[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by am1m

*There are always signs - hiring freezes, frequent mentions of 're-org', 'new structure', 'domain shifts', etc. at meetings leading up to the event....
*Work hard/smart, but never let your job take priority over your interests, family and health. It's a job, not your life.

Excellent post. When there is change in high level position like the one you have cited, things are definitely not smooth. And that too if there is a rough year behind or firm is in troubled times, some major changes and lay-offs happen. Also, the biggest indicators like hiring freeze, re-structure, re-alignment, etc. are all the same usually indicating something big, one has to be very cautious during these stages.

One has to maintain some visibility and yet, be at good terms. When managers are asked to select whom to let go, any disturbance/conflict of sub-ordinate with manager might be impactful. Be good, polite but really, really alert. Many times, critical flow of information reaches those subordinates first who are really close to managers.

Job taking priority over family and health is worst thing that one can do, literally. Family is the first thing that will stand by you in troubled times along with close friends and many a times, relatives too. Judgement towards an individuals' skill set with respect to lay off is a stigma our Indian society has to get rid off. If an excellent performer is a perceived threat for manager and/or multiple colleagues, that outstanding performer might be let off.

Debt is best avoided for those who can, credit is beautiful facility but once its stressed, an impending disaster can unleash.

[Latheesh]

I started my career in 2001 and had EMI payment from the day 1. I was paying one or the other EMI till mid 2015. Came out of all EMIs (by mid 2015) and do not have any debt now (other than monthly credit card payments). Thanks all for sharing your experience here.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by am1m

*Who gets laid off is based purely on cost/revenue generated numbers. So never think that a job loss reflects on your abilities.

So very true most of the time. A few years back, my company decided to downsize. The management chose to close down an entire office in another location and let (almost) everyone go. Among the 200-odd people in my business unit there, only 5 "survived" (the company did not nominate the "survivors", there was an interview process which any affected person from the location could attend).

A couple of other experiences during my time in the industry:
- In 2001, the company I worked for at that time was going through a tough time. The management called for a meeting of the entire company (it was a small enough company to fit almost everyone in an auditorium). In order to save jobs, management announced 20% salary cut across the board. Most of us were relieved - after all, losing 20% was better than losing 100%. It's another matter that the company still let people go for performance reasons.

- Similar situation again in 2008, similar kind of meeting arranged, and we were expecting a similar announcement. The CEO said that in tough times we all need to stretch, and he would want it to begin at the very top. There were 5 people in the leadership team. As part of the "stretch", he announced that "Mr.X and Mr.Y will no longer be with the company" and he and the other two in the leadership team would "stretch" to cover their responsibilities as well. Everyone got the message and job cuts soon followed.

[Romins]

Most of us start working to meet some fundamental needs- food, shelter, clothes, family etc. But later work takes centre stage and we don't get time to enjoy these fundamental human needs. Then we start looking elsewhere for happiness. Most of these routes are not ethical or moral, and very expensive. Sometimes, it is good to take a deep look and answer the question of why we work so hard?

[FORTified]

Having spent 23+ years in the IT industry, mostly in product development companies, and seeing multiple cycles of up and downs, I gathered some early signs of bad times around the corner.

If a bunch of top level managers leave for no apparent reason OR the HR head is removed without notice, you can be sure that something BIG [and BAD] is going to happen soon.

These are the guys that will be in the know of things, they are expensive and they will be given enough opportunity to look for alternatives before lessor mortals are impacted.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by am1m

Well, as I'm typing this it looks like I've just survived the 3rd layoff that's happened...Always a downer, but this time in particular because it's affected a colleague with whom I've worked with on different teams, for nearly 6 years. I've just returned after walking with him to the entrance and out of the company where he's spent a decade as a high-performer across teams.

Am happy to be able to post a positive follow-up to this. My friend just got another job at a much better place! So it worked out rather well for him, he got 5 months severance pay and got a job in 2 months, so a better company and 3 months free pay.

I realize not every case will be this good, but there's enough to be hopeful, there are still jobs out there. My friend seemed to have all the classic points against, he's in his mid-40s (there's a separate thread on the forum about the career difficulties of IT guys past 40), was in a quasi-management role, had been with the company for 10 years. Still worked out well.

