So the boss calls me in the morning, gets the HR director on the phone, and they tell me my position has been terminated due to budget cuts. Actually not a bad thing because this job kinda sucked and they gave me two months of severance pay.

I know a lot of you have worked with headhunters and similar agencies when you were looking for work. I'm a marketing professional with 3 years experience and some internships before that. Is that something headhunters can work with?

I have to say, though, despite being laid off I'm feeling pretty good...and that's not the beer speaking

7/23/2008 2:28:25 PM

I'd be feeling good too if I got paid for 2 months to just sit on my ass and get drunk.


but honeslty, there are so many staffing agencies out there now that they can find just about any type of job.

7/23/2008 2:35:08 PM

go join the competition

7/23/2008 2:51:37 PM

go into business for your self

7/23/2008 3:07:15 PM

that money will go a lot faster when you're not at work for 8+ hours a day i bet, although it's awesome if you get the pay and get picked up on a new job asap

7/23/2008 3:10:07 PM

severance pay is nice but seriously start looking for something right away
it took me alot longer to find a job after my last one than i ever anticipated

7/23/2008 4:16:57 PM

^ agreed. I was lucky with mine (although it didn't start that way). I was laid off with about 20 other people after my 4th day of work from an IT position. I only got 2 weeks severance, but managed to live decently for 2 months until I found something. Turns out I had one job offer from using a headhunter and one that came to me because another company wanted to hire 15 of us to expand their company into Raleigh. Thank god everyone in the industry knows how good we really are, and how stupid the company was. They laid us off and we were the only team that produced profit. Needless to say I now work for the same people and we get subcontracted to our old company since they don't have anyone to do the work :p

Do everything you know to do (online, headhunter, etc) to find a job, including looking into companies your friends work/have worked at even if they were/are in a different dept. They could give you good contacts.

7/23/2008 4:27:00 PM

can you still collect unemployment even though you got a 2 month severence?

7/23/2008 4:36:45 PM

nope

[Edited on July 23, 2008 at 4:37 PM. Reason : after the severence ends - yes]

7/23/2008 4:37:05 PM

Oh don't worry, I'm not sitting around getting drunk. I had one beer when I got home and I've already sent out 6 resumes and I've got an appointment with a job counselor set up for next week. It's just weird knowing that I don't have to go to the office tomorrow. My new job is trying to get a new job, and that's a work-at-home situation

7/23/2008 4:44:12 PM

join the Marines. Hoo-rah

7/23/2008 4:45:20 PM

I had an awesome time on severence and unemployment for 2 months when I got laid off... my 360 and Wii were getting abused daily

7/23/2008 4:50:51 PM

Ooh-rah*

7/23/2008 4:55:13 PM

I've been laid off twice and have never gotten a severence package

7/23/2008 5:42:45 PM

join the Army.

7/23/2008 5:57:02 PM

I've been laid off for 3 weeks (as of tomorrow) and despite not getting severance pay and being pretty broke its not bad at all. A summer vacation of sorts. I had a job offer this week but turned it down. Have a few interviews lined up for the beginning of August.

In the meantime I'm enjoying myself

7/23/2008 6:15:02 PM

Okay, so today I'm heading out to look for some part time jobs to keep me busy while I'm job hunting. I'm thinking somewhere I'd like to get an employee discount would be pretty sweet. And close to my apartment so I don't waste gas getting there.

Also, not getting up to go to the office this morning was fucking amazing

7/24/2008 12:28:15 PM

If you have any contacts that need high-end technology or computer training courseware/texts, I'll pay a 10% referral fee/commission on any order.

7/24/2008 12:41:33 PM

i soooooooooo want to make a parody of this

7/24/2008 1:00:25 PM

Just laid...now what?

7/24/2008 3:36:24 PM

first off, don't call us headhunters. As cool as the name sounds, that's the fastest way to get your resume thrown in the trash. Not all of us make commission, and some of us actually do give a shit about finding you a job you'll love and care about.

7/24/2008 7:20:54 PM

Then what are you, recruiters? Job placement specialists? Also, where do I find good people who do such services? I know people who have been burned before by being strung along about a job that they were never going to get.

[Edited on July 24, 2008 at 7:42 PM. Reason : ]

7/24/2008 7:42:05 PM

Quote :

"Sayer: first off, don't call us headhunters. As cool as the name sounds, that's the fastest way to get your resume thrown in the trash"

oh, get over your bad self, already.

