Thanks!!

Well folks you've been giving me a lot of great advice so far. Dub, Jess, Jen, Tom and Lala thanks for your comments in my last post (and also to anyone who posted there after I wrote this) as they help. Dub I have a copy of the Parachute book and I'm also reading soemthing called "Do what you are" and "The Pathfinder" which all have interesting and very helpful things to do and think about. Jen thanks for the advice over IM last night it definitely helped get my mind around some things as well. Tom...we are complete and total opposites lol!!

Here are a few things that I need to do to get things rolling with my current job whether it's moving to a new job within the company or a new job/company altogether.

1. The last time I left a job I was sued and lost on a small contractual stipulation concerning training. Now given, this old employer was a mom and pop local company and my state is a right to work state (meaning loosely they can fire you at any time and for any reason) and more often than not any greivance you file will usually fall on deaf ears. AT&T isn't a vindictive company to it's employees, but I want to make sure that I make my offer or a lateral move or possible leaving from the company something that is professional and doesn't rub influential people the wrong way. More than anything I want to get across that I'm not looking for a way out of a job, but looking for a way to be better asset in another capacity.

2. I need to start looking at my marketable skills and seeing what other kinds of jobs I might be able to move into or at least temporarily perform while I'm figuring out my true calling. In addition to my computer, office and professional skills I know i'm good at negotiation, planning, dumbing down technical concepts to the non-technical and hey I can make people laugh. Not sure what kind of jobs directly use a lot of those skills at this time but I'm open to finding out what they are and whether or not I'm interested in them.

3. I need to really start looking into the possibility of moving out of North Carolina as an option, finding a cheaper lifestyle in the interim and applying BFL tactics to my wallet a little better than I have. I've been looking at other things to slim my finances down in preparation for a 40-50% cut in pay if I leave my job. Not saying this will be THAT drastic but I definitely need to prepare for things to get tight in a hurry. Currently I'm at a level that I'm able to save about 1/3 of my paycheck which is pretty good and means that if I lose no more than 33% of my pay then I'll at least be okay at that point. But I'd rather shave off a lot more debt and uneccesary expense while I can instead of waiting until I'm forced too.

4. I need to get a meeting with my direct manager and discuss what's going on and also look at the possibility of volunteering for the layoff that we know is coming. I want to have a number of possible options and plans, up to and including a termination from AT&T, instead of going in with no ideas and a meetings that seems more like whining and an ultimatum. I love that AT&T has given me a generous salary, a great benefits package and great co-workers, it's just my current job isn't where I want to be, but I'm open to new opportunities most definitely and if not...hey I'll take the buyout and go from there.

And Dub I think I read this in the parachute book...something like 10% of workers change their careers every year VOLUNTARILY and 7 out of 10 wind up making at least 10% more then they did at their old job...so I'm hoping that statistic will hold true.

Thanks again for your support guys.