Career Talk JDR

Is there a silver lining after being laid off?  Well, not that you can usually see when it is happening to you!

There is this indescribable feeling to walk into work only to find out that your position is not needed any more.  Let me tell you my story.  Early in my career, I took advantage of my company’s offer to pay for me to go to school and started taking Accounting courses.  It was when I took the first Programming course, that I found my passion.   I changed my degree to computers.  It was when I was finishing my degree that I found out I could not get a job at the cotton company that I was working for because I had to have 5 years of experience.  I was working in Operations but I wanted to be in Programming.  I was in a rut, but ruts are easier to stay in than to get out of.  Cotton took a hard hit one year and it was decided that there was no longer a need for three Operators.  You got it right, that meant me!

Even though I had money still coming in, I hit the streets running.  There was not a job agency or a job ad that did not have my resume.  I did find a position operating a computer that I knew nothing about and after about a week, the person working with me crashed the computer and walked out.  About a week later, I got a call from an ‘English’ woman, Jill Herrin, who told me she was new to Memphis and she had noticed that I had not been contacted by the agency that she was working for.  When she found out that I had a job, she asked me if I was happy and I said NO!  I told her that I really wanted to program.  Jill then found me my first programming position!

The next time that I needed to make a job change, I called Jill back.  She told me that she was no longer working for the other agency, but she had opened her own company, JDResources, Inc.  I let her know that I did not care about which company she worked at, I was more interested in her proficiency which made her the success that she was.  With the help that I got from her company’s website and Jill’s expertise, I was able to move forward along my career path. 

My silver lining was there at the time, but I could not see it because it was in the distance.  It became clearer as I moved my career forward.  Today, I have the joy of working in-house at JDResources, Inc and I have found my perfect job.  I now have the opportunity to do for others what was done for me in the past.  Those that I help or work with may not see their silver lining at the time…but they know the path that they want their career to take and I get to help to make that happen!