This post has two purposes: to inform and to ask for help.
Information:
Two days before Ryan was laid off, if you’d asked us, we would have told you that his job was completely secure. His division of the company was the only one making money and they had just started a new 18-month long project. It completely caught us off guard…and was that much more upsetting. They decided to shut down Ryan’s entire project, so he had no way of fighting for his job; it was simply non-existent.
We are fine. He got a little bit of severance, we have a good amount of savings and no debt, besides our house. Our food storage is (mostly) up to date. We have always practiced hard-core budgeting and are in the habit of living below our means. I am grateful to believe in a Gospel that places value on relationships over things, living prophets who have long advised us on provident living, a Heavenly Father who blesses us as we pay our tithes and fast offerings, and a husband who make REALLY frugal look good.
He is, of course, working hard at finding a job and is doing some consulting work with a friend…it seems he has less free time now than before!
The Help:
With 3 layoffs in 7 years, 7 companies in 12 years, 3 job relocations…I’m kind of giving up on settling. (I moved a lot growing up, and it was good for me. Moving is fun; if you minus the packing and the friend-leaving.) Which means…we’ll move wherever we can find a job and we feel like we’re “supposed to be”.
This is where you come in: Can you help? Ryan is an electrical engineer. He works in microchip design. So what I need you to do is:
a) tell us if you know of any high tech, computer type companies that are hiring. And tell your friends who work at those places that you have a great guy to refer to them.
b) leave a comment with names of high-tech companies in your area. Ryan can search those companies to see if they are hiring.
(If I read this post, I would think: “What? I don’t know that kind of stuff.” And if I really liked you and wanted to help, I would think: “I think I’ll go ask my husband because he knows where people work way more than I do.”)
c) tell me why your area is a great place to live.
TO MY LIBERTY LAKE FRIENDS: we do not want to leave. We love it here, more than any place ever! We don’t want to sell our house. We don’t want to leave the best neighborhood on the planet. There are just not that many options in Spokane for what Ryan does. (There is one possibility that is promising, though, so say prayer for us).
So that’s the deal. Is this too much information? Is Ryan going to be embarrassed when we sees it?
Whatever. Just help us get a job. In case you haven’t heard, the economy’s not too hot right now, and jobs are scarce. We need all the help we can get.
