Congrats bro!!!

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I was laid off from my job in January of 2014, and have been a stay at home dad ever since. Right now, the plan is to keep doing that until my younger daughter starts school in August of 2019. I was just thinking this past weekend how by that point, I'll have been out of work for so long that I'll be starting completely over, especially since the place where I worked no longer exists and no one can contact them to verify anything. I've stayed in contact with a few former coworkers via Facebook, but like everything else, I gradually lose them over time.

 

That is really awesome that you are able to sacrifice that way. My wife stays home with our kids and it really does matter. You matter for doing this. Have you started making plans in what career you want in 2019? Same as before?


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I'm very fortunate that my wife is, and likely always will be, the primary earner. When we got engaged in 2005, I actually made more than she did, but shes gotten raises and cost of living adjustments every year, and can afford to support us as long as is needed.

As far as what I'll do, I don't know. I worked retail from 2000 (when I was 22) until 2014. I was a manager the last 11 years. I'm not opposed to getting back into that field, but at the same time, I'll need to have a job where I can get the kids on the school bus in the morning, and I'm unwilling to work one that would take me away from my family in the night and on the weekend, as my old job always did. At this point, I'm just going to see what kinds of jobs are available at that point and take things as they come. I'm relieved that a number of local employers are now starting new workers at $9+/hr instead of minimum wage, and maybe that will be even better in a few years.

 

That is great that your wife is in that situation. Similar to ours in reverse. [emoji4] I do want to again say how great it is that you embraced your situation though. I have a couple of friends that were in a similar situation--including one with four kids. Couldn't handle being a stay-at-home dad, and got a job for 1/5 the salary his wife was making. She had to downgrade so she could be there for the kids. Ridiculous on my friend's part.


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Yeah, thats nuts on your friend's end. I've never understood why a guy would ever view it as a negative if his wife made more than he did. I want to contribute and pull my end, but the money all belongs to the couple either way. When I eventually go back to work, I'll never come close to making what my wife does. I was barely making half of what she did before I was laid off. But every bit helps. If I can make enough to cover a few bills a month, then it gives us more money to save for the future.

 

Exactly how we look at it. I tell my wife all the time that she contributes a ton of money by the money we don't have to pay out in daycare, extra fuel, etc. it is thousands per month in savings. Not to mention my salary has gone up because I can focus on work. Any extra she eventually provides will be total gravy.


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Thanks FFIC!

Side note to that, has anyone had any success applying for jobs using LinkedIn? I enjoy what I do but our company is re-branding and with that's coming a whole lot of extra work, but with no assistance or salary increase, so I'm looking to move for the right opportunity. I've used Indeed.com in the past, but I feel like my skills don't match up well with many positions on there (that's not to say they're unique in the Liam Neeson "Taken" sense, but I've just worked in a very different professional setting than what's out there lol.) I've skimmed LinkedIn and have seen jobs available, but haven't used it. My questions would be:

1) Does it copy & paste your work experience/resume or can you upload a resume?

2) Has anyone had any success directly applying via LinkedIn, or would you recommend directly reaching out to a company that's got a posting on LinkedIn instead?

3) Any other general thoughts welcome.

 

I can't necessarily speak about the first two points, but I have had companies (that I have no direct history with) reach out to me over LinkedIn either asking me if I had interest in a particular job, or urging me to apply based on my work history and qualifications/endorsements. So I have to imagine companies do utilize applications through LinkedIn equally to any other sources. The people who I conversed with did urge me to contact them in the future if there are any openings they have that do interest me (so I guess that does apply to #2, and you should consider reaching out).

I actually happened to connect with one of my old bosses (he left ~5 yrs ago) yesterday, and he essentially said to come to him if I ever have any interest in leaving what I'm doing. Now, he has first-hand knowledge of me and my work so it isn't quite the same as applying on LinkedIn, but I can see how the networking part is important.

 

LI is better for networking than applications in my experience. The idea is your network can get you into jobs before they are public, short cutting the entire process.

That said, I just got downsized due to the pandemic, so while this has worked well for me in the past, I’m struggling with implementing it this time.