Lay-off time! My 21 yo son just called to say he was laid off

[mnhtnbb]

this a.m. at the software company where he's worked for two years. Late last summer they told
his department they were planning to move the help desk to India within one to two years. In November, the CEO and CFO were fired (whose idea it was to move the help desk overseas), and board members showed up early December to tell everyone that there were no plans for layoffs. My son was given a 5% raise after a positive job performance review in December.

They are paying him his current salary and extending his health insurance until the end of the month.

If ANYONE has contacts in the IT industry in the Research Triangle area of NC, I sure would appreciate a PM.

Happy f*cking New Year. Right. The timing couldn't be worse; my son is supposed to commit to a mortgage loan today for the townhouse under construction for which he signed a contract last summer, scheduled to close Feb 28th. He needs something NOW!

[mnhtnbb]

1. Kickin' to keep this in front of folks.

[mcscajun]

2. So sorry about the loss, and the timing.

Relevant article here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E6D71F3CF93BA25754C0A96F958260

[mnhtnbb]

3. Thanks.

[Fierce]

4. Did he start looking last summer?

Does he have any prospects?

[mnhtnbb]

5. He did. Got an offer from IBM for a contract position (might renew in a year)

at lower salary. He turned it down. When the honchos showed up early December, he stopped looking.
He also had interviews with a couple other companies, but no offer.

[Fierce]

7. Oof. Good luck to him.

There's never a good time for a layoff, but this one sounds painful.

[YOY]

6. What's his forte?

I might know someone who needs some COBOL programmers if he has the experience. At 24 I can assume he doesn't have too much.

[mnhtnbb]

8. He's been working since he was 18. I'll ask him.

[melm00se]

9. the plus side

is that the unemployment rate here (Triangle) is sub 4% so finding jobs, while not an instantaneous process, shouldn't take long.

[mnhtnbb]

10. Kick for the afternoon crowd.

[butterfly77]

11. But, But, Bush said everything was fine this morning...

those tax cuts really are working well.