Since I start work again on Tuesday, Monday is my last day as an unemployed bum. It’s good to have a job again but I admit I’ll miss having all this free time to do whatever I wanted. Of course, I was able to be basically stress- and worry-free this entire time because I got a decent severance package from EA. Had I been living paycheque to paycheque and received a small severance, then my experience with unemployment would not have been as pleasant.
My time off wound up being around five weeks. Five weeks sounds like a lot of time to do whatever but a substantial portion of that was taken up doing things that were related to job searches and networking. In retrospect, I had goals and actions that were not exactly in sync with each other. I was mentally preparing myself and hoping that I could have time off until around the end of January or sometime in February. That would have been the ideal time to get another job as I would still be living off my severance but I’d have a good chunk of time to relax and fit in a trip somewhere. Now while that was a goal, I also expended effort to send out resumes, applied for jobs, and networked. Had I really been focused on taking that time off, I would have just gone silent and not even done a thing about getting a new job until the new year.
In the end, I guess I played it a bit more conservative and hoped that whatever job I was applying for now wouldn’t start until the new year or later. There were possibilities to that end but I played it safe. Now the thing to keep in mind is that since this is a contract job I’m starting, I might still get my desired time off at the end of the contract. Who knows what will happen at the end of the four months? For now, I’m off to enjoy my day.
Congrats on the new job erwin, must be good to know your skillset is in demand. hey how is the need for speed game? worth buying?
Thanks! Hot Pursuit has gotten good reviews and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. It’s unfortunate I can’t get you a copy anymore. 🙁