1781

Fingers crossed Reemul!

1782

Hope the string of good luck continues Reemul! Go get 'em!

1783

Thanks

1784

Getting laid-off has to be one of the worst experience I’ve had to go through where I wasn’t physically hurt. It’s just awful. It’s also strange how quickly time can get away from you. Its now been 6 or 7 weeks for me since being laid-off (I’m purposely not counting it out right now). Time flies fast and the job searching is aggravatingly slow. I’m still talking with companies I contacted in the first week of my unemployment. And it can be extremely hard to deal all the rejections along the way.

Thankfully that will end soon, as I have a few offers to consider this week. This decision is getting tough though because one of the options would require relocation. It’s to a city we’d love to move to, but we aren’t sure we want to move again after moving to here 6 months ago (or maybe its the perfect time since we don’t have deep roots here yet). It’s a tough call, but all things considered I’m thankful that it’ll be all over soon.

1785

nKoan, first, great to hear you already have offers! And more than one! To have more than one offer in less than two months is pretty amazing!

And even as fast as you’ve gotten those, yeah, managers on the hiring side forget that a week for them, where they put off looking at resumes and responding due to other work going on, seems like nothing. But to a person waiting on a response of some kind, a week or two seems like MONTHS!

Re: relocation - my guidance to people looking at new job opportunities, whether it is inside their current company or a new one, is this. Make a list of what is truly important to your quality of life. Be completely honest with yourself and make sure your spouse has her equal input also. It can be obvious things like money, time with family, work stress levels, job security, etc. but also things like job prestige, work environment, and more. Location is certainly in there. Proximity to family.

Once you have that list, put the items in order of importance. Put some kind of score on the items, say, 1 to 10. For example, for me, right now at my age and where I am in my life, job security is a 10. Easily higher than money. It would not have been that way for me years ago.

THEN rate each job opportunity in each category. Maybe again, a 1 to 10 scoring. It can be an interesting exercise, even if just to discuss with your spouse.

BTW, if one job requires relocation, don’t be shy on asking for relocation expense help. They should know that’s an added cost for you as you make your decision. And not at all unprofessional. (you probably already know this!)

1786

I am starting a new contracting position and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Things may be looking up in my area for job seekers. I had two offers for contracts that both popped up only a few days ago and both groups wanted to sign me on without a full fledged interview loop. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but as my unemployment benefits ran out the middle of last month, I am grateful for the work.

So question for the group.

I took the job with the higher rate, but it looks like this agency presents me to MSFT as a consultant, doesn’t withhold taxes, and pays on a monthly basis. I’ve never done it like that before. The monthly paycheck seems merely inconvenient, but the tax thing worries me. No state taxes in WA, but what do I have to know about federal taxes to avoid problems?

1787

Pay your quarterly federal estimates. You can play it safe and assume that you’ll be get that same monthly amount for the remainder of the year and pay accordingly. Alternatively, you can pay less (under the assumption that the gig and other positions won’t go the year) and risk some interest and penalties, but those usually aren’t crazy unless you’re really, really off. At a minimum, stash money away as if you were going to have to pay the full amount for the year.

1788

Thank you Stepsongrapes!

How does one know what the estimates are? I guess you just go the IRS web site and drill down?

I bet the software from Intuit that I use for tax prep can help me here. Or maybe it’s time for me to seek out an accountant? Have any of you others done this? If so, what did you do?

1789

Intuit is probably fine, though an accountant/tax professional is probably never a bad thing, if you afford one.

For Intuit, you simply assume that you will get that same salary for the rest of the year and run your taxes as if your annual income is (what you’ve already earned this year) + (contract monthly pay X 5).

1790

Well I have had my second interview. The person interviewing was the old MD who has stepped down and does 3 days a week but is an integral part of rolling out new stuff.

It looks like they are expanding and branching out in to more sectors than before and are looking to create a position for me to lead up this expansion in Digital Mailrooms and post as part of a new service.

It went really well and I have a 3rd and final interview in 10 days once the Ops Director returns from his holiday in the Maldives.

So it looks like another 2 or 3 weeks off and then something more concrete being agreed on.

1791

Woohooooo!!!

