I knew he was going to leave the company. He didn’t like it that they were selling product in the Middle East that allowed one religious faction to spy on the other. He didn’t like it that the software was outsourced to a group that was lazy at best and obstreperous at worst. He knew he didn’t fit in with a corporate culture that believed in hiring a certain ethnicity, to the detriment of the business. And he didn’t like the company’s role in the post 9/11 spying on innocent US citizens. So when he was laid off last March he breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought he could do some consulting, or at least friends led him to believe that. And we had a couple of big trips planned. So March and April and most of May evaporated. We enjoyed ourselves. Then, in June, reality struck. The consulting evaporated in the uncertain economy.
He began to apply for jobs. Jobs that didn’t really exist. Or maybe he didn’t exist, as he never got a call or an email. So we helped him redo his resume to fit screening software. He took all dates off the resume.
Between March and June he applied for over 100 jobs. He had callbacks from a handful of companies,maybe 6.
I enjoyed having him around the house.
He took on several one or two person companies, to help them position their products and find venture funding. His pay at best was equity. One at least was a fishing expedition on the part of the technology holder, unrewarding to say the least.