Hellobee Boards

Once! It came as such a surprise. I started looking right away, but didn't end up finding anything for 3 months. I actually loved the break from work since I got to play housewive/homemaker for a bit.

Yes. Back in late '09. It was a horrible feeling, but the day after it happened I felt good about it...almost relieved. I was fortunate to find a wonderful job a week later.

My husband ( then boyfriend) was laid off in April of 2009. The day before he had just put the deposit down on my engagement ring. He was out of work until July when he got a job at a company that he hated. He was under paid for education level and skill set. But a job is a job and it allowed us the income we needed to buy a home and pay our portion of the wedding. He got a new job in June 2011 and has been much happier with that situation.

I was laid off in 2003. I was so pissed because I had only been in that job for 5 months--but I was working for a museum and their visitors had dwindled after 9/11 so they laid off about 200 of us

Because I was laid off during at the beginning of the summer and my roommate had been laid off a couple of weeks before--we took the summer off! It was a blast. I didn't start seriously looking for a job until about October.

No, never, which is surprising since I worked in Financial Services. Talk about no job security!

I was laid off in March 2009, and was a mess. The hubby (then bf) and I were living together and I felt like I need to bring home $$ to contribute to the household. I felt like I lost my independence when I lost my job. I immediately started looking for a job, but found nothing. In the meantime, I worked at our shop with my hubby and it was 3 blissful months, surprisingly.

In June 2009, my phone rang with a job opportunity for a contractor position. 2 years of being a contractor enabled me to become a full time employee.

I was and as much as it hurts the ego, I was really happy about it seeing I was no longer happy in the position I had. I wouldn't change one thing about it, because I wouldnt be where I am today.

I was laid off in November 2010. It was actually a good thing because I was unhappy in my position. It took me 3 months to get a new job, which seemed like an eternity but in actuality I guess it wasn't that bad

@sweetchic: How is your event planning business going now?

@sweetchic: Wow, congratulations!! That's huge!

Yeah, January of 2011 I had been working as a ft nanny and they couldn't afford a nanny anymore. It was hard. But that saw week I was offered a lead position at a new retail store. So it worked out.

Yes, a couple of times... The most recent time was last year, January 2011.
It was the most horrible experience of my life. I was let go at 34 weeks pregnant, told that if I didn't sign a release I would lose my maternity leave pay. So I sued them, but it was still hard. They had been horrible to me since I announced my pregnancy, so I really shouldn't have been so shocked. I was in denial, working so hard. I was 6 weeks away from delivery and I sunk into a deep dark depression that took months to come out of. I didn't go back to work after my mat leave because I am currently pregnant with my second. I'm really really afraid to start applying when it comes time to go back to work.

We settled in the end. It took a while, but it was better that we settled. I would have had to sit in front of their lawyer and be ripped apart. I was just so drained from being a new mom and this, that it was better. The only crappy thing was they took a ton of tax off my settlement, more than they should have. Booo!

Yes, in Nov 2009. I worked from home on Wednesdays, and the layoffs just happened to be scheduled for a Wednesday, so they called me at home to do it. It sounds like a rude way to find out, but I was glad I was home - I only had to keep it together for the 10 minutes I was on the phone, then I could sob for the rest of the day, and by the time I went in the next day to get all my stuff, I was more emotionally composed.

The HR director, who I was pretty friendly with, said to me "It seems awful right now, but I often run into people six months or a year later and they say it was the best thing that happened to them". I wanted to punch him in the face at that moment, but a year later, looking back, it was a good thing - we never struggled financially, I got 8 months at home to work on myself (lost 40 lbs!) and my house (renovations!) and now I'm in a job with way more responsibilities and a higher salary. So he was right.

I was laid off in 2006. I was working for a small company which only had a few clients. The owner was an a$$hole, got drunk at a business dinner and told off the owner of the account I was working on. Needless to say, we lost that business and I was laid off. I was REALLY upset because I had been doing a great job and if my boss weren't such a dick, I would still have had a job.
I sent to work making "finding a job" my full-time job. I had several interviews that weren't a great fit (I had the luxury of being able to hold out for something I loved). The GREAT news is that I landed a wonderful job 2 months later.
In 2008 when the economy crashed, my old company lost its other accounts and went out of business. All of my former coworkers lost their jobs without severance and many had a very difficult time landing on their feet. I was actually grateful that I got out of there when I did!