3.5 years at a county government job, blindsided this week
I got hired at the local county government back in 2023 after some significant life changing events. This was a godsend at the time and, even though I was put in the wrong position by an incompetent supervisor, I was able to avoid flunking my probationary period and get into an actual entry level position by a stroke of luck. Earlier this year my boss said that layoffs are a potential at some point, but within the last couple weeks it all came to a head. I work in an office with a little less than 20 people and of the 12 non-MGMT staff, 4 of us including myself were told we are being laid off. I have until the end of August to choose to accept a severance package and if I don’t I will probably be laid off without severance anyway. My last day will be the end of August and my severance of two months plus PTO cashout will run out in November. I also won’t have healthcare coverage after August obviously. My wife works for the state and makes about 65k and our mortgage is $2600. I am going to be applying for state positions primarily and I just had the horrible HR meeting yesterday. I’m 33 and live in Washington State if that matters. Any advice, experience, words of wisdom, etc. is appreciated.