Decisions, decisions, decisions

As I indicated in my last blog post - I am being laid off from my job the end of the month. I find myself going through a whole range of emotions from angry and betrayed to relieved and even (on occasion) excited about possible new opportunities - but, mostly negative emotions. One thing I learned yesterday is that I am forfeiting my retiree health benefit (when I actually retire). If they had just waited 8 months then I would have qualified for the retirement bridge and would have retained the health benefit when I retire - that just stinks!

And, in case anybody is wondering - the company is IBM, and I'm one of 5,000 people that were laid off last week. Essentially what is happening is that they are transferring a lot of work to India and other low cost countries and laying off the US employees. The general feeling among those who escaped the layoff is that this was probably just the first wave.

I attended a job transition webinar yesterday; and, one of the things they encouraged us to do was to take a Birkman First Look® assessment which is 3 part questionnaire:

• * How do you see most people? (125 questions)
• * How do you see yourself? (125 questions)
• * Which jobs interest you the most? (48 questions)

It produced a 25 page report which is supposed to help me figure out what kind of job I should look for - I'm still trying to figure out what dang thing is telling me. One of the graphs included was:

So . . . where can I find a job with responsibilities that capitalize on my artistic and musical interests - and pays lots of money? Any ideas?

According to the assessment, my interest in a job with persuasive responsibilities is basically non-existent. I'm thinking a sales job probably isn't a good idea.