When I talk to students and postdocs about going into the biotech industry, I always emphasize the need to be ready to lose your job at any time. I talk about how to be OK with that mentally as well as financially. Biotech is a volatile industry, and to be happy and successful in it, you need to focus on career security not job security, because the fact of the matter is that no job is secure.
Last Thursday, I got a sharp reminder of that fact. The job I started on Monday was gone on Thursday. The entire company was unexpectedly shut down.
So, I guess I’m back to being an independent contractor, at least for the time being. All of my reasons for converting back to full time remain, but the job with the offer that was too good to refuse is gone. I am starting up a job search, and eventually, another good job will turn up. I will also take another look at how I could meet my revenue goals as an independent contractor. I cannot predict right now which of those two approaches will bear fruit first. Despite my short tenure at my old new job, I get paid for another couple of months (this is due to the size of the lay off: there are laws about the amount of notice required). I am approaching this change with a sense of urgency, but not of panic. At least not yet!
I had a couple of invitations to give seminars that I thought I was going to have to turn down, but have now accepted. I will wait until my next steps are a little more clear before I change this website to indicate that you can book me for an in person or customized version of my seminars, but if you’re interested in doing that, definitely get in touch. Also get in touch if you might be interested in individual coaching. Before I decided to accept that full time job, I had a to do list item to write up my individual coaching offerings. I never did it, so I can’t just resurrect some pre-existing marketing materials now, but I can tell you that I have a $200 option in which you send me a summary of your time or project management concerns, I send back some questions, you answer them, and then I write up some recommendations and we have a 1 hour phone conversation about them. This was my most popular offering, but I also did longer term coaching arrangements at $150/hour.
I will try to write a bit more about handling a lay off in the coming weeks. This is my third time being laid off, so I have some opinions about how to approach the experience. And now, I have time to share them!
[…] a bit of a whirlwind. At the beginning of December, I started a new job. Then, four days later, my company shut down and I lost my job. I briefly considered taking that as a sign that I was supposed to stay an […]