TEN MONTHS ago today, a large percentage of my colleagues and I were RIF'ed by our former employer. A few months later, another large chunk of former colleagues were also laid off. Over 250 of us ex-Flexies found each other in a private Slack group created by Stephanie Chapagain, PMP and have been supporting one another through difficult times, and helping one another find our next roles.
I'm beyond relieved to say that I recently signed a job offer with Remote and will be starting there on Monday, August 5th, which would have been my 5th anniversary with Flexe. My role - Senior Specialist, Benefit Solutions - will be like that of a US Benefits Program Manager, meaning that I'll be focused on benchmarking benefits against larger competitors in the tech space and looking for opportunities to augment the US benefit package while reducing costs.
The benefits I'll be working to improve will largely be available for internal Remote employees in the US, and many of them will also be options for thousands of employees who are employed by Remote as an Employer of Record (EOR) or Professional Employer Organization (PEO) for companies hiring in the US, so there is the potential to have a strong positive impact on the lives of all of these employees and their families.
While unemployment is beyond difficult and 10 months is an incredibly long time to be looking for work, I know many, many, many stories of talented individuals who have been on the market for far longer, so I feel quite lucky indeed to have found ANY opportunity.
But THIS opportunity in particular is exciting to me, and feels a bit like it was waiting for me. Remote has no physical presence, their product fits squarely in the HR/Benefits space in the global marketplace, and Remote employees can generally work from anywhere in the world. My new manager lives in Nigeria, and his manager lives in London. My recruiter is in Dublin. I'm in Seattle, but have plans to emigrate to Italy in the 2030s with my husband, and have been hoping against hope that I might find a company with a superb culture, where I might be able to work for the remainder of my career, even beyond my move to Italy - and this company seems to fit the bill!
To my friends and former colleagues who are still looking: check out Remote.com/openings to see if any positions look good to you. APPLY, and let's see how many of us can take our past experience in a remote workforce with a strongly positive culture and move forward together with Remote!
...and to all the dozens of former colleagues and friends who have bent over backward to help me find this role: THANK YOU. Your support has been invaluable in ways you may never know, but I will always remember and cherish. 🧡
