I thought things were bad at COP - they let me go in the last round and I have been living the good-life with my severance for a while. I will probably need to find something new next year.
I decided to look at some of the other companies on this layoff board and boy - if you think things are bad at COP, these other places are a trainwreck!
During a previous downturn I lost my job. I needed a paycheck and was able to find temporary work as a machinist. I talked to the owner of the shop and leveled with him; I asked if I could only work on weekends (Saturday and Sunday; 6AM to 6PM each day), which allowed me to look for work M-F. Since he needed weekend help, he agreed. I worked there for 15 months until something turned up. One of the reasons they made me an offer was in part because of this job. They wanted someone that wasn’t afraid of getting dirty; not someone that would be afraid to get their nails dirty. I was even offered a machinist job at one of the service companies while looking for an engineering position. So had I not been able to find an engineering job, I would have taken that machinist job and tried to advance that way. You are never too good for any job, trust me. During those 15 months I felt anxious, depressed, etc., but to sit at home and feel sorry for myself, no way. I mean, when you finally get an interview (assuming you make it this far) and they ask, “what you have been doing all this time,” what are you going to tell them?
Lucky you! Many of my friends who were let go got almost nothing and are still looking. COP is absolutely a generous company when it comes to letting people go.
I am glad you are getting to enjoy that generosity, but Id hurry up and start looking now if you are planning to work again in 2018.
And you think you're going to find another job in the oil industry? If so, your fantasy is about to meet a hard, cold reality.
Enjoy that party time, when it's over, it will really be over.
I would look for something now. No one is going to want to hire someone who's been sitting around for months (or a year or two) doing nothing.