I've hopped jobs before. I've been fired before. I've been laid off before (with notice), and I've pursued new opportunities while working. I'm honestly (sadly) used to the whole song-and-dance of applying for a job, and receiving radio silence after an interview to indicate “No, we don't want you”.
But never before have I ever encountered a situation like one I'm experiencing right now. As a government contractor, “rebadging” is a fact of life, when one employer loses their contract to another company. Normally, the new employer will pick up the incumbent workers (rebadge), or tell them “Sorry, your position is gone, you need to find work before your contract ends”. I've been on both sides of this before, both as the contractor and as the corporation doing the transition.
But this time was different. After doing the “Incumbent Questionnaire” three times, applying for my own position just as many times, and having at least two separate interviews (first with the Prime, then later with the Partner/Sub after said partner company picks up my department), I and many others in the IT department waited for our offer letters.
And waited. And waited…
The holidays come and go, and the first week of January pass. The CIO comes down from his office and informs us incumbents that the transition hasn't been rolling as they expected, but there's still plenty of time, and our old employers have been “funded until the end of January”.
During this time, I've been passively job searching (opened myself to work, letting recruiters come to me). I make it known to recruiters I'm “looking for a Plan B” while waiting for transition to complete. Growing worried over the lack of communication, I send out phone calls and emails to the new employer (the Partner) to ask what the status is. Everyone else is, too, as they're still working “just one employee at a time”. Whatever.
Then, last week, I noticed almost everyone walking in with new badges. Suddenly everyone was given offer letters with a start date within 3 days. But others, including my own supervisor, were still waiting. Then Friday rolls around… my supervisor gets his offer letter from the new company. I got… nothing. No rejection. No offer letter. Just radio silence. Half way through the day, everyone gets their “End of Contract” notice. We're terminated on the 15th, not at the end of the month like originally told.
I've effectively been ghosted and laid off. The Civilian employees and project managers of my department are going “WTF?”, as they know as much as I do (nothing). Even my CIO isn't sure what's going on. “Plan B” has suddenly become “Plan A”, and now I'm scrambling to actively search for new jobs, and apply way below my “financially secure” scope. All because the new employer didn't even have the dignity to tell me “We're not hiring you”.
I can't tell what pisses me off more: The betrayal that I'm not going to be “taken care of until you find a new job” as was promised, or the “Recruiter Radio Silence” as an incumbent. Either way, the fact is I've essentially been laid off 'without notice'.
Before ya'll ask: Alabama. At-will state.