Why Staying Put OR Quietly Exploring Are Both Valid Career Strategies Right Now

4 Comments

1. AnonymousAugust 24,2025 at 4:03AM UTC

   Laid off in March, highly skilled and qualified, yet new positions have been slim to none for me still.

   Praying I find the right position. It's bad...

2. AnonymousAugust 25,2025 at 6:13AM UTC

   A lot of people don't want to take contract positions, but that can be an effective strategy, as companies are often hesitant to commit to the salaries required for people with your type of qualifications. An added advantage of contract work is that if there are recruiters looking for contract employees, the hiring companies are often in a bind and don't really care about your characteristics other than "can you do the job?"

   I have been in the workforce for many years and have found some of my best opportunities either directly or indirectly from contract work. Case in point: One of my contract jobs led to a couple of "full time" positions, one with the client company when I was converted from contract to "full time". The other "full time" position occurred because one of the staff members I worked closely with on the contract job went to another company and talked me up to his manager, who then reached out to me for an interview, and hired me on as part of the staff.

   All that to say - perhaps expand your horizons. What worked for me recently was posting my resume on the usual suspects - indeed, etc. plus specialty job boards.

   It could take some time, but is something you could do while looking for a more permanent situation and could help quite a lot financially. In my recent case, I was able to earn a quite good salary for fourteen months - and for some companies, this type of position could probably result in a more permanent situation.

   Wishing you the best. Be creative and persistent!

3. AnonymousAugust 27,2025 at 12:58PM UTC

   Yes, for the moment I am job hugging but not committed.

   At my company they just initiated return to office 4 days per week as they recently renovated our building. Not only that but we have to reserve our seats ahead of time through a system called SpaceWell. Sensors under the seats that indicate if you are in your seat. Folks who have a reservation and are not seated are getting e-mails that they are going to lose their seat.

   Also it was announced that they have rolled out ProHance tracking software on all of our company laptops. This software is a tracking software that lets them track where you go what you during your work time. Every mouse click, how many emails you send, how many teams chats what internet sites you visit and etc... If you are away from your computer for more than 10 minutes there is a little pop up menu that ask you a series of questions about what that time was for, (i.e. Break, meeting, Tech issue, non-productive time) and your whole computer is locked up until you answer the questions from the drop down. I ABSOLUTELY hate it!

   In fact, I saw an e-mail to a Sr. leader that said Is it possible to break this reporting out between meetings vs chats? Or if viewing report in teams how does that show up?

   What's next transcripts of our Teams Chats?? Do you need to follow me to the restroom as well?

   This makes me want to quit but honestly, I'm a little afraid to because the economy is rough out there, the job market is also rough. There are so many who are unemployed, and I just am not excited about putting myself back out there.

   I don't feel valued, I don't feel seen or heard.

4. AnonymousAugust 27,2025 at 8:23PM UTC

   Yow! I would be looking for a new position. This place sounds dystopian!

   I had a somewhat similar experience in the 1990s, but technology was not so evolved. There were mirrors above the cubicles, ostensibly to keep us from running into each other at the "blind" corners in the maze, but definitely a "big brother is watching" vibe.

   If the company has a lot of turnover, which the one where I worked in the 1990s did, perhaps the tracking processes are to find out why, but it certainly sounds like they don't have confidence in their ability to hire trustworthy employees, which is on them, not you.

   If I were in your position, I would be looking for another position in my "free" time outside of work and jumping ship as soon as I could find a viable one. Wishing you well! You are not crazy! -- That was another aspect of this in my former experience - gaslighting about many things. My "company mentor" did not believe some of the things that happened until she observed them herself, which was a great relief to me. The next position was wonderful - especially compared to this company. At the time, I was in a similar position to you in that I had just started in my new career, so was hesitant to leave, but I kept looking for a new position in my free time and it paid off nicely.

   "Been there, done that, have the t-shirt." - Wishing you all of the best and a quick exit!