Tom Williamson

Tom Williamson: 47, a 2-year struggle
...
Tom Williamson

Tom Williamson is a different guy than he was before the bottom fell out.

"I'm still not by any means over it.I still have this reaction not to trust people, which is sad.The fear of being laid off.'

Williamson, 47, of Centennial, has an MBA in operations management.He worked for TeleTech as a data architect before being laid off in March 2001 when TeleTech outsourced its data processing.For the next two years, Williamson struggled to find a permanent job.

He worked for Qwest for six weeks.

He volunteered at the Greenwood Village Athletic Club nursery so his boys Nathan, 13, and Ben, 10, could swim.

He got a seasonal job at a kiosk in Southglenn Mall selling clocks.His boss was 23."It took me only a week to get up to assistant manager,' Williamson said dryly on a recent night, banging nails into a fence he was repairing in his driveway.

He had a contract job as a database programmer for seven months at First Data Corp.A hiring freeze came down two days after he interviewed for a permanent position there.He was out again.

He started a company with a few friends.He racked up debt.Last winter, his wife, Rhonda, who works at EDS Corp., was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Finally, he landed a job in May at Uncommon Solutions, which provides information technology services to small- and medium-sized businesses.

"My whole career has been about being able to work,' Williamson said, shaking his head.