Article July 24, 1989 Issue

Unemployed? Look again

Sometimes being let go from a job is the best thing that could happen to a person.

David A. Olson

My supervisor called me into a small meeting room for an important conference. After I sat down across the table from him, he announced in solemn tones, "Your job is being eliminated. You are free to apply for another position or leave the company."

I had had no inkling that this was coming. Our company's sales and profits were at historic highs, and I had received very favorable evaluations for my work from my previous supervisor. But there had been a series of changes at the top levels of our firm. I was now reporting to new persons in all three management layers above me. And they had different ideas about whom they wanted working under them.

At first I was stunned and tried desperately to find another position in the same corporation. I was even willing to accept something at a much lower level of responsibility and salary. But nothing worked out. For the first time in over thirty years I was unemployed.

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