I have a conundrum

How'd it go today?

The shunning has begun

Normally I wouldn't laugh, but so what, I'm short.

Actually, as I'm telling peers, and people that work out in the field that I'm leaving, and why, the responses have been overwhelming supportive. Even got a voluntary letter of recommendation from someone.

Management is just being an ass.

What always amazes me that when things are running well why would you upset the apple cart just to avoid paying an extra $16 a day. I see people spending as much on Starbucks per day. ((But please, don't tell me how much you love Starbucks, I'm just trying to make the point that some people can spend that much on designer coffee or cigarettes. I don't begrudge anyone who enjoys it, but to tell a good employee their work isn't worth $2 extra bucks is incredibly short sighted.)) I can tell you for sure I would never piss off someone who getting ready to cut my hair. If you are happy with the job someone is doing, take care of them. Or they will walk to somebody else who does. I have, and I've told others that no matter how badly you have been treated, it doesn't mean you don't really measure up, they can deny you fair credit, but they can't take away your work experience or ability to be successful somewhere else.

I just gave you a big thumbs up glitterbag.

I'm a numbers person, and I already thought through this.

The time money it's going to cost to hire a new person, train them, go through the learning curve, all the behind the scenes onboarding costs, not to mention the overtime they are going to end up paying to other people here and there to cover the work load....they're spending as much as if they just kept me at the originally argreed on rate, over at least a year, year and a half.
Let me tell you, there's one person I know that's at her limit, and if she has to cover any more, she'll leave too. All this over short sightedness.

Stupid.

Thank you Chai2, loyalty is a two way street. It's incredibly stupid to create a hostile work place, people will find other jobs and head to greener pastures. And they should. And you are absolutely correct, the cost of replacing a seasoned employee are huge.

My sons company tried a reorganized approach where the project managers would have no contact with customers. Only the sales force would work with customers. That came to a screeching halt when customers demanded to work with the project managers or they would take their business elsewhere.

I'd much rather work with the project manager as a customer, than sales.

Oh, btw, one of my references from this job? A nun.

Take that, I got God on my side.

I've been very gratified by the rather large number of people who right away say to me, use me as a reference Chai.

This nun... before she was a nun, she was a big mucky muck at the Texas Medical Association.

Sope... how's things?

Are you outta there yet? Pounding the pavement? Kicking back enjoying a few days of leisure? Lamenting your decision?

nevermind

just saw your current reality on your other thread.

stress sucks

Hi
Today was my last day. I left there about 4pm

I don't regret leaving. I'm not the type to regret things once I take action (cue Frank Sinatra...regrets......I've had a few......but then again....to few to mention.....)

The amount of support and good wishes I've received from people has been overwhelming. Wel,l except from the ass wipes who put me in this situation. Oh well. The people that matter were great.

I've got coffee/lunch planned out with one of the social workers this sunday (we're meeting at whole foods near the sushi bar and going from there.)

Someone walked by me today and patted my shoulder, then walked around the corner. When I called something to her, she didn't respond, so I got up and walked over, she was turned away and her shoulders were bouncing....I realized then she was crying, that's why she didn't say anything. THAT really floored me, she is not the crying type.

That VP was there today, and whenever he saw me, he would literally make a u-turn, or quick nip around a corner, like that was his intent. Ass wipe. The person who made the original error? I realized she's very repressed, will do anything to avoid confrontation. I'm not angry at her really, she seems to have her own demons to deal with.

Since I put in my resignation, I have been spending my evenings on Indeed, Career Builders etc. Surprisingly, I even found a really interesting, well paying resume worthy job on Craigslist.

I don't hold any illusions that my resume and applications are shining like a diamond in a goats ass. It's a numbers game. On Tuesday (I took that day off) I got a call from an HR dept like an hour after I sent in a resume, a little after 5pm. The ad (from Indeed) said it had been placed within the last 2 hours. The woman said that the department head of the job I applied for just walked in and put 18 resumes on her desk of people to call, mine being one of them. I went back after talking to her to look over the job description more carefully, and they had already taken it down.

So, 18 resumes that the department head found worthy of having someone call, within 2 hours. Just imagine how many resumes in total they received. I hate to think.

I'm bugging the hell out of the agencies I'm signed up with. I'm going on Monday to interview for a 3 month gig that actually pays what I was making. This particular agency doesn't offer insurance, but I'd be able to afford a short term policy if I had that to rely on for 3 months. We'll see.

