6 months layed off-Now What?

[oxburger]

Swallow SWALLOW your pride and tell the wifey to go out and earn some coin

Boy, I hope for your sake there are no women looking at this post........

[Trevor Collins]

Really sorry to hear of your predicament. I can tell you from my own experiences hear in Pembrokeshire, Wales. that the market is beginning to pick up, so hope might be on the way.

As for print being dead, I quite understand your attitude. I do believe though that there will be a future, but a different one to that which we are used of. The industry will evolve and I hope to be hear in 10 years time.

Modern Print, Printers and Graphic Designers, Designing, Printing in Pembrokeshire, Wales

[SlaveToTheMan]

Sorry Ox, I wasn't necessarily replying to your Post, was speaking in more of a general way. Sorry, I may have been a little fed up & reactionary yesterday.

I don't suppose any of us can say with certainty where this nonsense is headed, it just seems to be getting more bleak every week/month/year and I for one feel like a whipped dog.

[oxburger]

I hear you. It's always good to keep an eye on other options while the economy is still all squirrely....I know I am.

[Dannymonky]

The print business is in the crapper like every other industry.

I'm blessed with 2 jobs in prepress. 9-5 i work for a flexo shop which is busy as hell. There is 2 of us in prepress. At night I work for my old full time job at a small commercial printer-about 3-4 hours a night and saturday. It was difficult to say the least to find my day job. The reason I was looking was because the commercial printer was going down the tubes. Staff cuts, less hours, accrued vacation/holiday pay taken away and tons of other bad things going on. Again I feel blessed and lucky to have 2 jobs in this economy. The work is out there. You have to find it. I went on a bunch of interviews, was persistent in following up and got lucky.

Best of luck to the OP and the others in this thread suffering.

[Jecclr2003]

Well, add me to the pool of the laid off. I got my notice yesterday.

Our business had SIGNIFIGANTLY dropped off in the past few months and chargable time was a rare thing.I can't blame the company for it, it was strictly a money issue. They've been around for 30 years and this was the first time they've been really hurting.

I have to hit the ground running hard on Monday and hope I can find something. I'm wiling to do just about ANYTHING at this point as long as the bills are getting paid.

Maybe I should go back to school for something like nursing.... the only industry where there's a shortage of people.

[oxburger]

A lot of community colleges offer free tuition if you get laid off.

[Jecclr2003]

The print business is in the crapper like every other industry.

I'm blessed with 2 jobs in prepress. 9-5 i work for a flexo shop which is busy as hell. There is 2 of us in prepress. At night I work for my old full time job at a small commercial printer-about 3-4 hours a night and saturday. It was difficult to say the least to find my day job. The reason I was looking was because the commercial printer was going down the tubes. Staff cuts, less hours, accrued vacation/holiday pay taken away and tons of other bad things going on. Again I feel blessed and lucky to have 2 jobs in this economy. The work is out there. You have to find it. I went on a bunch of interviews, was persistent in following up and got lucky.

Best of luck to the OP and the others in this thread suffering.

I'll be persistant. Chance are I'll be selling cars again while also looking for another prepress/printing job. I'm willing to commute a decent amount for the "right" job/pay. As frustrating as it can be, I LOVE this line of work and am saddened to see what's happening to it.

So far, I've dropped off resume to every printing company within a 30 mile radius.

[gordo]

So far, I've dropped off resume to every printing company within a 30 mile radius.

Just a thought. Since we're in full vacation season, what would happen if you offered to work for one of the printers that you would like to work for and that you feel might be in a position to hire. Maybe offer to work for 2 or so weeks - maybe to cover an employee who's going on vacation. Maybe even offer to work with no pay - as a way of expanding your experience and knowledge beyond what you achieved with your former employer. Maybe once they have you in shop you'd be in a position to demonstrate the value you could bring to their business if they were to hire you on. They would have nothing to lose and you would have everything to gain.

best, gordon p
My print blog here: Quality In Print
Current topic: Ink savings using solid screening - part 1

[jeffw-13]

I feel your pain, man. I got laid off back in February after 15 years in the same company. I was able to live on unemployment for a few months then moved to another city (which I was planning to do before getting laid off).

I was lucky and found a company that was hiring for a job that I was very qualified for and got in at $21.50/hr. I hate the frickin' place but I have a kid in school now so I'll have to suck it up for awhile.