What is your company doing locally right now? (transfer, military)

[MtnSurfer]

The last two require some inside knowledge of your company or you can provide a best guess.

In our case we are the mostly hiring locally - software engineers.

Derek

[BayAreaHillbilly]

There is not really a choice listed that corresponds so I chose the closest one (mostly laying off).

The real answer, which is effectively equivalent, is, mostly not backfilling local vacancies. Most new reqs are opened outside the Bay Area / CA.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

There is not really a choice listed that corresponds so I chose the closest one (mostly laying off).

The real answer, which is effectively equivalent, is, mostly not backfilling local vacancies. Most new reqs are opened outside the Bay Area / CA.

Hm, this is kinda confusing. Are you actually laying local ppl off or just not locally filling positions lost thru attrition? Basically not doing anything locally?

Maybe a fifth option I should have added would be remaining stagnant overall -> neither hiring nor laying off locally.

Derek

[TimC2462]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Hm, this is kinda confusing. Are you actually laying local ppl off or just not locally filling positions lost thru attrition? Basically not doing anything locally?

Maybe a fifth option I should have added would be remaining stagnant overall -> neither hiring nor laying off locally.

Derek

We're neither hiring or laying off locally. We're a small business that franchises with a larger company.

As for the company, they were aggressively franchising before the recession hit. They would open 75 franchise properties a year, but it has whittled down to 30 or so. However, there are about 200 in the pipeline, just waiting for the economy to get better -- probably in the next year or so.

[Vascodagama]

We have been and continue to lay-off. I'm talking over a thousand people in California over the past year.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Don9

We have been and continue to lay-off. I'm talking over a thousand people in California over the past year.

Don, I am only talking about locally where you work, not the entire state. From memory you mentioned working in aerospace. If its with one of the larger companies (like ours) there is a lot of change over happening both in the hiring and laying off of workers depending on the projects and the skillsets related those projects. Some projects get canned while other new ones emerge. Its the nature of the beast. But overall in our neck of the woods our business is growing pretty steadily, though not everyone on every project stays employed. If a project gets axed for whatever reason we try to place ppl on newer ones. But much depends on the individual and their skills. Are the skills easily transferable to the newer projects or are they antiquated? What was the person's reputation, work ethic like, etc..? It seems like the older managers who like to give orders rather than do current hands-on work are having a harder time of it. And I'm not just talking about age but rather the impetus to learn new things/develop new skills vs. being stuck in an old way of thinking/doing things.

Derek

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by TimC2462

We're neither hiring or laying off locally. We're a small business that franchises with a larger company.

As for the company, they were aggressively franchising before the recession hit. They would open 75 franchise properties a year, but it has whittled down to 30 or so. However, there are about 200 in the pipeline, just waiting for the economy to get better -- probably in the next year or so.

Alright, a big thank you to NewToCA for helping me add a fifth option after the fact.

Now we have remaining stagnant - neither hiring nor laying off locally.

Derek

[Vascodagama]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Don, I am only talking about locally where you work, not the entire state. From memory you mentioned working in aerospace. If its with one of the larger companies (like ours) there is a lot of change over happening both in the hiring and laying off of workers depending on the projects and the skillsets related those projects. Some projects get canned while other new ones emerge. Its the nature of the beast. But overall in our neck of the woods our business is growing pretty steadily, though not everyone on every project stays employed. If a project gets axed for whatever reason we try to place ppl on newer ones. But much depends on the individual and their skills. Are the skills easily transferable to the newer projects or are they antiquated? What was the person's reputation, work ethic like, etc..? It seems like the older managers who like to give orders rather than do current hands-on work are having a harder time of it. And I'm not just talking age but rather the impetus to learn new things/develop new skills vs. being stuck in an old way of thinking/doing things.

Derek

Our RIF is due to "not enough work". We do try and move people around whenever possible but the cold fact is the work is drying up. Very few new projects and existing programs cut. There are jobs listed but very specific skills for the most part and many apply from within and from the outside. I have been in aerospace for 35 years, through the ups and downs, but I never seen it this bad for this long with nothing on the horizon.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Don9

Our RIF is due to "not enough work". We do try and move people around whenever possible but the cold fact is the work is drying up. Very few new projects and existing programs cut. There are jobs listed but very specific skills for the most part and many apply from within and from the outside. I have been in aerospace for 35 years, through the ups and downs, but I never seen it this bad for this long with nothing on the horizon.

I think it really will vary by lines of business first (planes, missles, space, IT services, etc...) and secondly by job classification. For example in our organization when we have openings which we do now, we prefer to hire internally first. That means if someone's project gets cut for whatever reason we are interested in retaining quality employees. But if we're developing software and the project and skills of its employees are completely unrelated then its a no-go from the start.

And while military spending cuts are an inevitible part of an economic recovery, they are targeted. We've seen growth in certain areas throughout the recession while other things diminish, hence the net increase of our staff.

Derek

[Vascodagama]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

I think it really will vary by lines of business first (planes, missles, space, IT services, etc...) and secondly by job classification. For example in our organization when we have openings which we do now, we prefer to hire internally first. That means if someone's project gets cut for whatever reason we are interested in retaining quality employees. But if we're developing software and the project and skills of its employees are completely unrelated then its a no-go from the start.

And while military spending cuts are an inevitible part of an economic recovery, they are targeted. We've seen growth in certain areas throughout the recession while other things diminish, hence the net increase of our staff.

Derek

Normally a recession won't impact our work much ... but this is not normal.