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Recently Laid Off?
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The first time, I was walking into the office first thing in the morning and found my manager putting a note on the door stating that all our classes had been cancelled for the day (I worked for a training company at the time).
Given the glum look on her face and our recent low sales results, I knew this was very serious so I asked her if I needed to bother unpacking my lunch for that day.
She said I didn’t.
The company closed permanently that day and I found myself out of work for the first time since I was a teenager.
The second time I was laid off was another case of a company restructuring. Up until this time, I had experienced several other corporate restructurings and had managed to survive each of them.
The first company I worked for after leaving university regularly restructured and I survived four major ones. The last restructuring that occurred, the seven other people in my group were laid off. I was the only one who survived.
Getting laid off can be a very troubling experience especially if you really relied on the position for income (who doesn’t?) or if you have been employed with them for a significant period of time and haven’t had to look for a job recently.
The job search market has certainly changed over the past ten years even if you just consider the effect that the Internet has had on it.
If you have found yourself the victim of a layoff or downsizing, here are some tips to keep in mind when you are looking to get your career back on track:
Don’t take it personally.
Corporate downsizings are a way of life especially if you’ve worked in the Internet business or auto industry!
Don’t disparage your former employer during interviews and don’t hold a grudge. This will appear noticeable when you are speaking with people who can influence your ability to find a new job and might hurt your level of motivation and attitude.
The last thing you want after being laid off is to become despondent or depressed. Thinking negatively about your former employer will certainly negatively affect the success of your job search.
Figure out how you will handle the layoff in your resume and during interviews.
If you were laid off as part of a larger corporate restructuring or simply had your job eliminated, this is what you should be telling people during interview if you are asked why you are no longer with the company.
In other words, you tell the truth.
Some people want to try to sugarcoat the situation especially if they are embarrassed about being unemployed or if they think being unemployed will hurt their chances when compared to other job candidates who are working.
This is a natural feeling but the best thing to do is simply tell the truth.
Plus, you might actually luck out: sometimes a company needs to hire someone as soon as possible and if you are the only candidate who can start right away since you don’t need to give several weeks notice to your current employer, all things being equal you might get the job over other suitable candidates. I’ve seen this happen.
Figure out a plan to get your job search in gear as soon as possible.
This doesn’t mean you actually have to start looking for a new job right away. You might decide this is a perfect time to take a vacation or to take some time off to figure out what you’d actually like to do next in your career.
The best thing to do is to start thinking of the methods you will utilize to get your career back on track. Among other things, you might:
At the end of the day, getting laid off is a fact of life for many people during their careers. Until you’ve experienced it, you might not actually realize how to deal with it.
If you are laid off, move as quickly as possible to close one door and figure out what you need to do to open the new doors that are about to appear in front of you. Remaining motivated and keeping a positive attitude will be key to your success.
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