by Eric Colburn
SURVEY: Have There Been Layoffs or Reduced Work Hours at Your Company?
12:32 pm in Business, Land Surveying, Surveys by Eric Colburn
PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY
Lately I’ve been thinking about the current economic conditions and the record number of people who are now joined in the ranks of the unemployed. How are the Land Surveying, Engineering, Mapping, Architectural and GIS industries fairing?
I imagine it’s getting ugly out there, but maybe it’s because when your in the forest, all you see are trees.
The old adage is:
“When your neighbor is out of work it’s a recession. When your out of work it’s a depression”.
This is so true! So, take the survey and if your out of work I wish you the best and happy job hunting.
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Another very noble and relevant post to the surveying community, Eric. As you know, Land Surveyors United is a wonderful place to search for jobs and post them. I wish the community well on this end and believe me I am doing my best to create ways to cushion the blow…
http://landsurveyorsunited.ning.com
Yes Sir Eric, it’s another Friday and who made it without a pink slip. Our local business is still falling off. We’re getting a lot of action and request for equipment pricing abroad in places where there wasn’t a lot of surveying 10 years ago. Also a couple of energy projects in the upper US, like PA, NJ, NY, and Delaware we know will be starting up after the first of the year. Hopefully our new President will fund Federal infrastructure projects, like roads and there still working on Hospitals and Grocery Stores.
This is a great time for Surveyors to put the “P” back in PLS, regain the professionalism and restructure their pricing so it balances with the liabilities. Also take back the services that has been slipped by without requiring the knowledge, apprenticeship, and educational requirements that it takes to measure and record land ownership. Hopefully this time will be used to make the profession more attractive to the up and coming generations.
By the way…GREAT JOB ERIC
Eric,
It is ugly here in Atlanta. I was Director of Surveying for a company north of Atlanta for about 5 years and was laid off in early November. The economy was the driving factor, but it did not help that the owner of the company (an engineer) would not diversify away from being residential only in the good times. Even with the warning signs that were starting to show in 2006 with the residential market he built a new and very expensive building for the company. He wanted to name the darn thing on top of that. Titanic came to mind, but none of us had the intestinal fortitude to advance the idea. Seriously though, all that came home to roost and things started to get bad about mid 2007. After avoiding numbers other rounds of layoffs myself he finally got me. He decided my salary could save a couple of other jobs and my expertise was just not that important. So, he went with the young guys that could work for a lot less than me. It was a slap in the face when you consider I built the group from a rag tag bunch of button pushers into a group of young professionals. Heck, I was given great reviews in the good times, but when I could not magically make the work appear I was no longer valuable. Anyway, I cannot find anyone who even wants to talk with a Surveyor in this area. Even being licensed in six southeastern states and 20 years experience does not help down here. Thankfully, I know someone in Virginia who has position open. Hate to uproot the family again, but in this economy work is work.
Doug