The Big Layoff

When I was laid off yesterday, I had no idea how bad things really were and was given very little information. Thanks to a good friend and now ex-coworker of mine, I have come to realize that this would have happened sooner or later and to be grateful that it was sooner. My entire dept. was let go except for one lone employee who works more on a contract basis and was told that for the time being, she has no work. There are no gurantees that she will ever have work again either, but will be left on the books. This of course is a win-lose situation.... win for the company since she's available should they need her, lose for her since she doesn't get any benefit from this scenerio... no benefits, pay, nada. My closest Co-worker who sat across from me is on vacation for the next week in Colorado and Kanasas to visit family where he will also be looking for work. He is in his mid-40's, single and has M.S. He also has no family in Utah so I"m hoping he'll find something in one of the states he's visiting. The guy let go apparently before me that I was unaware of has a 1 year old at home and has worked for the firm for 8 years. He's been there the longest minus the V.P. and Principle Engineer above him. While his wife is a nurse, he brought in a healthy income but luckily should have no problems finding a job since he has tons of connections and the experiance to match. As for the rest of the firm (seeing as I don't know if anyone else was let go or not at this point), all salary employees were dropped to hourly and everyone has a maximum of 32 hours to work rather than the regular 40. This means a big hit to many employees since many have stay at home wives and are struggling to begin with. I feel so naive to think the company was surviving. Its a large firm that had nearly 1000 employees when I got hired... I know they are well below that now as this is the third round of layoffs. Who knows what kind of paycuts have been had as well. I wish all my coworkers goodluck as we all try to survive this. In the mean time, I'll be out searching for a job and hoping for the best. Luckily I have developed some close connections that i have been pulling, and one of my very good friends and my brother have been pulling their connections as well to help me. Worst case scenerio, I'll be bringing my little boy home from the hospital as an un-employed stay at home mom and searching for a job shortly after. Hopefully it won't come to that... wish me luck!