What helped was leveraging his network. During his stint, he was always helpful and a nice guy to everyone, even during stressful times. The sort of guy you would willing go out of your way to help. Plus, he was always doing some job-related learning/certification or the other, one after the other. I guess that made a difference.

[Mr.RaghavDhir]

I am going through a similar situation myself as I stare down the barrel of my position being declared 'formally redundant'. I teared up a bit reading this thread as I always thought I'll never be in such a situation. The first thing such an incident does is flush your ego down the toilet, initially I was too apprehensive to seek help from my friends but the mental picture of my bank balance forced me to move out of my comfort zone with nothing concrete as of now. It's great to be a part of this community as see people tide through these difficult situation in one piece.

Hope my story ends as well as yours !!

[ajmat]

I wrote an article in LinkedIn about rebooting ones career a few months back. More here

Quoting my conclusion

• Be persistent and patient, progress will not be instant
• Get in front of people - although a deep introvert, I leveraged any opportunity to meet people and develop relationships
• If something is not working, cut it loose
• Your experienced "gut feel" actually works for you
• Take short breaks between efforts
• Keep learning and try for quick working opportunities to demonstrate yourself. (but avoid getting exploited!)
• Be adaptive
• Keep yourself fit
• Take rejection positively
• Find yourself a mentor to brainstorm with

One outcome from those difficult 2 years was that you get to know who your friends are! I treasure these folks and make it a point to stay in touch. As for the others (including some relatives), I have powered down my interactions.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by ajmat

One outcome from those difficult 2 years was that you get to know who your friends are! I treasure these folks and make it a point to stay in touch. As for the others (including some relatives), I have powered down my interactions.

This is the most important part. I went through similar when looking for roles in a new environment. Relations and people you thought were important can be quite confronting when up against a difficult situation. Helps put a lot of things in perspective.

I followed a similar approach as you mentioned in the points, except the fitness part.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by Mr.RaghavDhir

I am going through a similar situation myself as I stare down the barrel of my position being declared 'formally redundant'.

Wish you the best Man. What field are you in.

[Mr.RaghavDhir]

Originally Posted by AZT

Wish you the best Man. What field are you in.

thanks
I work in Logistics, trucking specifically. I am from sales (channel and key accounts) and operations background.

[Mr.RaghavDhir]

Originally Posted by Mr.RaghavDhir

I am going through a similar situation myself as I stare down the barrel of my position being declared 'formally redundant'. I teared up a bit reading this thread as I always thought I'll never be in such a situation. The first thing such an incident does is flush your ego down the toilet, initially I was too apprehensive to seek help from my friends but the mental picture of my bank balance forced me to move out of my comfort zone with nothing concrete as of now. It's great to be a part of this community as see people tide through these difficult situation in one piece.

Hope my story ends as well as yours !!

Finally had "the discussion" with the relevant stakeholders. It was a scary experience. I know what the "important discussion" in the call invite's title meant. So much so that I didn't want to be a part of the call. The anxiety of being in a chatroom where 3 people are about to fire me was overwhelming to say the least, moreover the HR insisted that I keep the video on. Nevertheless the 45 minute call seemed to last a lifetime for me where I was going from being completely mind fogged to an extremely heightened sense of awareness. There were parts of the call where I had no idea what was going on and then there were moments where I remember the exact position of the seconds hands in the clock behind people, to their exact facial expressions and even their unequal side burns !! But it happened and I was given a timeline of how things will work, though people on the call were extremely sensitive to the situation but at that moment I was not in the mental space to appreciate it. I thanked them after a couple of days for how they conducted themselves and went about the process.

I am still in the process of looking out for a job but I have some things that I will always remember going forward.

• The sooner you accept the situation as it is the soon you can start to work on it.
• You and only you alone are responsible for what you feel. Your family , friends and relatives can create that ambience for you but it’s you who has to pick up the ball and run towards the goal post.
• Don’t ever feel shy to seek help, even from strangers. I have been asking people for help on LinkedIn and most of them do respond and try to help. I feel people around are willing to help if we approach them properly.
• Work on building passive income while life is running smoothly. In situation like mine this is what can help you tide through both financially and mentally.

A part of a Hindi poetry from TVF’s aspirants last episode really moved me during this time. In essence it tries to say that there is no difference between the people who win everything and those who don’t give up till the end because both remain unshakable come what may.

Hoping to post a happy update on this thread soon !!