Something I learned whilst unemployed for a year and dealing with temp agencies. They would tell you to check in maybe twice a week. Screw that, I call them every day if I know an assignment is ending, or I'm not working. If they don't want me bothering them every day, then they need to put me to work, and I'll stop calling. I learned my lesson. At one time I did the "check in twice a week" and on 2 separate occassions, with 2 separate agencies they told me I had "just missed an assignment that came in yesterday, because someone else called in. Sorry, but we don't have anything else at the moment." Oh no you don't. I'M going to be that person who calls in. One of the agencies I notice immediately posts their jobs online when they get them, so I check it twice a day, and if there's anything new, I'm calling.

The interview for the temp job I'm going to on Monday? When I called the agency this morning, we talked about it, and they said they'd send over my resume. I asked if I'd be hearing from them by the end of the day, and should I call them back. I was told "if you don't hear from us by the end of the day, that means the company didn't get back to us" So....of course I called shortly after I got home, like 4:45. I was told by the receptionist, "no, we didn't hear from them, but I'll let the recruiter know you called." I call another agency and I'm talking to them, when the first one calls me back, letting me know about interviewing. The recruiter might have been talking to them while I was talking to the receptionist, or may have picked up the phone and called them when she got the message I called. Either way, I got an interview.

Of course I'm not aggressive like that when applying on my own for jobs, I know the protocol.
But if an agency wants to stop hearing from me, they need to put me to work.

There's some really interesting places I've sent resumes to for permanent employment, but I don't want to discuss it here.

Sounds promising. I hope it works out.

I don't remember the COBRA rules on voluntary terminations, but you may want to look into keeping your insurance through your (until today) current company.

Ah... here you go.

Oh no, COBRA is far too expensive.

I can get a short term policy online.

One agency (a division of Robert Half International) has a sweet deal. Once you work a total of 40 hours for them, you can get the same insurance their regular employees get, for something like $30 a week. Even if you're not working for them after the 40 hours, you can just pay weekly on your own for up to 6 weeks. If you work even a few hours for them at any point during that 6 weeks, the clock gets reset, and you get another 6 weeks. Other agencies that offer insurance do something similar.

If I get this temp job for 3 months, I'll buy my own insurance. I'm not going to panic in the next week or 2 though, I want the dust to settle.

With the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) I'll have to buy insurance anyway, or face a fine (the fine at first isn't a lot, like $95 a year, but I of course want insurance.)

According to this chart below, if I was at 400% of the poverty level, I'd pay about $80 a week. Not cheap, but a lot cheaper than COBRA.

This "typo" business is one of the lamest line I've ever heard. You have a contract, signed by both sides. You're living up to your end of it. You expect them to live up to there's. In my opinion (and I know you don't always see eye to eye with my opinion), you should raise a stink if it comes to that. It's not just about your peace of mind, it's about your future in this company if you stay there, too. If you are known to management as a pushover, they will do this to you again and again and again. So, contact a labor lawyer, let him write a letter to HR, and let him tell them that all future communication in this matter will be through him. You will be surprised how much more conciliatory your managers will get.

(And if I'm wrong about your contract, talking to a lawyer is still worth it for evaluating the reality of your situation.)

Ah. I should have read the rest of your thread before responding. Well done, and good luck with the job hunt.

Are you sure? The gross price of COBRA is expensive. But when I lost my job in 2009, a federal COBRA subsidy program pushed my premiums down to a similar price as your $30 / week. Google tells me this program has been extended several times, including 2012. Perhaps it has since been killed been killed by the sequester, but it's worth checking if you haven't already.

federally subsidized cobra?

I'll look into it after I've had my coffee.

Thanks Thomas.

It's expired.

"The Recovery Act established an employer-provided health insurance continuation subsidy for workers who involuntarily lost their jobs between Sept. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2010."

Yeah, I'm all caffeined up and saw that.

However, it's still good.

In the meantime I went online, applied for, and was approved for a basic short term plan, and added on a critical care plan in case I have a heart attack or stroke.

The monthly premium for the 2 plans together is something like $165 total, which is fine. My coverage starts 9/1/13

That's good for 6 months, can cancel any time. If I'm still unemployed, I'll worry about that then.

Thomas & JPB, I truly appreciate your input.

oh hey look!
i found your thread..

of course, waaaaay late.. but thats me

You know, sometimes I think things have really gotten out of hand.

This job above? 3 month assignment, helping with the conversion from one system to another. In the medical industry, which I've worked in for over 30 years.

