For those of you who aren't in the know, this economic crisis has hit "the retail sector" about as hard as any industry outside of housing and, maybe, automobiles. The company I work for, having beaten back every competitor in sight, has finally come up against a foe which is its match; and the worst two months of retail in recorded history has taken its toll. The great Big Buy is cutting labor.
To its credit - an offer has been made to every one of the four and a half thousand employees in the corporate office in which I work, giving us the chance to take a voluntary severance package which is nearly unheard of in any company, anywhere. In my position, at my pay grade, this would mean seven and a half months of salary, in addition to a year's worth of benefits continuation. Amazing, and - a couple of years ago - a possible no-brainer.
Unfortunately, were I to take the offer now, it would be into what kind of job climate, with what sort of prospects? In a good economy, I fear my ability to make a lateral move and make a salary anywhere near what I have labored over building up over my past seven years at my current place of work. While I have not gotten well-to-do (by U.S. standards), it has allowed Sharon to stay at home with Rose and for us to have a general expectation of being able to meet our financial obligations, month-to-month. At present, my plan is to sit tight and not opt for the vluntary termination; and to desperately hope that enough others do in order to avoid the following eventuality of the involuntary round of layoffs. Things working in my favor is my - by all reasonable estimation - unique function and role of support in the company, as well as the relative pittance I am paid, compared to the innumerable "directors" and "project managers" that have been aquired and shuffled around in this extremely top-heavy building in my time here.
So - if things go well for me and I'm here in another two months, then what? It's no secret that - comfortable as I am - corporate culture is just something to which I'm not hard-wired to assimilate. In addition, though I love geography and - indeed - a large part of what I do, day to day; I fear a future in which my career path is inextricably bound to my ablility to seek out and master new technologies. What I have come to understand about GIS over time is that my love leans about 90% towards the first letter of that acronym, and about 10% towards the second two. I am, at heart, an old-fashioned academic, who would much rather be reading in an old, leather-bound chair, than walking about with a bluetooth headset sticking out of my ear discussion with a regional sales rep the extensions for the latest service pack of ArcGIS 9.6. That's no way for a man - a man like me - to enter the second half of his working adult life.
If I get involuntarily laid off, my severance package comes with an extensive set of services with an outplacement firm; one that specializes in putting you on the fast track to something-or-rather and all kinds of buzzwords that ordinarily make my skin craw. But a firm of which I will totally avail myself in order to get some type of GIS job that will get me back in the ranks of the employed.
In the meantime - this was a bonfire under my ass (where, earlier this year, there was but a spark). Volumes of research support the theory that the notorious "seven-year itch" is not mere cockahooery, but an actual, verifiable rhythm to our lives. I got out of college at 23. At around 30, I made a career change into the GIS field. Now, at 37, that may be about to run its course. In looking at where my life may go from here, Sharon advises me that when I start exploring my options, I need to start by thinking about what I really want to do, not what I reasonably think I could get. And then take the steps I need to get there. As opposed to, say, when I went back to graduate school to get an MGIS because I happened to be in the GIS field and was feeling inadequate because I didn't have a degree to prove I belonged.
I spoke for awhile today with a career coach, and will be meeting with her on January 8 for the first of what will probably be a number of sessions. More to follow, undoubtedly.
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6 comments:
Wow and Crap!
Man I hope your find yourself in a protected bubble that let's you explore what you want to do on your time table.
I will pray for you and your family as you navigate through these uncertain waters.
Does the idea of finishing your master's degree have any allure? I don't know if that's a possible choice, since it could very well mean an income of $.00; also, I don't recall, but perhaps that study was subsidized by BB. At my job, I get a teeny, tiny bit of tuition assistance should I seek something like that out. However, every hour I choose to do something has more impact on me as I get older.
I don't envy your decision right now, but it's not an outright horrible one. The package they are offering is certainly above what I'm hearing others receive. To note, I close relative of mine was recently laid off after 11 years of service to his company, with a 15-week severance pay package. He had no choice in that.
I support your wife's statement: now is not the time to seek out something just to do something. I'm a firm believer in doing what brings you the most satisfaction, in line with your fundamental ethics and principles.
thanks for the responses, guys.
T-Clog: Exactly the sentiment I am reserving for myself - thanks.
Stephen: The problem with finishing the master' degree: the issue I was talking about in terms of looking at my own career, and where I want to go in the future. The MGIS is, at heart, a technology-based degree; and I'm just not sure that's where I want to cast my lot into the future. I remember, once, in the midst of my schooling, being asked this - point blank - by Gibbs. Anyway - this is one of the things on which I hope to gain a little clarity in my life coach/career counseling sessions. One possibility is that I could switch my focus to that of academic geography; though I was a bit disillusioned with the nature of the program, at least at the University of MN. Very, very quantitative and squishy, with a distain for hard science. Geography, of course, is a pseudo-science; and it's a little defensive as a result.
Without a doubt, things could be worse, in terms of layoffs/severence, etc.
Your conclusion would be much different if you were encouraging me to do something in line with my fundamentalist ethics and principles.
What would you think of using your mapping skills to help the US Forest Service map out a billion different things? Maybe even the DNR?
I'd love to - except that it's a lot easier to teach a Forester how to do GIS than it is to teach a GIS guy how to do Forestry, if you see what I mean.
If I continued through and got my MGIS, then I would indeed probably be a hot commodity. But then I'm back to the "do I really want to cast my lot in a technology field?" question. And I'm not sure that I do. If I'm going to get a masters, my gut tells me that I'd rather have it in pure geography, or (better yet) history, or - gulp - education, or something like that. Something where I'd enjoy a practical application of the knowledge.
I'm using "fundamental" along the spirt of "core". I mean, between choosing driving a bus for the rest of my life, or a job that pays five times as much where I spent my whole day in one small spot with no interaction with the public, I'd take the bus driving job. that's closer to what would make me happy. Cheri would kill me, of course, because at some point that line of thinking can be somewhat selfish... perhaps I'd have to look at the money and find a satisfying hobby to go with the high-paying-but-boring-as-hell-job.
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