This, I didn't need.

[amethyst73]

The employees of my little workplace (the sequencing center associated with Stanford) were notified on Monday that the gentleman who heads the center is going to be leaving Stanford to start a center in Huntsville, Alabama at the end of 2008, at which point the center here will shut down.

We've all been invited to come and work at the new center.  There's a few folks who are seriously considering it, but I'm not one of them.  Alabama is far from both my and the huz's family, and, well, it's Alabama.  It's in a part of the country where it's miserably hot and humid for 3 months of the year.  The culture is claimed by the senior scientists to be 'not like the rest of the South,' but that's not the most comforting thought.  Anyway, I is not going.

Drat.  I *liked* my job.  I liked the location, the people, the stuff I do.  I'm very grateful that they gave us a whole 15 months' notice for the 'layoffs'.  I'll probably start looking for a new position come spring, and I'll focus on Stanford, 'cuz as an institution, it's a pretty darned good place to work.

And I'm very glad I'm not obligated to do anything wrt job hunt right now, 'cuz I really think that would be just plain too much.

Comments

[saffroncisco.livejournal.com]

I'm very sorry to hear it. :(

I shared your post with a friend who has been traveling to Huntsville regularly on business for several years, who responds: "It's true that Huntsville is 'not like the rest of the South' but that doesn't mean it's like the Bay Area. :) One advantage is that it's much cheaper. But that doesn't make up for the rest of it. I've not found the weather to be bad, but I haven't lived there full time. I have been invited to move from northern Virginia to Huntsville and have most emphatically declined. :) Palo Alto to Huntsville would be an even bigger change."

As you say, at least you have 15 months to deal with the reality of layoffs. I hope they offer you a decent severance package. I was in a similar situation several years back; we were invited to work in other offices (in places that were more appealing than Huntsville is); most of us were unwilling to relocate, and declined. Our severance package was very good. We had eight months' notice.

Best of luck!

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the good wishes!

Since Stanford is an academic institution, severance packages are nonexistent. But the other bennies of working here (flexible schedule, boodles of vacation and sick leave) are really really great, which is why I'm hoping to do the internal-transfer thing to someone else's lab.

[catagon3.livejournal.com]

Oh yarg! Not again! I hope you can find something satisfactory in a good time frame.

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

I'm very sorry. That sucks. But it's through no fault of your own, and I'm sure you'll get a great recommendation.

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

This is true. The head of the center is a fairly influential man, and my supervisor has promised to do everything she can.

Eh. Part of the risk of academia.

[xse99.livejournal.com]

So sorry to hear you're losing your job! It sounds like you're got the right idea, taking the time they're giving you to find the right thing.