Basically data entry and auditing, for 3 months. Not a career, 3 months.

I go there, bringing a copy of my resume, and a latest reference letter. I'm thinking this should be pretty cut and dry, based on what I've done. I'm familiar with this company, it's in the same area as where I was working (actually slightly closer to home, like 2 miles, not enough really to even mention) the pay is fine, I'm totally willing to commit to 3 months. Actually I was thinking if things work out, I'd be a good bet for any permanent openings they had after that. I go in as a professional, willing to start this very day.

I was to ask for Ann, the head of HR. She came out and said she was sorry, but instead I was going to talk to Barb, who was the head of the dept I'd be working for.
Ok, that fine.
So Barbs already got my resume in front of her, and you would have thought she would have given it at least a cursory glance. Apparantly not.

She explains the project. I let her know I've worked on other similar projects in a temp capacity that ran 3 or 4 months. I pointed out on my resume how at my most recent job I coordinated blah blah blah, and how at my position previous to this I blah blah blah. In other words, if she had even been listening to me, she would have known I could have walked with her to wherever I was to work, and by the end of the day be up to speed and rolling.

She starts asking me questions, in essence asking me what I just explained to her. That's ok, I understand maybe we were using slightly different terminology, I understand if she hadn't looked at my resume, maybe what I said was going too fast.

So I point out (literally) on my resume "here is where I...." "and here is where I...."

She asks me why I left my last job (which is really none of her concern, but hey, I had a good reason formulated to tell her. One that actually was all true, and had been reason why I had been feeling a lack of security anyway - budgetary constraints, lack of growth of census, job had already morphed once, and I could see where it could very well change completely again, in a direction even further from where I started)

She then started asking more questions that again, if she had been listening to me, or looked at my resume, would have been totally unnecessary. I don't show my hand though, answering as if this was the first time I was asked. It wasn't like I was giving evasive answers, or that the answers where changing. With a smile on my face I'm thinking "isn't this the 3rd time we've gone over this"
Did I mention this is for a 3 month project?

So she switches gears and starts asking me all these typical interview questions, just as if I was applying for a permanent position. Whatever, I need to get cash flow, so I go along.

She then asks me again why I left my last place, and didn't they have any other project for me?

Um, well, this wasn't a temp assignment....it wasn't like they didn't have any more "projects"....I resigned because of the **** we've already talked about 3 times." (didn't put it quite that way )

"Oh...." she says....."and your assignment before that....(finally looking at my resume).....oh....I see you were there....Oh!....over 13 years"

Yes....I say......these weren't temp assignments....I worked at XXX for 13, almost 14 years....then you see a years gap where I was doing temp work, then I was at ZZZ up until recently. Now, I'm looking for temp assignments while I'm searching for full time work.

Then....seemingly randomly....she asks me if I know what HIPPA is.

I'm proud of myself that I kept my face neutral.
Do I know what HIPPA is?

Jesus lady, would you stop for about 5 seconds and look at my resume?

YES I know what HIPPA is. It would be glaringly obvious to the most casual reader that I've always dealt with the most confidential information, which although HIPPA also deals with insurance portability, during day to day usage you're talking about accountability and confidentiality.

So, the questions come to an akward, flailing halt and she tells me they've got "several more interviews, but we needed someone to start, like, yesterday"

You know, if this was a temp to perm postion, I can totally see them wanting to interview candidates.
But for 3 months? That's why you use a damn agency. They already interviewed, tested, checked references and all that stuff.

What's next, they're going to want to interview 3 people to come in and answer the phones for a week?

I swung by that particular agency on my way home to drop something off, and ask to speak to the recruiter. She asked me how it went and I said "Honestly, I have no idea" I was told they were sending 3 people out to interview, and I was the first. I'll bet whoever the 3rd person is, they'll just pick her.

I could be wrong, but whatever.

Internally, I felt rather insulted by the whole thing. Big waste of my morning, when I could have just been assigned, and as of now would have put in a good days work for them and me.

I've had experiences like that, where it seems like there's a ton of prep being done for, just like you had, a short-term assignment.

Hint, folks - the interviewing process for all candidates should not be more hours than the temp assignment is in months. E. g. 3 months' gig? Less than 3 months total of interviewing (not phone screening; I mean face time). I've had second in-person interview situations for temp jobs. Not temp to perm. Just ... temp.

I suppose blood samples are involved when they hire for perm. *facepalm*