Lost my job due to outsourcing can anyone help?

I just lost my job in Washington DC to outsourcing to India and I am in the technology field. I have two kids to feed and provide for. I know this might not be the best place to try and find a job, but can anyone help?

28 comments

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  • Cashman1234
    7 years ago
    I can’t offer direct help. However, I was laid off in mid 2017 (from a large bank). My advice is to start looking immediately for another job. I started mining my contacts the day after I was let go. I grew my LinkedIn connections and mined those connections too.

    Think about each contact - and decide what they might have to get your foot in the door at another company.

    Get your resume ready now. Put a cover letter together - so you can add that to your online applications. Develop a plan to market yourself - and start moving to get it going.

    Don’t get down. It’s easy to get depressed. You don’t want to sound negative on calls or in emails - and definitely not in interviews! It’s painful to be downsized - and it’s scary - but it can open up new opportunities - and it will be ok!
  • jackslash
    7 years ago
    The best way to get a job is through personal contacts. Talk to everyone you know. You're probably not happy with your old employer, but you should ask them for help and advice, especially executives of the company.
  • RTP
    7 years ago
    The job market in general is very strong right now and Technology may be one of the strongest fields. Of course those are all general statements and it all depends on you. Cashman's advice above is right on. Don't be afraid to talk about it. Networking is the key to most jobs. I have found that many people are willing to help you, in fact, some that you may not know help you the most.
  • gammanu95
    7 years ago
    That's what you get for voting for the democrat party.
  • Darkblue999
    7 years ago
    Snowfox6,

    Since you mentioned 'outsourcing' I am assuming you must be working some technology relates field. What is your skillet? Are they obsolete. Company may not need it anymore. Last year many IT guys lost projects because of lack of new skills . It is always better to ger trained in new technologies like bigdata,hadoop,analytics,workday,servicenow,salesforce,azure etc.. I was jobless for 4 months last year. I got trained myself in latest technology and started getting interview calls.
    If you are a citizen you will get interview calls easily if you have one of these skills on your resume.
  • mark94
    7 years ago
    Consider looking outside of DC. All politics aside, Trump is looking to downsize the federal workforce, or move departments to outside of DC. You’ll be fighting the trend by staying in DC. There are other regions where employers are begging for tech talent.
  • twentyfive
    7 years ago
    Join SJGs imaginary church,company or whatever he’s calling his organization now.
  • Cashman1234
    7 years ago
    RTP is right. You should mine your contacts. Since you are in technology - use your analytical skills and touch base with anyone you can.

    This is one of those times when you will find out who your true friends are - and you might be surprised at who those folks are!

    Don’t hesitate to send an email to a person you haven’t seen in a long time.
  • beekers
    7 years ago
    My son was out of a tech job almost 6 months. He went to a Christmas party with some former co-workers, met a former co-worker there who hooked him up with a new job. Point is, don't overlook opportunities to be around people you know in your field, no matter how seemingly unrelated to your job search.
  • BurlingtonHoFactory
    7 years ago
    @mark94,

    I will bet every dollar I have and every dollar I ever make in my entire life that the overall size of the Federal workforce will not be meaningfully shrunk by the end of Trump's final term in office LOL. Cuts in one area will be made up for with increases in other areas. We shrunk the Federal workforce following the ends of WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War. Those were mostly defense cuts. So the War on Terror would have to end for your prediction to come true. And of course, we're not even counting all the private contractors who live and work in and around DC as well. I hope I'm wrong.

    https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES90…
  • san_jose_guy
    7 years ago
    In the organization I am building, no own will ever have to worry about such problems.

    But as of now, all I can say is to keep your chin up and do what you can.

