In which I let you all in on the secret

That secret being: I’ve been "officially" unemployed since mid-June.

I use "officially" in quotes because the Dire Employment Situation began earlier than that, but it wasn’t until June that I was entirely laid off.

What happened was, well, I was working for a builder, and we all know how the local economy has been treating home builders and real estate, right? Anyway, I guess it was in March when I found out that my hours were going to be cut back to half-time at some point in the near future, and then that happened in April. (I think; my timeline on this is a bit fuzzy.)

Thus, I became a part time employee for a couple of months. I started searching the local job scene but avoided blogging about any of it at the time, because

  1. the status of my current job was still unclear, and I didn’t want to rock the boat unduly one way or another; and
  2. I didn’t want to tip off potential future employers with something that could potentially be interpreted the wrong way—i.e., it was something I’d rather discuss in person, if needed.

Then June came, and the official layoff came to pass. (It was myself and two other employees from a small-ish sized staff, to give you an idea of the scope.) In some ways it made everything easier—with the kids out of school, I could be home with them, I could devote my time fully to the job search, etc.—but of course this kind of thing is never easy.

Several people have asked why I didn’t blog about getting laid off sooner, and use the blog as a networking tool. Good question.

Here’s one reason: I screwed up my application for unemployment compensation and didn’t manage to get that resolved until just last week, so I didn’t want to somehow compound the problems I was having by blogging something inadvertent until it was fixed.

That’s a true answer; I really did screw up the unemployment and I really was a bit paranoid about blogging it—but it’s not "the" answer. Not that I can give you an alternate reason, other than I just wasn’t ready to write anything about it.

Anyway. For the past month and a half we’ve been watching our budget closely, I’ve been seeking employment (I’ve had a few interviews, too—two as far away as Portland and Lincoln City), and ideally I’m doing some freelance web development work to make ends meet while job searching.

I’d like to say that I took the extra time to really focus on my writing and blogging and trying to turn them into viable revenue generators, but, well…

So. I’m currently unemployed, and if anyone should have any leads on a computer- or internet-related job (I specialize in PHP and MySQL web development, don’t ya know), I’m available.

(I don’t do Bar Mitzvahs.)

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7 comments

  1. And here’s a reference:

    If I had a business in need of web design / content / management – I’d hire this guy in a heartbeat. He’s a computer geek with creativity, and who has a very easy-going personality.

    It’s amazing how much talent you have, and that no one is benefiting from having you on their staff right now.

  3. Hey Jon — if i’m thinking clearly this early AM you are Jon Abernathy, correct? Diane’s kiddo? Jump on this with a solid resume — lifewiseor.com we are hiring for a desktop services tech and a web devel one of the jobs is ‘publically’ posted the other isn’t. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t jump on it. One is technically based in P-town but you should be able to either work outta this office or telecommute. When you search don’t limit the search to Bend. The other job for web service may well be listed at the premera.com site again don’t let it spook you that it’s listed for seattle or spokane. since Bend is a campus as well they can work you from here.

    lemme know if i can help!

  5. It’s about time you said something 😛

    It’s not about *what* you know, but *who* you know.

    Keeneye…he should use you as an official reference 🙂

    I have words about the unemployment office, but I’ll keep them to myself for the moment…..

    Budget, what budget?! (I haven’t said that since you were laid off, but then again, I haven’t really set foot in a store to shop)

    I’m the only one working in the family now…bringing home the big bucks (at least fantastic perks/insurance)…pretty scary

  6. It happens to the best of us (Brian two and me once). These things happen for a reason and something better is coming your way.

    We were even trying to have a baby when he was unemployed — we weren’t even worried.

  7. You and I had talked about this before, Jon, so while I knew this was coming, it still sucks. I’ll keep an eye/ear out for you if you’d do the same for me (while I’m not unemployed, who isn’t looking for something better?).

    And anybody who’s looking to hire: Jon’s a good man and a smart dude. I say this is a geek who has dealt with a lot of computer folks who claim to be a lot smarter than they are — Jon’s the opposite, being a lot smarter than he claims to be. You’d be foolish to pass on him.

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