To all those who are affected by layoffs this week, get through the call and take 24-48 hours to process. Don’t react poorly in the moment, nothing new gets decided on right there.
To people watching colleagues go: reach out to everyone you hear getting let go. Don’t “give them space”, just send some kind of warmth. It goes a long way.
Nobody is going to get mad at you for checking in, and it makes a difference.
And for those who got laid off, take some time to decompress but not too much time. The job market is atrocious and you may be unemployed for years.
Apply to everything and network your a-s off.
I was laid off from Nike in the big layoff of February 2024. I was the only person on my small team to be let go and I felt extremely embarrassed and lonely. Not a single team member reached out.
We had worked together for years and I attended their baby showers and birthday parties, donated to fundraisers in their names, and more.
Selfishly, I hope they all got laid off this week and I hope they feel a little alone when no one reaches out to them.
@a4 beyond flooded with all the layoffs everywhere. Nine months so far and even pizza making and Fred Meyer jobs aren't hiring. You're cool if you have a newer car so you can drive taxinotataxi.
Basically you have to go all in and be ready to relocate to another state it su-ks
The feedback for the folks left standing to reach out to your colleagues that have been impacted, please please do this. Not a single person reached out to me. People I spent years working closely with, we knew about each other’s families, shared the stress of the workload, had many wonderful conversations, met each others families, no one. That hurt more than the layoff. The layoff was a breath of fresh air, but those thinking of those folks will always resurface that disappointment. It goes so much further than you think.
To all the folks who were let go today ( or will be during the week) - I feel for you. I was in your place last June. It took me a few months to process and also figure out what to do. Thankfully the severance was decent enough to last a couple of months personally. The market was so terrible and each job was flooded with hundreds (if not thousands) of resumes. I eventually found a role better than the one I had a Nike but it did take 6 months. I had my ups and downs in those 6 months. What helped me the most was to become AI proficient (build several AI apps, learn AI lingo) along being diligent in networking with folks. This too shall pass...
Honestly super unpopular opinion but unless you have solid finances (read lots of money saved)… get looking for the next job. The market is flooded and will only get worse.
I love what you wrote though @OP