Recently there have been a huge wave of tech layoffs that impacted many of my friends, classmates, and previous colleagues. Over the years, I myself also had to lay off team members and employees for various reasons. In these tough times, I can’t help but recall how I was personally affected and what I experienced, and maybe offer a few insights about how to handle the situation.
My Experience
My personal experience of experiencing a layoff, or better stated, a firing was during the 2018 crisis. I had the bad luck of being recruited as part of the bubble leading up to the 2008 subprime bust. Comes 2009, it was crystal clear that a few of us got recruited with heightened expectations, overpaid, and we couldn’t deliver on our high pay.
The initial reaction was of course, denial. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. Maybe we could find enough things to do. Maybe things will get better soon. It didn’t.
Then it became a rat race. Let’s see who could last longer. So among the five of us, I managed to stay safe for the first cut. Two of our colleagues got cut, one of them having just taken on a huge mortgage. So at that point, fear became panic.
While the rest of us were still praying for a mini miracle, I started thinking about some alternatives. I had always thought about going to business school. So I started preparing for the GMAT.
Came Christmas that year, and as expected, I was instructed to “start looking.” I immediately downsized my apartment, shipped my family back home, and started looking for another job while preparing for my MBA application.
By April, I had a few MBA offers in my hand, as well as a few alternative job offers. One of them was so good that I ended up taking it, thinking that I might just stay put, but ended up deciding against it. That’s a story for another day. I ended up going to Duke Fuqua to pursue my MBA, one of the best decisions I made in my life.
What I want to share today here is this personal experience and things I learned during this. Hopefully, this can be helpful to some folks out there. Here are my learnings.
My learnings
1. No need to take it personally
For type-A players like us, sometimes a layoff or “being fired” can be highly insulting. We take that as a failure, an indication that we are not good enough, and hence people decide to cut us.
That’s how I felt at that time. However, many years later, after being on the other side of the table multiple times and having to make such tough decisions myself, I can responsibly tell you that this may not be the case at all.
Sometimes companies have to cut certain functions to prioritize other things that matter more. For example, for my startup, our top priority is product development and sales. Anything unrelated we can live without, especially when times are tough. So if you happen to be in a low-priority function, we have to cut you, no matter how good you are.
Other times layoffs can also be highly political at the upper management level. Maybe two VPs are having a fight. Maybe you are someone’s personal right hand, and that person is being let go. So you could get impacted for no reason related to yourself at all.
In any regard, taking it personally will only make you miserable, affect your morale and increase your pity. Instead, shrug it off, acknowledge that layoffs or being fired happen to the best of us, and carry on.
2. Have a plan
Not taking it personally doesn’t mean you don’t prepare for it. Only the paranoid survive. So if you see signs that something might happen, prepare for it.
Network. Ask yourself, if I lose this job, where would I go? Are there people I can talk to plant a seed? Are there job postings out there? Should I polish my resume?
If there are things that you have always wanted to do, such as getting your MBA, switching your expertise, taking some time off to travel or even starting your own company, now it may be a good time to do so.
When making these plans, know that in tough times things take longer. In good times we would get recruiter calls all the time and could land a new job in 30 days. In bad times it may take months or even a year. Prepare for that.
Also, financially, it’s time to buckle down and have some reserve funds in case the worst were to happen. If you can sustain yourself without working for 18 months, it will give you the right amount of time and room you need to take a breath, strategize, and decide the right steps, as opposed to being put in panic mode.
3. Develop irreplaceable skills
Remember, everyone is ultimately replaceable. However, you can develop skills that will get you places even during the worst times.
In good times, some of us may get comfortable and start “coasting.” Sometimes we do things that are not necessarily skills but merely procedures.
To make ourselves more marketable and harder to replace in tough times, focus on actual, hard skills. What is it that you do that others can’t? In your years of working, have you acquired skills and accumulated experiences and connections that are hard to replicate? Can you leverage them to earn money in any company or maybe even on your own? These are all good questions to ask while you are still employed.
Ultimately, you want to become as independent and infungible as you can. Some of us have developed skills and tenancy to be successful as an executive at multiple companies in a certain industry or function, or even multiple industries or functions. Others have gained so much expertise that we can develop a consulting practice in our areas of subject matter. Even better, some of us may even turn what we know into a stand-alone business or startup idea. The more sources of income we can potentially acquire, the more freedom and leeway we have for our next position.
Ultimately, in this journey called life, we face many adversities and tough times. The key is to stay positive and optimistic and plan as logically and proactively as possible. Know that this too shall pass. Also know that you can leverage your network, friends, and connections to help. If you are experiencing pain and need some help, shout out to me. Maybe I can give you some suggestions for your next move or maybe an intro for your next move. We will be through this. We are in this together.
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