[RSFB]

As we all know, most economies around the world are entering a period of recession, possibly a depression.

Do you think your job is pretty safe?

Have you looked at the financial/competitive position of the company you work for?

Would you be one of the first or one of the last in the company to get laid off?

[kevinr]

I am a software developer. I get a call from a headhunter once a week. Although I don't feel my metro area is the software capital of the world there are plenty of jobs around. I would rate my job as above average secure.

[Grifter]

I picked 50 - 79% which I think is realistic.

I'm quite worried but there are a lot worse off then me.

[MadMarcus]

High school science teacher. My benefits will be cut and I'm not expecting raises (although the seniority based salary scale means that there are built in raises) but the job itself is secure in anything short of a fast crash that eliminates local governments.

[RSFB]

I work for a big telecom company which has a big cash reserve (that's what telecoms did after the 2002 telecom crash). I'm working on a project which is absolutely crucial for the future of the company, so I don't see a chance of me getting fired unless there's a huge crash.

[SteinarN]

I'm self employed. I do refrigeration work on trucks. I dont see any slow down in that market. People must eat. I'm 100% sure to have enough work to do a decent living in the foreseeable future.

[archaen]

I lost my job at a software house as a QA Engineer. My Best friend was an analyst at a hedgefund, she got fired last week. My brother is a pricing analyst for a defense contractor, he's expecting to work there when he dies.

[IgnoranceIsBliss]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MadMarcus', 'H')igh school science teacher. My benefits will be cut and I'm not expecting raises (although the seniority based salary scale means that there are built in raises) but the job itself is secure in anything short of a fast crash that eliminates local governments.

[flapjax]

I work for a large non-profit social services organization as a DBA. We are seeing higher rates of client intake, expenses and less donations. We just had a divisional announcement yesterday that there is a hiring freeze and that new expenses will not be approved. We are trimming fat. My guess is that after we see even less donations this Christmas, the layoffs will begin.

My wife, on the other hand works for a grocery coupon marketing company and they are doing better than ever.

[emersonbiggins]

Trimmed 15% of our workforce a couple of weeks ago, myself not included (thankfully).

Coincidentally, about 6-8 architectural firms here in Dallas laid off 100+, collectively, with 4 or 5 of those firms instituting layoffs on the SAME DAY.

I'm hoping it's just a poker game gone awry, with the winner getting "newly released" design staff on the cheap, but I doubt it.

[Ronin]

I work for a major supermarket chain so I think I'm pretty safe. Nows the time to have the uniform in check and consistency in work quality so as to make Darwinism work for you.

[blukatzen]

I am a regional manager for garden centers here in Chicago. I expect to finish out our season, and be around for next year. The garden center business is not going away, and I don't expect the Chinese or Indians to outsource garden center knowledge to you.
(I do have a lot of them at one of my stores, however. I have had to find veggie seeds for squashes, curcurbits, and other things that is in their diet, relay that to the growers, and innovate change. That's ok..keeps me on my feet.)

During the off-season is usually when I have to find a short term gig, a xmas job, or some other thing, since we are "seasonal".) I've worked in book stores, etc. I am also on the Illinois gardener speakers bureau, so garden clubs invite me to speak for a fee.

Blu

[strider3700]

Two months ago I was designing/writing software for the oil industry. Our product was in demand and we had no real competition. The job was easy the pay was good.

1 Month ago we hit financial difficulties which makes no sense because business is good. The COO and all of her assistants who handle the books quit in the period of 3 days.

1 Week ago details of massive corporate fraud, theft from the company, criminal investigations are revealed. As well we are told there is no money so don't hold your breath for your paycheck.

And here I am unemployed having asked to be laid off rather then work for free with little hope of ever getting paid what I'm already owed.

Nothing is certain.

[Revi]

I don't know if it will be around in a year, but for now I'm employed.

I am thinking it may not be long if they cut the budgets.

I don't know what will happen then.

[IslandCrow]

I am reasonably certain to keep my job for the next 12 months, but I would not be surprised if during that time I had to take a pay cut.

After about a year things could get very difficult. I am trying to get to the place where I could easily manage a further 50% pay cut, ie down to about 35-40% of full time work (I already took a pay cut a couple of years ago). The previous pay cut was a gamble on my side, where I take home less money, but I believe that I could work longer into a recession. Time will tell whether this gamble would pay off!

[wisconsin_cur]

i am involved in direct patient care in a hospital.

It is possible that the organization could decide to not take care of my kind of patient in the future.

If, however, things get that bad I have a feeling that the whole civil order is on life support anyway.

[Aaron]

I teach military & intelligence outfits how to use their super-computers, encryption systems and secure data storage.

So what do we think my future prospects for employment are?

110%?

Your dog wants a tank...

[MarkJ]

Since I'm self employed, own multiple businesses and have multiple skills, I've always had much more work than I can handle. Between sales/development of land/housing, apartment rentals, residential/commercial new construction/expansion/renovation/repairs, HVAC/R service/installations, heating fuels sales etc, there's always something to keep us, our crews and subs busy.

We usually have several months of work in the pipeline. Lots of commercial work locally over the next couple of years. We hired two more techs to keep up with the demand for boiler, furnace and water heater installations, service and upgrades.

My wife, her sisters and most of my sisters work in the health care sector. Their jobs are pretty secure. Some of them work second part time jobs and/or have some private duty jobs as well.