Gasp! Your group's getting consolidated, re-org'ed or screwed.

How to deal.

Keep yourself proactively searching for another opportunity if your current situation looks dire. I heard a new term (to me anyway) call passive job hunting. Simply put, keep your feelers out there, talk to headhunters or internal HR about what the market looks like, and tell them to contact you if they feel you're a fit for a hot job.

Stay put! yea that goes against what I just said above, but sometimes the change in your group is better than the previous version of it. If you are in fact a producer, and known for it, usually the new group wants to keep the cherry candidates and discard the dead wood.

Just chuck it and resign. But do so in a professional manner, give them the opportunity to keep you for three weeks so the transition is smooth. Most people who burn bridges come back to those charred remains later in their career. You may think your industry is big, but a bad reputation or black mark is bigger. So, be a pro, and people will remember you that way.

Product Plug: Sirius Internet Radio

Surprisingly enough, my current company has not blocked streaming media. Myspace yes, Friendster yes, my personal Yahoo Mail account, YES, but not my Sirius Radio subscription.

My wife bought me a Sirius for the car, and well, I take the train to work.

But the side benefit of this is that you can log in to the web based streaming player and listen to music, talk and Howard Stern while blocking out those annoying cubicle conversations.

Recently, Sirius started offering just an Internet only account, which I think is the best deal out there for fellow dwellers.

It certainly beats those goofy noise cancelling headphones people wear. Jeez...

My smart ass tude is recognized

I don't know if I posted that I"m now a commenter on Gawker. I'm more diligent in trying to make snarky comments on that site than populate my own.

Either way, I got me a gold star! I recently commented on the latest Madonna rabble about her stealing black babies from Africa, take a look. :)

http://www.gawker.com/news/comments/gold-star-motel-blowing-rails-with-bugaboos-212379.php

I feel like the person next to the person who got shot in a drive by

So in my current illustrious cubicle home a peer in my group got the "package".

I was truly betting it was me. I'm surprised somewhat that it wasn't.

He told me that he expected it (seems like we're all under our own death watch) because he didn't have good relationships with some senior managers. Bad things happen to good people. He was good people.

But on the flip side, he's happy! He is getting a sizable pay out to leave. The market is very strong right now. The employment levels are year 1999ish which means that the demand for people in our field is strong. http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/03/markets/stockswatch/index.htm?section=money_latest

He has just got himself a mini lottery winning.

Now, as a fellow dweller, but contractor, I feel a bit of envy. If I get sacked, that's it! No big bonus, no payout, just a high five and a kick in the ass.

But then again, I've never been sacked, other than one time in a very bad company. Hey wait, I won that lottery too, but it was only a two month severance. Not the payout my friend is getting.

So, for now I'm safe, but who knows what comes about next week.

Until later, peace!

Holy S(#$#*t it's happening in my area

What can I say, it's happened to our group.

We had a meeting earlier this week with our UK overlords who've informed us that two groups are going to be merged into one.

THIS SUCKS!

I truly didn't want to start job hunting this year, I wanted to stretch this out to at minimum 3 years. I hated to jump or get sacked due to consolidation.

Will let you know more when I know.