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Planning ahead. For current employees of any company.
Information and advice for current employees from HP/HPE alumni. (Feb 3, 2024)
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Question? Email: info@hpalumni.org
Actions you can take
Evaluate your career situation. Use the HPAA's Career Checkup -- hard-earned advice from members on evaluating your situation -- wherever you work.
Diversify. Don't let the company make you an expert in just one thing (unless it is what you really want, you are sure it is something that will always be in demand, and you are willing to change companies to follow it.)
Establish your personal network. Powerful while at your current company -- and you may need it later:
Connect -- inside your current company and outside. Maintain your relationships and track the career changes of your former co-workers. "I became an internal-only resource." Participate in a professional association, an open-source project, a church, or a community activity.
"I realized that I only knew HP people." "My friends and acquaintances were about my age and worked in similar jobs. When things changed for me, most of my friends were in no position to help, because they were in the same boat."
Even if not currently looking for a job for a job, you need to be on LinkedIn. Reconnect with people who know you and your work. Be found by recruiters. Join "Hewlett-Packard / HPE - Unofficial" on LinkedIn (HPAA membership not required.) LinkedIn works differently than you might think: LinkedIn Tips and Traps
Update and strengthen your LinkedIn profile to be found by recruiting bots. Profile changes have been made without notification, making some look fake. LinkedIn Tips and Traps
Move from company to personal PC and email. For privacy reasons now -- and impossible to do quickly if you retire or leave.
- Discreetly untangle your personal business from your employer's IT systems. No matter where you work, what your job situation, or how innocent your activities -- there are legal, privacy, and data loss issues with using your employer's IT facilities for your personal business. How and why based on personal experiences reported by HPAA members.
- How to set up professional email. Advice from HPAA members on getting a private email account on Outlook, Gmail, or Yahoo Mail -- and choosing a professional email username.
Plan for transition when you retire, get WFRed, or leave:
- ASAP Checklist. What you need to do before losing access to internal systems and in the following few weeks. Supplements the official checklists.
- Questions to ask if you are offered the "Golden Boot" Pragmatic advice from personal finance columnist and author Jane Bryant Quinn.
- What I wish I had known before layoff, retirement, or leaving -- based on input from dozens of HPAA members.
- Advice from HPAA members on job hunting -- inside or outside HP.
- How much notice to give on retirement -- at any company. Advice from HPAA members.
- Advice and info on returning to HPInc or HPE -- including informal and formal restrictions.
- Stock: You may now have stock in HP, HPE, Agilent, Keysight, or DXC in various accounts – and may not have received cash payouts for Micro Focus and Perspecta. Due to spinoffs and splits, current cost basis depends on when you acquired each block of shares. Members have found that plan administrators, transfer agents, and brokerages vary significantly in how (or if) they track gain/loss and cost basis for the many complex HP-related stock events -- and what (if anything) they report to the IRS. Stock Recovery and Cost Basis
- How to Choose a Financial Advisor. Member advice on sorting out the different types of financial salespeople and advisors.
References recommended by HP alumni:
- "Think you might lose your income? Four money moves to make now" by Michelle Singletary. Washington Post (Several free articles per month.)
- "Making the Most of Your Money Now" by Jane Bryant Quinn. Explains how financial things really work -- especially good for analytic folks. ISBN-10: 0743269969
- Social Security. Member advice from an ex-HP/HPE perspective.
- ACA Health Insurance [AARP membership not required.]
Related Companies. Member advice for people from acquired or spinoff companies: Agilent Autonomy Compaq DEC DXC EDS Keysight Micro Focus Perspecta Tandem Other acquisitions and spinoffs
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