Quote :

"I know a lot of you have worked with headhunters and similar agencies when you were looking for work. I'm a marketing professional with 3 years experience and some internships before that. Is that something headhunters can work with?"

hell yea. call up the head hunters and the professional placement services (manpower, aerotek, etc.) -- as well as contacting ever potential employer directly ... use this time to find the job YOU want.

but you pretty much have to approach job hunting itself like a full time job. dont leave it up to the headhunters, they're just a resource. and if you get one thats all whiny and shit like Sayer ... fire him. you dont want whiners trying to sell your resume to employers.

hit all the employment boards and forums and spend the time finding the best place to work with a job that will give you most opportunity for advancement and career learning.

you're in a great position, really.






[Edited on July 24, 2008 at 8:23 PM. Reason : ]

7/24/2008 8:21:35 PM

Yeah, we're recruiters. If you are working with someone who expects you to pay them before they find you something... stop talking to that person. (those are the headhunters)

Good recruiters will actually take the time to talk to you, find out what's important to you, and make an active effort to build a relationship with you. By understanding what motivates you, they can better find a good fit for you. If you feed them bullshit, they're just going to come back to you with bullshit jobs.

Additionally, sit down and think about what IS important to you and don't be afraid to to say that to someone trying to find you a job. Make a list and rank it from most important to least important. Almost no one finds a job that is 100% exactly what they want, so be realistic with yourself when deciding what is negotiable.

Lastly, be realistic when it comes to the salary or rate you are looking for. If you tell a recruiter you're only interested in jobs paying X.. and X is way above your skills and what they're worth, then you're not going to get any calls back from that recruiter because they will never have any jobs paying that much for you.

7/24/2008 8:24:48 PM

^ headhunters in general dont charge in advance. But you're right, the one thing you DONT do, is use any service that costs YOU money. thats the first sign of a scam.

another thing you should try (worked for me) is find the places that are using employment services (like manpower, aerotek, etc) and then try and find a way to contact the company directly. usually it involves digging around a bit, because they dont just advertise who the company is.






[Edited on July 24, 2008 at 8:27 PM. Reason : ]

7/24/2008 8:25:29 PM

Quote :

"headhunters in general dont charge in advance."

yeah, but this is dancing around the point I'm trying to make. Headhunters charge YOU at some point for finding you a job. Recruiters charge the company they place you at.

7/24/2008 8:30:46 PM

^I've never heard that before.

The distinction I've always made is that:

Recruiters have ties and good repore with companies they help staff for. Usually pretty large firms, who care as much about who you are and what you want, as they do about placing you in an open position.

Headhunters usually go after bigger, single client positions to fill very narrow skillset or high experience jobs. They tend to prep you for the single opportunity, and go where the money (and demand) is. Generally individuals with industry ties.

Each side has ups and downs.

7/24/2008 9:12:45 PM

Post your resume on monster and hotjobs. Then use indeed.com and simplyhired.com as your search engines. That's what I did when I was laid off a few months ago and it was quite painless. I was able to find a good job before my severance ran out.

7/24/2008 9:48:37 PM

^^ what noen just said

7/25/2008 12:50:53 AM

I'm working the alumni directory, calling up alums at companies I'm interested in and striking up conversation. So far it's working well, lots of resumes forwarded on to the decision makers. I've only be at this plan since last Wednesday, so I can't tell if it's working yet. But it beats the hell out of looking at online postings all day.

Also, I got a recruiter at Manpower but they haven't done shit yet.

8/4/2008 12:22:40 PM

thats actually a really good idea if you have any sort of interpersonal relationship skills

and balls

two things a lot of kids in their 20's lack

8/4/2008 9:50:48 PM

Quote :

"My new job is trying to get a new job, and that's a work-at-home situation"

i guess that's a nice, optimistic way of looking at it.

8/5/2008 6:31:05 AM

I'm getting laid off at the end of the month. No package or anything but at least I got decent notice


Damn housing industry

9/9/2008 12:32:49 AM

^Do you actually do work, or still care? Or do you just spend the time looking for a new job?

9/9/2008 8:07:31 AM

if any of those recruiters call you, NEVER take their first offer.

9/9/2008 8:58:19 AM

My sister was laid off yesterday. She went in for work and left within the hour. No severance pay or anything.

9/9/2008 9:07:40 AM

I was laid off in June.

I finally start a new job on Monday

thank God for severance and unemployment.

9/9/2008 10:20:46 AM

Quote :

"Do you actually do work, or still care? Or do you just spend the time looking for a new job? "

Well, I still work, but I can't look for another job while I'm working. I'm a superintendent out in the field so I don't have access to a computer or anything until I get home from work

although my work ethic has seem to have gone down...

[Edited on September 9, 2008 at 12:24 PM. Reason : stuff]

9/9/2008 12:22:07 PM