    SJG

    In China they have a book known as the Art of War, written by Tun Szu.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of…

    https://www.amazon.com/Three-Boxes-Life-…

    Jefferson Airplane, Rooftop
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx_08cam…

    Fat Angel
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A7jM-7b…

    Rev William Barber, and on Christian Hate, used to maintain White Supremacy
    https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/9/re…

    https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/9/re…
  • RandomMember
    7 years ago
    To the @OP:

    One of our members @Analvone is an IT professional who lost his job to an H1B fresh off the boat. Luckily @Anal eventually found work at the help desk of a non-profit that uses Medicaid funding for transsexuals. His primary responsibility is resting passwords.

    So there's hope for you as well.
  • RandomMember
    7 years ago
    Resetting *
  • Warrenboy75
    7 years ago
    If you are inside the beltway and this is not your field--enroll in school for Information Security Analyst.

    If you want to stay in the area and can relocate look in the Dulles Area.

    However unless you are keeping current and updating your skill set you'll find your situation to be repetitive --the last thing you want to be is a commodity. Outsourcing to India is only one way organizations are offloading cost. Managed services companies and Cloud based applications are also cutting down on company IT staffs.

    Stay away from the desktop..........
  • Mate27
    7 years ago
    Lmfao!

    Did anyone read L1oydSchoene? That’s fucking funny!
  • Cashman1234
    7 years ago
    ^ I pm’d him already! His organization sounds great!
  • Snowfox6
    7 years ago
    Thank You everyone for providing your comments, I have learned a lot by reading them. I will try by first working on my linked in and I will reach out to contacts both far and away. The scariest part in all of this, is that have two kids under 2 to take care off.
  • RandomMember
    7 years ago
    "The scariest part in all of this, is that have two kids under 2 to take care off.:
    _____________
    Sorry about trolling your post. Is there some kind of training you take online or at local colleges? Something with a nearly sure-thing payoff? You didn't say what kind of tech job you have?
  • Warrenboy75
    7 years ago
    See comments above-- in the DC Area the most sought after IT skills are Security Analyst. The least sought after jobs are desktop based support since the emergence of Managed Services companies --the skills are available on line and at various local colleges.

    Many of the mid sized IT/Technology firms have moved out to Herndon (sp?) Dulles, Ashburn, etc.......and it is the mid sized companies that see to be doing the most expansion in the last 18 months.........Actually the State of Virginia is looking for people right now but the jobs are Richmond based.........
  • RandomMember
    7 years ago
    Can you retrain as a software developer? List of hottest developer jobs:

    https://www.techrepublic.com/article/the…
  • Dougster
    7 years ago
    Ruby? Think I'm gonna have to go ahead and sort of, kind of, disagree with that one there.
  • RandomMember
    7 years ago
    I don't know anything about web-development tools like Ruby. Of the jobs listed, machine learning sounds by far the most interesting.
  • Clubber
    7 years ago
    As one that was also in the IT field until I retired, listen to what Darkblue said. You don't mention your amount of time in the field, so perhaps your "skillet" (skill set) is obsolete. In my 45+ years, I can tell you that I spent quite a number of those years learning.

    If "you" are obsolete, well good luck.
  • Darkblue999
    7 years ago
    OP,

    Unless you let us know you skillet, we can't really guide you. Even H1s are losing jobs due to jobs going offshore. On the other side, New president policies are making h1 approvals very tough. I see many IT jobs only for citizens
    In DMV area which pays beyond 120k minimum. I am still surprised that you can't get job sooner.
    Somebody mentioned about resetting password job.Dont take that job if it is true it will ruin your career.
  • RandomMember
    7 years ago
    @DarkBlue
    The password reset idea is an inside joke and a troll on @Analcone. Hopefully you're not that dense?
  • Darkblue999
    7 years ago
    Since OP did not reply I assuming it's a troll post.
  • Cashman1234
    7 years ago
    If you are going to try and add a new skill to your resume - take a sniff around your specific market.

    When you float your resume - and when you get calls - use those calls to interview them as much as they might be interviewing you. If they are using Python - or any other programming tools - that information is very important. Surveys are very useful - but getting the real information from the source - is best.
  • Darkblue999
    7 years ago
    Check out AWS or Salesforce
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