Beating the Layoffs: I

Suppose you work in an organization that's circling the drain. It has been doing so for some time. You have little faith in the ability of Management to put things right. Some layoffs have already happened, and you're certain that there will be more layoffs. But even though you and everyone you know agrees with all this, you haven't started to look for another job. You haven't done a thing about that. Not a thing. Not one. What are you waiting for?

It's just barely possible that even if there is another round of layoffs — even when another round comes, you yourself won't be laid off. But because you do recognize that possibility as wishful thinking, you wonder: What can I do to get myself moving? Why am I just waiting for someone else to determine the next chapter of my career?

Maybe this post can help. Some people are best motivated by avoiding disadvantage; others by reaching for advantage. This post explores the disadvantages of being laid off. By implication it shows how an early voluntary exit — before the layoffs — avoids those troubles. Next week's post suggests four more ways an early voluntary exit provides actual advantages.

How exiting before layoffs avoids trouble

In this section, I'm assuming that you've hung in there, in the vain hope that layoffs might not come, or if they did, that your own position would somehow be spared. In the end, you weren't spared. Along with dozens or hundreds of others, you were given notice that today was your last day. Or next month would be your last month. Or some other deadline. In any case, this job has a definite end date.

What follows are some of the consequences of having made the choice to risk being laid off, and then having that risk materialize.

Self-esteem

Being laid off is often a ticket for a ride on an emotional roller coaster. Some people make a meaning of the layoff that threatens their sense of worthiness professionally. Some take it a step farther, interpreting their own layoff as a statement of their worthiness as human beings. In nearly all cases, these interpretations are incorrect.

To believe that being laid off is an indication of unworthiness, one must believe that the layoff selection process includes accurate assessments of worthiness of all employees. In other words we must attribute to failing organizations abilities, which, if present, could have prevented the organization from failing in the first place. In other words, if the organization could accurately assess employee worthiness, layoffs would have been unnecessary.

Indeed, layoffs are not statements about the worthiness of employees. They are instead a statement about the worthiness of the organization conducting the layoffs. And that statement is that something is wrong with the organization — very, very wrong. Once you're laid off, loss of self-esteem can be a serious disadvantage as you take steps to find a new position. Keep this in mind: Being laid off is not about you.

But how you deal with being laid off is another matter. How you deal with it is about you. Reflect on how your job contributed to your sense of self-esteem, and find ways to restore what has been lost. If you've lost contact with friends and colleagues, find ways to restore contact, or to build new relationships and a professional network. If your job provided structure to your day, replace that structure with one of your own. If your job provided mental challenges, find new challenges by regarding your job search as a job in itself.

One way to accomplish all this is to declare yourself to be a career consultant. Begin building your practice by becoming your first client and retaining yourself.

Financial anxiety

The suddenness and definitive nature of
the announcement of the ending of your
job can be startlingly disruptive,
both personally and professionally

The suddenness and definitive nature of the announcement of the ending of your job can be startlingly disruptive, both personally and professionally. The more tightly bonded you were to the hope of escaping the cuts, the more startling and disruptive is the actual event. The hope of escape likely led to more than a mere delay in the start of a search for employment. Perhaps you could have done more to build financial reserves, or worked harder to reduce your ongoing expenses. All these factors contribute to a sense of regret and anxiety.

Start reducing expenses now. The Internet is replete with advice. Example: "how to reduce expenses when laid off." Every step you take to reduce expenses relieves a little more anxiety, and that improves your affect when you enter discussions with prospective employers.

It also limits the feelings of desperation that can be so intense that some people accept the first offer of employment they receive, even if the organization they join is no better than the one they just left; even if the position is a step down; even if the compensation is inadequate. Make no sudden moves. Manage the anxiety first.

Future employment

How you see and value yourself is fundamental to a successful effort to find a new position. You can control how you see yourself, but you can merely influence how prospective employers see you. For example, are you among the hordes of people like yourself searching for new positions? Being one of the crowd is one of the disadvantages of waiting to be laid off. Another example: By waiting to be laid off, you become vulnerable to being tagged as someone who was among those less worth keeping than others.

Most important, if you wait to be laid off, you're unemployed or soon to be so. Prospective employers wonder whether your skills are current, whether you're difficult to work with, or worse, difficult to manage. These questions arise less often and less urgently when the candidate is still employed.

Having a current position addresses these issues, even if it's a volunteer position. Or even if it's your own consulting practice.

Last words

To limit the disadvantages of having been laid off, manage three sets of perceptions. First, manage your own perceptions of your own value as a person and as a professional. Second, manage your own perceptions of your financial situation. Third and finally, work to influence your prospective employer's perceptions of your value as an employee.   First issue in this series    Next issue in this series   Top    Next Issue

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