Those ugly words..."hiring freeze"...

Over the past six months I've found myself with increasing periods of free time at work. This has been annoying and I had started interviewing for other positions because of it. I didn't find a position that is better or as interesting as my current one, and now find myself almost relieved about that. My employer has gone on a bit of a "we're-not-calling-it-a-hiring-freeze" because of financial problems and it has many people worried. The threat to my position is low since my classification is protected by the union. That doesn't mean that my position can't be eliminated -- it just means that, under the bargaining agreement with the State of Iowa, I'm given notice that my position will be eliminated in either one year or at the time that I obtain a new position, whichever comes first. Although, THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED and likely won't, it's still something to consider when you hear "hiring freeze" and "financial problems" associated with your employer. I do, however, think it's very likely that I'll be reassigned at some point because I've been very upfront about not having enough to do. I've resigned myself to the possibility and even look forward to change. My HR Director has been grateful for my honesty, which is good because it'll keep me in mind should a position open up. hee hee! It's better to use the employees you have than to train someone completely new, in my opinion.

But, back to having free time, I try to minimize the personal things I do unless it's on a lunch break, so finding business-related tasks to fill up the other hours of the day can be a real challenge. Fortunately my employer has free online education tools that are available to increase knowledge or job skills and I've found myself browsing those "classes" in order to relieve boredom or just have something that is change of pace. Some are quite interesting, which I'll likely write about another time.

With regards to the hiring freeze, I'm just going to wait and see what happens.