Apparently there's a lot of humidity in my closet

As mentioned in a couple of other blog posts I was laid off from my job of 8.5 years at the end of March. It was the second time in my career that I had been laid off, so I think I was better prepared at handling the time off this time.

I was a little more active in trying to find the next job, so my time off was much shorter. And I had a lot of help from friends, family and former coworkers. A friend from college is a recruiter in the San Francisco area, and she was a big help in updating my resume. Several former coworkers posted recommendations to my profile on LinkedIn, some of which went far beyond my expectations. And my friends and family, and even people I didn't know from my church e-mailed me about job opportunities that they found online.

And with all that help, I was eventually hired as a contract employee for the Department of Veterans Affairs. There was an extensive background check (some of which is still ongoing), so it took several weeks before I could start, but I finally started in mid-June. It's a bit of a commute, but I'm able to leave early enough to miss traffic. And I do have the opportunity to work from home, if the necessity arises.

The work environment is a little different. I went from having my own office to working in a "cube farm." And I went from wearing shorts and t-shirts to wearing slacks and shirts with collars. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe of work clothes since the slacks I had worn at a previous job 9 years ago no longer fit. Apparently, they had shrunk from sitting in the closet unworn.

I'm guessing it was the humidity. :)