really cool opportunity.

I updated my resume and posted it to Dice, Monster, and CareerBuilder. Almost immediately my phone and email were blowing up. On some days, fielding and responding to inquiries was more of a full time job than work ever was! I think it is because it is so interrupt driven. And some recruiters, what a pain in the neck. One particular recruitment agency seemed to be focused on jobs from one particular company. Seems this company had a bunch of similar positions open. But I would get calls and emails from different people at this one agency for these positions. Each time I would be asked to answer the same pre-screening questionnaire, supply the same references, send the same current copy of my resume. Yet, after 10 or 12 times, never even resulted in at least a telephone screening with the company looking to hire. Talk about a waste of time...

The three leads that did go anywhere had nothing to do with that agency. One resulted in a job offer that was withdrawn because they didn't want to wait a few days while I had final interviews with two other companies. The second one is through a recruiter that is definitely much more professional than the one previously mentioned. There was a face to face interview last week, and I am waiting for the final word. Hopefully tomorrow. Monday December 17. The third is a result of me applying for a job online. I have a final interview scheduled there on Tuesday. I would prefer the last because it is a full time gig, but I would be happy with a job offer from either of these last two.

If I don't get a job offer, I think I will take a few weeks off and enjoy my "trial retirement". Send a resume here and there, and respond to inquiries about opportunities that really excite me. At least that's what I want to do. I probably wouldn't feel as burnt out or overwhelmed if not for the recruitment agency that overloaded me with calls and emails for positions at one company that went nowhere. More than one person has told me that when they were in a similar position, they regretted not taking the opportunity to enjoy the time off.

All in all, life is good. I still have money in the bank, a roof over my head, food in my belly, and a couple of toys in the garage. Maybe, I need to finally put my passport to use to really call it a trial retirement.

All Things Must Pass

Let me first admit that I stole the title of this post from George Harrison's 1970 triple album (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Things_Must_Pass).

Little did I know when I posted Manage This, that two weeks later I would be unemployed. At least partially due to the stresses I noted from having to wear two different hats. Understandably upset at first, I quickly started to look at this as not a door being shut, but as a door being opened. As Romans 8:28 states, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.". Over the last few years at Northrop Grumman as a Unix Systems Administrator for the USPS, I felt that my talents were being squandered. I believed that as I remained, I would fall behind on new and exciting technologies. You see, the work at USPS was divided into different teams. Most of the Unix Admins were there to support various applications. But the team that got to learn, test, and implement new and emerging technologies was based out of a data center in Eagan, MN. Here in San Mateo, the Unix Admins were somewhat subservient to the teams in Eagan. We may have used new technologies, but usually only following procedures and policies set by the groups in the Minnesota office. Yes, there was exposure to new tech. But not a large amount of opportunity to experiment and learn. Staying there, I left that technology was going to pass me by and that the only avenue of growth was the managerial ladder. But I like the trenches, I like the technical challenges and solving puzzles.

So here I am, enjoying some time off. Heck, I'm somewhat mildly annoyed that I already have some irons in the fire with a couple of cool opportunities. My phone and email has absolutely lit up the last couple days after updating my profile on two of the well known job sites. But they will have to wait. My sister celebrates a milestone birthday this Friday, and I am heading out of town to help her celebrate. I'm taking a road trip to meet up with her, my niece, and a couple other people. It's been some time since I had the Challenger on a nice long ride, and I'm sure she'll appreciate the chance to stretch her legs here and there on my drive tomorrow. Funny, that reminds me of a little song Don Imus used to play on AM radio back in the day, I think it was called Plastic Jesus.

The last week was just a minor setback, a small bump in the road. As for my time with Northrop Grumman and the USPS, all things must pass.