Layoffs

Economy is bad and is expected to get worse. Some say mild recession is expected, some expect a much harder landing. Every other day we hear of a new company announcing mass layoffs. Google, Amazon, CVS, Meta and may more are laying off thousands of employees. This is also expected to get worse.

“Sympathy is the last thing you want. It makes it worse as it reminds you that you are the one who has been laid off.”

What if you find yourself on the other side of this layoff. Unfortunately, you can’t do much except think, why you. This is but natural, this is the first thing that comes to your mind. If you are the only one in your team then it gets worse. It gets worse when people begin sympathizing with you. Sympathy is the last thing you want. It makes it worse as it reminds you that you are the one who has been laid off.

What to expect

Nothing much, you should not be thinking too much nor expecting too much. You may be lucky if you get some severance package as part of the layoff. Many times, you get nothing. Some companies have a policy of some payment for each year worked.

“Companies are not there for charity and the whole reason for laying you off was to save money”

Longer you have worked for the company a little more is that you can expect. Mind you I am saying little more, not much. Companies are not there for charity and the whole reason for laying you off was to save money for them. So don’t expect you will get a large payoff. Exception could be if you are a high-level executive. So for majority of the people, it is peanuts that you can expect. Maybe able to sustain you for a few months.

What to do

A lot, here things are in your hand. Either you can continue grieving about it or do something about it. Grieving initially is perfectly normal. Let is come out, grieving is part of the healing process. It will make you stronger to be able to overcome this temporary problem in your life.

Register for unemployment with the state agency. Every company must pay the state for the unemployment benefits. Most of these benefits last for up to 6 months. Some states may have an extra provision. Some situations may also be special like what happened during covid. This term was extended and an extra payment added to the monthly regular payout.

“You are actively looking and not sitting and waiting for it as a dole”

A small and necessary step to get this payout from the state is to keep applying for a job. The state needs to make sure that you are actively looking and not sitting and waiting for it as a dole. The good thing is that this is for your benefit. It forces you to apply for jobs and getting one makes it that much easier.

Getting a job

This is the difficult part of the whole process. Applying for a job is in your hands but getting a call is not. These days most of the companies have an AI tool to filter the resumes. No matter what you do or how qualified you may be for the job, if you miss the AI tool review, your chances of proceeding to the next step is zero. AI is good in some respects and in such cases certainly not good for the job aspirants. Traditionally a recruiter used to go through all the resumes and then decide which ones were good for the interview process. Now with hundreds of people applying for a single job and companies themselves slashing cost by reducing the HR resources, your chance of getting a job is like winning a lottery. Maybe the odds may be worse sometimes.

“Patience is the key. You may be lucky if you get successful in a shorter duration but usually things take time for getting yourself established and gaining some traction.”

Look for some alternate source of incomes. These days there are a lot of means, nothing is easy that way but increasing your avenues increases the changes of success. It could be YouTube or TikTok’s, it could be amazon, selling something unique and making money or some other sites like fiverr etc.

If you have a unique skill set your chances again increase for success. Patience is the key. You may be lucky if you get successful in a shorter duration but usually things take time for getting yourself established and gaining some traction.

Again, like I said, patience is the key so be there for the long haul and be persistent. Something better is waiting for you, have the patience for it to come to you.