For a number of years, I have been subscribed to job alerts. No, I am not looking right now, but I remain subscribed as that I think it's to my advantage to know what the market is like for my field. Without that, I still have sense that it is on the hot side of things, as that I get lots of email from recruiters. I think things in the industry have slowed down some from where they were six months ago, which I'm going to attribute to the upcoming election.
What's now happening is that the old job that I've had twice down in Sorry Vista, excuse me, Sierra Vista, is back open. I worked at Fort Huachuca testing communication systems for a mix of customers who wanted that lab down there to certify their systems. My first gig down there was from May 2017 to January 2018, for Engility when they had that contract. Engility lost the contract to Jacobs, and with the changeover being held up for reasons I don't understand Jacobs wasn't able to start on that until May 2019. Between those gigs, I worked for a local firm that had me working on aircraft security systems and later on, hardware to monitor aircraft engines. That work came to an end as Jacobs was ramping up, and so I went back down there.
Relations between Jacobs and the government officer who oversaw that contractor weren't the greatest. He too lost his job when Jacobs came in, and after a furlough he went over to the government side and had to take a pay cut. I think he had it in for Jacobs and was doing everything he could to make it hard on them. He succeeded in one way; he forced Jacobs into a position to where they had to lay off personnel, and I was affected. At that time I was negotiating with a local company that worked in manned spaceflight, and the transition happened in such a way that there was no disruption in my income stream.
Now those jobs down there are again open. There's no doubt that if I applied for my old job, I would be quickly interviewed and get an offer. (I'm unclear as to if Jacobs has this contract or not). I really enjoyed working for Jacobs, but I can't say that I was enjoying the dysfunctional situation that they inherited from Engility. Jacobs treated me very well, especially the manager who hired me, and yes, I would work for him again in a minute...........except............that I'm in a great situation where I'm at right now, and I just don't have the inclination to update my resume. If I have my way, my next job is retirement, and then coming back to where I'm at now as a part time contractor (and my employer has told me they would love to have me back).
As for retirement, as I've said before........not this year. That crystal ball that I can't see thru isn't telling me anything (as if an inanimate object could do so in the first place). I have a rough date picked out, which I'm keeping to myself, mainly because if I were to announce it now when that would be then something would emerge to make me change the date.
Interestingly enough, my most recent former employer is looking for people too. I am in regular touch with them, as that I'm close to a few people who are still there. The number of them that I knew though is dwindling as that they've had a 60% turnover since I left. I was telling someone a few weeks back, I worked at Jack-in-the-Box a long time ago and we had turnover, but it wasn't as bad as in the office I used to work in.
With that, I'm going to call it a post.
