I knew my DH had to be more lazy and obnoxious. Today there were layoffs at his company. 40% of his department. Many of his friends are saying good bye, but not him. DAMN IT! If he'd have gotten laid off we'd be moving yet again. It's like all these signs are saying stay. But let's reflect on the possibilities. They may still fire him next year when they let go of the rest of the department. But can we afford to wait? And will everyone else in his department start jumping ship?
Honestly this layoff was perfect. We would have moved this summer and put the house on next month and moved in June. My DH could have started a 12 week internship with 100% placement June 1st and been set with a job in the fall. He talked with them and is definitely qualified to make this job switch. NO I am not pressuring him. Actually he is taking online courses to learn python (programming) and R. This is to help with his transition and has been doing so since January. Long term he wants to transition to this career field.
Now it would have been perfect. Our DK1 is starting kindergarten in the fall so that would work out timing wise as well. Yes we would have rented and who knows what we would have gotten for our house, but it still would have been the best possibility for us.
Now what do we do? As I write this I have to wait another couple hours for my DH to get home and talk more. I am not sure whether we should just sell the house and prepare to move in September. I think that it's possible in September or October he'll do the 12 week intensive internship and leave his job in which case it would be in San Francisco or Seattle. This would mean that selling with the spring market would be the best situation for us.
Am I worried about not having a job? Absolutely and why the severance and unemployement would have been ideal for us. Besides the fact I think that we were hoping for unlike many of my DH's friends who don't want to move or get laid off. I wish he could have taken on of their spots. They wouldn't be worried about what happens after the severance and unemployment runs out. What if they can't find a job in the field and have to change careers?
This is a weird day. I don't know what the future holds but I think that we just have to keep on moving forward no matter what. If we move to SF it'll be hard, the money we have saved I'm not sure how long it will last. We've got over $100k in cash now, and if I can land a job then we'd likely be able to stretch indefinitely. My DH refuses to touch our home equity, that's to be rolled over into our next house. Seattle I know we can more likely live at least a year or more without jobs but a job again would help our cash cushion.
But now what? For those of you following my crazy posts thanks a lot. I know it seems bipolar but it really is this emotional and hard to keep it all inside.
A Crazy Day
March 12th, 2015 at 07:27 pm
March 12th, 2015 at 10:59 pm 1426201144
I don't know what you mean by can you afford to wait. Without jobs to go to or some other plan, in your shoes, I would conclude it's in my best interest to wait. Knowing the rest of the department is likely to shut down sometime in the next year affords me the opportunity to put my nose to the grindstone and put every extra dime in savings as I wait for that day. Knowing that in 6 months or a year that your DH's job is likely going to go away gives him the incentive to push forward with the job hunt. He can continue to take courses in the programming languages he thinks will help him make a career transition. When the lay off comes, you have the severance package and DH is much closer to his new career.
Selling the house? Yes, it's hard to sell in the winter if that's when he is let go. Maybe he goes to the new job for a few months and you stay with the kids until the market is better or the school year is over. Lot's of people that are transferred or move for jobs do this. Look at military families like CCF's. She is moving her family every few years and buying and selling houses. She handles this methodically with no drama.
Bipolar? No. Obssessive? Yes. You seem to be very unhappy and you are not letting this go until you get your way. There are lots of ways to move forward in the direction of what you want. A mutually created plan with your spouse where you are in agreement about what you both want, and how you are going to achieve that is a start. You can be proactive if you have a plan, not reactive, which is what you are doing now with the lay off news.
March 12th, 2015 at 11:47 pm 1426204059
They are NOT shutting down the department, they just hired last year a new VP and are revamping. They are doubling the size of the department but getting rid of the people who were hired under the old. So no way is there another layoff. They got rid of the trash and are hiring like crazy.
Military families I think, perhaps CCF can say this are moving with a guaranteed job and knowing where to live and are selling knowing they have income. We are betting on selling and not carrying a mortgage after we move. We are likely moving without income so we have to sell or we will be eating a loss of $2500-3k/month after we move out. I don't know how many families (maybe the military gives them cash to help) carrying a new place and an old place.
We are proactively looking at different plans. I don't feel like posting all intimate details but we have discussed many options. One is to move in July and DH comes back gives 2 weeks notice and then we are moved and he is unemployed. That is one strong possibility. Second is we move in September/October after he finds a job and has finished his programming coursework. Third is we move for an intensive 1 year master's in the field he's interested in.
So we have a lot of options to weigh and move around to decide. We aren't moving like a military family from post A to post B. We are moving completely unfettered and without any safety net. It's a very different I think situation. But perhaps I'm wrong.
March 12th, 2015 at 11:49 pm 1426204188
March 13th, 2015 at 03:11 am 1426216284
I acknowledge you are incredibly unhappy and wonder what actions you've been taking all these months to actively seek employment at the location of your choice. I don't think you've yet absorbed the fact that if DH voluntarily relinquishes employment to facilitate your desire to be nearer family, his opportunities for employment in the new location has been severely diminished. I suggest DH look at it from an HR viewpoint. It isn't cost effective to hire a candidate, have him a drag on productivity for some time until he can significantly contribute to the business unit with the company's plans, methods and values. From HRs point of view, that individual could treat it as a stop gap measure and leave for a myriad of reasons requiring HR to go through the expense of head hunter, interview team, new employee dragging down productivity yadda yadda...
March 13th, 2015 at 02:21 pm 1426256493
Yep I do worry about job prospects. But that's why the layoff would have been perfect excuse to move. And start a quicker transition to a new career.
March 13th, 2015 at 05:18 pm 1426267085