What to do.....

If you have a job than I would imagine you have considered being laid off or fired during this recession.

It seems like every company around the country is hurting financially and looking to make cuts.

Hell, Microsoft announced recently that they are laying off 5,000 employees!

I would think that a company as successful as Microsoft would be able to avoid having to lay off almost 5% of its workforce but that isn't the case.

Talk has started around my job of potential layoffs or a cut in hours to save money. Either way I would be in trouble. Right now I barely make enough money as is to live where I do and how I do. And come June/July when the baby is born it is going to get even tougher obviously.

I was set to get a promotion and raise within the next month but now that is up in the air too. Which presents more problems because I have been counting on this raise for the past year.

So I have been looking for a new job so that I can make enough money to live and survive.

But the problem with that is do I take something if it comes along?

I mean if I leave my current employer and go to a new company I will be the low man on the totem poll and (more than likely) the first to get laid off if that time comes.

Do I sit by and wait to see what happens at my current job and hope for the best? I am probably not on the chopping block as far as getting laid off but could get my hours cut by as much as 20%.

Or do I just gamble and take a job that is offered to me?

I obviously wouldn't take a job that didn't offer at least the same as what I am getting now but still.

I hesitate to take any job even if it pays more than my current position because I don't want to get caught in a numbers game after starting at the new company and find myself laid off.

If I start a new job and within a few months they decide to lay people off you know who is going first....the most recent hires.

Which would be me!

It's just frustrating not knowing what to do. I have an interview tomorrow with a national company about a position in their corporate office. I hope it goes well but at the same time I don't know what I would do if they offer me a position.

If the position is for the same pay and similar benefits that I have now is it worth leaving considering the risk it brings?

I don't know.