I had other topics I slated to post this week, but the ongoing news of the layoffs in the tech industry made me take pause. I have been on both sides of the fence; I have been laid off and I have been someone “left behind” in the aftermath. While I think the anxiety of losing your income and job far exceeds anything else, the impacts of staying on after a layoff can be significantly impactful as well.
Each situation was unique and I’ve learned more about myself every time. Below I highlight those experiences and some takeaways from both sides of the fence.
Laid Off – 2009
In 2008 I started my first job out of college for a consulting company, technically it was for Technology Risk but most of the work was IT SOX Compliance.
I was three weeks onto the job and my company did their first round of layoffs. I was not part of this round and I honestly didn’t know any of those that were. I hardly knew anyone there. I received my first assignment and did not think much of how my company was faring.
In the next few months there were two more rounds and by the third one I was numb to news as many companies were making cuts as we were deep into the Great Recession . I was in the middle of a longer assignment and felt secure in my position, but I had started to realize that perhaps IT SOX Compliance was not my passion in life.
Almost a year to the day there were murmurs that it was time for round 4 of layoffs. I was on an assignment and didn’t think I’d be in that round. That denial only lasted a few hours as I had received “the call” later that day. Since I was on assignment at a client, I was asked to come into the corporate office the next day. There was a pit in my stomach at this point as I knew what it meant, but I just calmly asked if I should bring all company equipment in (why yes as a matter of fact). And thus it was official: I was selected to be laid off in the fourth round.
My last day wasn’t dramatic, I don’t remember much from it. I wasn’t passionate about this line of work and was ready to figure out what I wanted in life. It was time.
I spent the next few months applying to jobs online that leveraged my prior experience and also attempted breaking into more non-standard opportunities. I had always felt called to more creative pursuits but never went for it, so I took a stab at getting an internship in the film industry. That didn’t pan out (you actually need experience of some kind to get an unpaid internship), but after a few months I did get an offer for an IT Executive Assistant position for an entertainment company. It was an almost 50% pay cut but the jobs were not exactly plentiful at this point.
While in hindsight I probably could have held out for something closer in salary to what I was making, I don’t regret it. I learned a lot in that position and it became a stepping stone in my career.
Left Behind – 2014
Two jobs later I was in a PMO group in an IT department, also in the entertainment industry. I had been there three years already, and while it was a rocky start, I eventually found a good spot overseeing the department’s yearly budget and procurement function.
The company struggled to adapt to a more digital landscape. It took three years of employee gripes before anyone got a raise, those first three years I hadn’t even seen a cost of living increase. It did not appear to be thriving.
One day, as I was sitting in a meeting discussing implementing a new ticketing system, one by one my PMO colleagues (and boss) were taken aside by HR and told they were being laid off. I remained in my own meeting, although I could hardly focus at that point. Three hours later HR came by and told me the layoffs were over and I was being kept on. I was the only one left.
I stayed another 10 months and at that point the PMO processes were abandoned and my sole focus was on budget management and procurement. It was steady work that didn’t require much thinking and I had no idea what I wanted to do. It was a pretty lonely time there, I was just floating in this cubicle island, a small reminder to the rest of the organization of the team that used to be here.
After a few months of treading water I decided it was probably time to go. I wish I could say I made a concerted effort to think about my career path, but I still didn’t know what I could go for. I had settled nicely into a PMO role and those were the positions I went for. It took a few months but I eventually got a position in a PMO closer to the revenue side of the house.
Left Behind – 2019
Fast forward 5 years at this new company. I had been promoted several times and enjoyed having a taste of operations work while still in a PMO function. Over time there were challenges for the organization, revenue was impacted, and we had hired a large number of resources across the company.
Rumors of layoffs had been coming up for months, which did not surprise me. I saw how our function was performing, how sales had been decreasing, to me it was an inevitability. Our team was roughly 13 by that time, with several reporting up to me. While we were a large group, I did not think we would be hit that hard.
It was December and a cryptic company-wide meeting was on everyone’s calendar. The CEO came on, read a brief script and said we would be divided into two groups, those staying on, and those being laid off. I quickly found out I was being kept on and was relieved, but I then started to go around and pulse check on my team. All but one that reported to me were being laid off.
By the end of the day our overall team was down to just four.
I stayed, but I also started casually looking at jobs elsewhere. I was not getting a whole lot of interest and so I turned to focus on the decimated wasteland that was our organization. By the middle of the year I was put in place to oversee the team, a natural progression for my career, but a tremendous challenge. How could I keep this group motivated when I myself was still reeling from the events 7 months ago?
During this time I had a better idea of what I wanted my career to look like. I communicated that to management and put in the effort to learn more about the business to support that trajectory. While I was motivated on the one hand, on the other I constantly struggled in advocating for additional resources we badly needed at that point, reminded that this was now the second PMO team I was in that was gutted. I took on a lot of work myself and could never get myself out of the day to day to progress my own career.
I naturally got burnt out and realized that I was doing a disservice to myself, my team, and the company. I put more time in on my job search, and in ten months’ time I was weighing multiple job offers, one of which I accepted.
Recommendations if you Find Yourself Here:
If you’re laid off:
- Take a moment (or two) to rest. Following that rest period, take some time to reflect on what transpired and what you want for your future.
- Lean into your LinkedIn network. A theme in my career is that I never really utilized the connections I’ve made to seek out opportunities, which is a mistake. My job search time probably would have been a fraction if I had only used my network more.
- Block out time for your career daily. Spending all day everyday combing job postings is not going to do you any favors. Allocate 2 hours per day for your job search (updating your resume, applying online, finding networking events, etc).
- Move for 20-30 minutes a day. If you are fortunate enough to be able to go outside, go outside. If you have limited space and no gym, there are thousands of resources on YouTube for free workouts you can do at home with little equipment.
- Continue (or find) social activities. Getting out of the house and engaging socially helps both connecting to a potential network connection, as well as supporting your mental health.
If you are left behind:
- Take some time to grieve your colleagues. No, they have not died, but it can be a traumatic experience in that these people that were once around you day in day out are now gone. Being kept on is a complicated mix of sadness, relief, guilt, confusion. All of your emotions are valid and working through those will help you in the long run.
- Build your emergency fund. Not to be doomsday here, but many companies don’t have just one round of layoffs and it’s important to have a safety net.
- Assess your career trajectory. Are you in the place that will get you where you want? Is your day to day still satisfactory? Review what your workload has become now that the company has reduced its workforce. This is a great time for a reality check on whether this is what you want to do the rest of your life as well. If not, you are still making a paycheck while you establish a plan to pivot your career path another direction.
- Expand your LinkedIn network. Add your colleagues (both still there or let go), these are people that can attest first hand to the quality of your work. More companies have referral bonuses and so these people are incentivized to help you out, should you start looking.
- Update your resume. Even if you aren’t planning to leave, take some time to update your resume. By the time you get to the point where you want to start looking, having to set aside time while you may be burnt out can be a hindrance.
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