Not Again!

In the mid-90s the apparel industry went through a lot of consolidation, down-sizing, closures. My career began to feel like a constant drill of jumping from one sinking ship to the lifeboats, only to have them capsize. It was a trying and disheartening time. Over the past 10 years or so, though, my moves have been of my making in this industry. So last Friday the company announced that we had lost the brand that identified who we were, thus closing the company. I was stunned to hear people wonder how we would survive this. The company does not survive, it is done. The current project is to harvest as many organs from the body before the funeral.

Yesterday 100 of us (out of 145 or so) were let go, fired, layed off, permanently furloughed (my favorite). Big conference room full of people wondering what they were going to do. The president saying how sorry he was (he is indeed sorry, it was his fault, and in a real twist of irony will get the last paycheck) The owner is in tears, a lot of the original employees crying, the warehouse guys (that I find a little scary) standing there stone-faced. I was wondering whose car was going to get keyed on the way out. I was impatient. You see, I had been through this before, several times. So my mental condition was, "get on with it" So I'm standing there with my arms folded, sort of minding my own business when a young lady next to me looks at me and asks, "why aren't you upset?" Why indeed? So I looked at her and I said without really thinking about it, "putting behind what is in the past and striving forward toward the goal. It is a quote from an old book. It means they have given us a head start in the job search over the other 45 or so who have to stay here and finish out this sorry business." Then I gave her one of my blog cards ( I will explain at another time, but my bride made them up for me when she set up the blog)What a moment. The owner came over and apologized, I wished him and his family the best.

Here is where I turn into my dad. He is absolutely the best at moving on when tragedy strikes. He is not maudlin, he does not feel sorry for himself, he simply smacks his hands together and gets on with the task of moving on. For instance, the afternoon of my mother's funeral he told my sister, and his daughters=in=law that they needed to get what they wanted out of mom's closet because the rest of it was going to Goodwill..that day. He was broken-hearted, he was sad about mom, but he was ready to move on.

So here is my formula for not staying out of work long. 3:15..easy to remember, out of school time. Here is what it means. Over three days have 15 conversations about looking for work. Job placement folks call this networking. I call it 3:15. So starting a month ago, yes, I felt it coming, I am in the top 2% in inductive reasoning, I've been diagnosed and tested. I'll explain in another blog what it is. I made a list of twenty or so names that have great visibility into the apparel world, good friends who know me, most have worked with me. I called 7 of them on Friday, then another 3 over the weekend. That leaves 5 today. One of them has been working on a deal for a year and might fund this week, which means there may be no real loss of income. But more importantly no loss in time. I hate to sit and wonder what is happening. I learned a long time ago to work a job search like you do your regular job. Get up early, hit the phones, email folks, put in a full 8 hours.

What I hope to do also is write a little more. It is therapeutic, it helps me stay focused, it keeps me sane. So you may have more to read from the blog in the days to come.

Anyway, for those who got my cards, hope you enjoy the blog.

Godspeed to all.
Don