1792

Still no job, and no openings for the job I thought I was going to get. Gah! Some goodish news, though. I applied for a job in Montana and heard nothing. Made a bunch of phone calls and did a lot of snooping and found the numbers for the senior recruiter and the area manager. Area manager is out on vacation until after the 4th.

I did get to talk with the senior recruiter, and she said, “Yes, we received your application.” I asked her for a moment of her time and gave her a hard sell on why I’m the best candidate for the job, period. Wasn’t sure how that would go, but assertiveness is a key trait that they look for, so I figured it was worth a risk. She told me, “That was very good to hear. Well you’ll now be at the top of the list for this position. I’ll have a meeting with (some people, not sure who) and let them know that you’re our top pick. The only way you won’t get it is if an internal candidate has requested transfer there.”

So now I have to wait until after the 4th to find out if they have an internal hire for that position. I hate this feeling! Blah! Blech! I have been trying to get back to Missoula for…well…since I left forever ago.

1793

Good on you for making that slick move! It’s cool that she let you know it worked with her.

I’m not always able to impress a stranger I need something from, but when it works, I always come away feeling like a million bucks. Celebrate, I say! A round of ice cream! :)

1794

What do you guys think of last-man-standing syndrome? I have fairly good job, 9 years with my company, and a location that keeps my exposure to my malevolent director down to one day per week. We don’t get along well, but our friction is not as bad as it is between him and most other staff (make that all other staff). But now the other managers and senior staff have left, leaving me the last. I’ll likely play along for awhile but I’m having a hard time judging how this all looks to outsiders. Positive that I can handle it? Or negative that I put up with it.

1795

I’m no expert, but what can you do? Spin it the way you want it to be perceived and hope for the best.

1796

Yeah if you are the last man standing, it does not speak well of the big man that all the others are no more, and if i were you i’d just be looking around at all my options most of the time; in part as a prepared back up plan, but also you never know, you might find a much better situation that is not that big an issue to change to.

1797

Nice! If there’s one thing that gets jobs it’s enthusiasm. Nobody hires someone who seems disinterested in their company.

1798

And that is EXACTLY what I did! Certainly did make me feel great, especially because I didn’t know if she was going to see it as annoying stalkerism and telling her how to do her job. But hey, seize the day and all. I knew it would at least get me known.

Truth! I did at least research why they lose people from the position and pointed out all the reasons that I won’t jump ship like others do. :) Thought that might show that I care.

1799

Good job Hal! If they don’t hire you, they be cray cray!

1800

I’m currently employed, but I’ve been looking for a new job (to a greater or lesser extent) for almost 2 years. I feel like I’ve made some bad professional decisions that have placed me into a nice little hole where lots of people say they need somebody with my skill set, but nobody actually does because I don’t have the right technologies. I have a development background, and have been working in professional services for several years now, but haven’t been able to find anything appropriate (admittedly, I have a pretty big hole in terms of experience with internet technologies). It’s gone on so long that the boss who I took great pleasure in the thought of telling off when I quit, left the company before I was able to (not really, I’d never do something so unprofessional, but the sentiment is there).

I’ve spoken to numerous recruiters, had dozens of preliminary phone interviews and a number of in person interviews (including 2 that required significant travel), and I don’t know if I’ve just been unlucky (one opportunity explicitly came down to me and one other guy, and I just got the short straw), or somehow shit the bed during interviews in ways I’m blind to. Or maybe companies were just jerking me around in the first place. I’ve had several conversations where I was never asked a single technical question during an hour long interview, then rejected because they were looking for somebody “more technical” or something similar. I probably need to take a break, since I’ve gotten to the point where I’m probably visibly bored when narrating my work-experience history.

As I’ve gotten more work experience, I’ve realized that I kind of hate professional services, and I’m a better programmer than I thought I was (one of the reasons I left that area). I guess I need to just take some web courses in javascript and jquery or something so I can at least fake competence there, and look at development-centric positions again.

While I’m at it, you know what’s bullshit? The fact that in software development, there’s an implicit expectation that programmers will basically work in their free time on open-source or personal development projects. If you get paid to write code, and you also give it away, you’re just demonstrating that you aren’t able to effectively value your work product. The cynic in me can’t help but seeing that as a question on job posting as “Have you proven that you’re incapable of valuing your own time and are thus easily exploitable?”

Blech.