Too Big To Care: The Indifference of Big Companies & How Workers Can Protect Themselves From Layoffs

Layoffs & Loyalty

Twitter, Meta, Amazon, Salesforce… titans of Tech, supposedly too big to fail.

But we’re seeing some wavering. And employees are certainly feeling the quake.

Inflation is taking its toll, the global supply chain is still screwy, and consumers are pinching their pennies. As a result, profits are down, even for the big guys, and the #1 strategy of public companies to keep dishing out shareholder dividends is to cut the workforce. And fast.

Tens of thousands of workers are being laid off, in some cases 10%-50% of the workforce.

If you’re not lucky enough to be above the fold, you may find yourself dumping your desk tchotchkes into a cardboard box with an unrequested escort to the front door.

It’s not enough to work hard and be loyal.

When the chips are down, your salary can always be rescinded.

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Part of protecting yourself is knowing this to be true and taking precautions to be ready for when it occurs.

1. Stay to the outside. If you’ve got some tenure under your belt, love what you do, and want to call your own shots, consider shifting to consulting. Self-employment is the only true job security because you, and you alone, are in charge of your paycheck. As long as you keep a balanced portfolio of clients (3 or more clients, 2 or more industries), you will always be safe from being out of work.
2. Sleep with the enemy. Get to know folks in your role at competing companies. Don’t gossip or trade trade secrets, but have lunch every once in a while. Welcome someone from the other side into your life. You’ll be better able to see the industry trends coming around the corner, you’ll have a bigger picture when doing your own work, and you just may have some inroads into a new job, should your company decide to downsize…er, rightsize… no, I mean consolidate… Wait, restructure?
3. Toot your horn. Everyone in a big company knows they have to find ways to add value to survive, but you also have to find ways to prove you’re finding ways to add value. This means, telling your boss your good ideas *and* making sure you get credit for them, volunteering to do “high-visibility” projects, making post-project slide decks that show business impact, and reminding people of your greatness during meetings and reviews. Don’t count on anyone else to advocate for you. It’s not that your colleagues don’t care; they’re just as busy as you are and they can only fit one horn in their mouth.
4. Interview every once in a while. Especially when things are good, dip a toe in the job market. See what’s out there for you. See what salaries look like. Guage the eagerness of another company to snatch you up. This is a good way to make some alliances within other companies and turn enemies into friends, which is always a good business strategy (and life strategy). Interviewing is a skill. And you should always keep your skills polished.
5. Keep your resume sharp. Military veterans and Information Security professionals are great at this. Perhaps it’s because they know bombs can drop at any moment. There is no better way to gain peace of mind in an unstable job situation than to have your resume updated and ‘at the ready.’ At the first explosion, you’re ready to fire back. If you really want an edge, hire a professional resume writer to do the job for you. It can be challenging to get your story down on paper, especially after an involuntary, abrupt ending.

Life is uncertain. Companies have plenty of failsafes in place to protect them from sudden catastrophes.

Do you?

Involuntary Abrupt Endings

Getting let go from work is like getting hit by a bus.

And like getting hit by a bus, people who get fired, laid off, or asked to leave often experience PTSD (post-traumatic-stress-syndrome). I see it more often than you might think.

The symptoms show up in one’s work history:
–extended time off
–private consulting
–gig work
–sudden or serial entrepreneurism
–underemployment

A common behavior amongst people with Job-related PTSD is complete and total avoidance of an intentional job search — like a batter avoiding the batter’s box or a veteran avoiding loud noises or a driver circumnavigating busy intersections.

It’s understandable. It’s a smart reaction to a bad experience: the brain saying “hey that sucked. Let’s not go through that again.”

But it abbreviates your life. It makes you take U-turns that keep you from certain roads.

To break free of job PTSD, you have to confront it. (Ghosts hate it when you give ’em a name.) Talk about it, replay the crap-ending to someone who loves you and supports you. No need to deconstruct it or overanalyze things, just pull it into the light and let your emotions go where they go; you’ll probably cycle through quite a few of them.

Then go back before that ending and remember the good stuff too. And if it was always bad at that job, go to the one before it.

You’ve got victories; you’ve just forgotten about them. They’re obstructed. The ghosts are in the way.

Once you get them to move, you’ll see all the roads again. And the intersections will be clear.

Career Advice for Older Workers to Prevent Age Discrimination

As a seasoned professional, you have much to offer but remember to make room for new experiences as well.

An effective resume will balance your strengths (i.e. what you can teach) with your areas for growth (i.e. what you can learn). In regards to the latter, I’m certainly not suggesting you claim ignorance. Rather, consider showing a recently developed interest in a new industry or field.

This is best done by illustrating how you’ve already Continue reading this entry »

Let the Government Pay For Your Career Development

One of the best kept secrets in job-hunting: The government has offered to pay part of your expenses!

You read correctly: Career expenses, including fees incurred for career counseling, professional resume writing, and job-search coaching, are tax-deductible for everyone with only a few exceptions: Continue reading this entry »

How to Get Hired After Age 50

I’m getting tons of clients coming to me with this question.

First off, it’s unfair.

Now that that’s out of the way, how can you overcome the stigma?

The key is recognizing and remembering that your work experience Continue reading this entry »

Do I Have to Say When I Graduated?

Is a Graduation Date Necessary on a Resume?

Hiring managers love the math of graduation dates. It’s an easy way to figure out your age.

To be clear, you should never list your graduation date, unless Continue reading this entry »

The Most Common Question About Resumes

1 or 2 pages?

This concern is valid, especially since lengthy resumes can make an applicant appear arrogant, unfocused, anxious, old, or overqualified.

So how do you know when to stop writing? Continue reading this entry »

Should I Lie On My Resume?

After sending out 1000+ resumes with not a single job offer, a job seeker concluded that he needed to lie on his resume. In his case, he felt he was overqualified and therefore needed to dumb down his resume to get some interviews. It’s my estimation that he’s looking in the wrong place Continue reading this entry »

Giving Your Resume a Soul

There’s a widespread frustration held by people that their resumes’ cannot adequately describe “the real me”. I’ve challenged this notion with the following comments and suggestions: Continue reading this entry »

How Do I Get a Management Job If I’ve Only Held Positions As An Individual Contributor?

A software developer was looking to move further into management but had no idea how to build a resume to support this transition. I told him about some of the things I’ve done in the past to help clients do just that…”

As luck would have it, I’m currently helping a developer transition into management — and he came to me because I helped his friend do the same thing (successfully) just a few months ago. Here’s what we did: Continue reading this entry »

Why You Should Avoid Functional Resume Formats

An aggrieved job seeker, sick of hearing that functional resumes are the scourge of an HR person’s day, asked why this type of format is unfavorable. Here’s my response: Continue reading this entry »

11 Ways Executive Resumes Differ From Other Resumes

Executive résumés should be distinguishable from lower-level résumés, even at a glance. However, the differences don’t stop at appearance. There’s much to consider when developing and positioning content for senior-level résumés. You may be surprised at how many “golden rules” of résumé writing I’m about to break. Continue reading this entry »