It's Go Time- or Maybe Not?

I must admit that I am beyond words when it comes to my friends at the outplacement service today.... which for those of you who know me is no small feat.

It has been exactly 2 weeks since I was put out to pasture and the service is just now getting around to helping me.  Apparently they were under the impression that I did not have an urgent need to find another job quickly.  Since when does No Job + No Paycheck + Family to Support = No Urgency??

They did send me a revised copy of my resume, which had been professionally done late last year.  Their new version included misspelling my name on the 1st line of the 1st page,  taking things completely out of context, incomplete cut and pasting from my original resume, and my personal favorite.... my salary was included in the summary about my latest position.  All said and done they did make is real purty with some fancy coloring/shading.

Tomorrow I get the pleasure of what I thought were two full days of 1:1 coaching... apparently I was wrong... I will only get up to 8 hours total.  When asked what this would entail, I was told that I will need to fill out some more forms so that they can get to know me better (stay tuned for those in future blogs), how to answer questions in an interview, and how to network.  When I politely said that I have been networking for the past 2 weeks with some success they told me again that they would give me coaching tips on how to do it, huh?  The "Coach" is then going to spend all of tomorrow night coming up with a Plan for me and is going to coach me through it on Wednesday.  All night, really?  I, or at least my career, must be in critical condition.

Is it bad that I am looking at the next two days as opportunities for Blog Topics rather than professional development?  I can only imagine the plethora of ideas that will be bouncing through my head tomorrow on my way home. I can hardly contain my excitement!!!!

I asked about the world-renowned job search capabilities that they have and how I might tap into those and I was told that they did not help me identify a job they just coach me on how to get a job.  While I am more than happy to waste away my previous employers money on the frivolous, this lack of ineptitude is even making my ethical compass spin.

in all fairness and with full truth and candor, I must admit that I am a much happier person since leaving my job (no stress and sleep are a superb combination), this whole outplacement-thingy has been quite a colossal waste of time but as a good friend of mine says "Hey Ho... just keep moving forward!"

“Stop the mindless wishing that things would be different. Rather than wasting time and emotional and spiritual energy in explaining why we don't have what we want, we can start to pursue other ways to get it.”- Greg Anderson