“It’s business, not personal.”
That’s probably the last thing you feel when you’ve lost your job. Yet this is the mind-set that helped Heidi Moore through not one, but two layoffs. “I never looked at it as the company was out to get me,” says Moore. “I noticed that my colleagues who took it personally hurt more.”
We all know someone who has become suddenly dependent on a severance package or unemployment benefits. And if you have never been let go from a job, count your blessings — and count on the possibility that those days might be numbered. A report by outplacement consultancy group Challenger, Gray & Christmas revealed that there were more than 800,000 planned job cuts in 2006, with closings, cost-cutting, and restructurings topping the list of reasons. The firm also noted that the period from September to December is historically the heaviest for job cuts, with average cuts jumping 32% from the summer months, and that this year we could see an even larger increase because of the collapse of the housing market.
A layoff doesn’t have to be the end of the world. This piece will walk you through the emotional and financial valleys caused by a layoff and give you a roadmap for finding your way back to employment. “If you do the right kind of processing and assessment,” says psychologist Carole Kanchier, Ph.D., principal of Questers, a career management consulting firm in Palo Alto, California, and Calgary, Alberta, as well as the author of Dare to Change Your Job and Your Life (Jist Publishing; $16.95), “you can end up on the other side of the layoff happier, stronger, and wiser for having gone through it.”
Welcoming the Ax
Milwaukee native Moore, 38, survived the chopping block twice. She was first laid off in September 1994 from Bank One (now Chase Bank), where she made $35,000 as a customer service manager in the credit card division. Despite whispers circulating around the office, the layoff surprised her. The second time, however, the married mother of four knew it was coming. When she was let go again in May 2003, she was making around $70,000 as a human resources diversity specialist at Deluxe Corp. (now eFunds), a financial risk management and electronic transaction processing company. The company underwent a publicized, strategic reorganization, and Moore was let go when she opted not to relocate.
Unlike most people in the midst of a layoff, Moore wasn’t upset. “I was happy at the first layoff because it afforded me the opportunity to go back to school. At eFunds, I was happy again, because it gave me time to spend with my newborn child, finish my graduate work, and get a business plan together to start a nonprofit organization,” she says. Moore declined to use the job placement services each company supplied, feeling her skill set and knowledge base were beyond what they were offering.
After each layoff, the household relied primarily on the income of Moore’s husband, Deveron, owner of a third-generation, family-owned barbershop. The couple also used her severance package and unemployment aid to pay their monthly expenses, which were a little more than $2,300. Eventually, the money ran out. “The second income of my family disappeared,” laments Moore. So the family found ways to downsize, such as trading in one car and sharing the other.
To stay in the loop professionally, Moore parlayed her education and experience into service opportunities. She sat on the board of directors for entities including Head Start and did some consulting for Manpower, a global staffing services firm. Today, Moore is a diversity consultant at Northwestern Mutual, a Wisconsin-based insurance and investment firm. She has put her plan to start a nonprofit on the back burner to help rebuild her family’s finances. “Working here motivates me to stay on top of our finances in a way I didn’t before I was laid off the first time,” indicates Moore. Now, she and her husband track all household expenses in a streamlined budget. In addition, she’s been more aggressive about saving for the future and has selected a professional financial planner.
Having weathered two layoffs, Moore feels prepared to handle another should it come her way. “My ultimate goal is to be an entrepreneur,” she says. “If I were to get laid off again, I still have a path to travel. A layoff creates an opportunity for so many of us to own our own businesses, and I don’t think a lot of us realize that.”
Hacked to Pieces
By contrast, there was nothing happy about Morris T. O. Hendricks’ ordeal. The Falls Church, Virginia, resident was unexpectedly let go from his $50,000-a-year position as assistant general manager of The Paradies Shops in Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, in the spring of 2004. His layoff resulted in an emotional reaction so severe it required medical attention and led to financial ruin that nearly did the same to his marriage.
“I went from being praised in the company’s monthly newsletter for improving customer service, boosting employee morale, and helping our location exceed all sales goals to being laid off by the regional manager,” says Hendricks, 30. “My emotions were in complete disarray. I was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression.”
To complicate matters, Hendricks and his wife, Maria, had just had their first daughter. The couple ate through their savings, maxed out their credit cards, and used Maria’s 401(k) plan contribution funds to pay their household expenses. By December 2004, they had nothing left in savings and had racked up $50,000 in debt. “Our credit score went from the upper 700s to the lower 400s,” recalls Hendricks. The financial strain, heightened by Hendricks’ emotional state, was too much for his marriage to bear: Maria put the couple’s belongings in storage, took their daughter, and moved back home with her parents.
In early 2005, a humbled Hendricks took an $8-an-hour job as an overnight auditor
at Embassy Suites in Herndon, Virginia. He managed not to incur any new expenses, as family friends provided him food and shelter. After a few months of temping through Whitman Associates Inc., a temporary employment agency, Hendricks got a call from the agency manager with a job offer from a Washington, D.C.-based private sector, nonprofit corporation that oversees the auditors of publicly traded companies. Now, two years later, Hendricks is the facilities supervisor, with oversight of mailroom operations, supplies, inventory, event scheduling, and property management liaison duties. Hendricks is currently pursuing certification in facilities management at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He and his wife are reconciled and welcomed a second daughter in March.The layoff taught Hendricks valuable financial lessons, and he and his wife have made their finances a priority. “Now, I pay myself by contributing 10% to my 401(k) even though my company only matches 6%,” he says. The couple takes full advantage of medical and tax-free dependent care benefit programs to minimize their taxable income while ensuring key expenses are covered. They also stick to a strict budget and are currently seeking professional financial planning services.
How to Stop the Bleeding
Hendricks illustrates that few things deliver a financial shock like a layoff, especially when you don’t see it coming. “The most immediate negative impact is raised by the question, ‘How am I going to support myself and/or my family?'” says Susan R. Black, director of financial planning at Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-headquartered eMoney Advisor, a wealth planning technology and management solutions provider. A job cut can easily become a full-blown crisis without the recommended three- to six-month salary cushion and invite hasty decisions that could spell further economic trouble.
With some basic
guidance, Black says you can successfully manage your finances before and during a layoff. If you have advance warning, pay down your debt and build up your savings as much as possible. Temporarily stop contributions to your retirement plan if you do not have enough money saved. If you’re married, have your spouse temporarily stop or lower retirement plan contributions as well. Black also suggests securing a line of credit. “If you wait until after you lose your job, you probably will not qualify for one.”
When it comes to severance, review your signed employment contract; your company may have a standard offer. If not, you may be in a stronger position to negotiate a better package if your employer needs you to finish projects before leaving or do some consulting/fill-in work after your official termination.
Of course, you will want to revise your budget to see your spending in black and white and bring it in line with your new financial situation. Now is the time to practice some fiscal responsibility. Determine which expenses are mandatory, then cut all or most of your discretionary spending in the short term.
In
the end, a layoff is a wake-up call. “It can be a time in life when new opportunities open up,” asserts career coach Frank Traditi. “It is also a time to take stock in yourself and [learn to] contribute in ways that were not visible to you before.”Don’t Make The Same Mistake
Continuing to live the same lifestyle is one of the mistakes experts caution professionals to avoid. Psychologist Carole Kanchier, Ph.D., principal of Questers, a career management consulting firm, and Frank Traditi, co-founder of Get Hired Now L.L.C., a career coaching firm in Carson City, Nevada, and co-author of Get Hired Now!: A 28-Day Program for Landing the Job You Want (Bay Tree Publishing; $17.95) offer these additional tips:
Don’t wait to be laid off. A lot of people are faced with the signs of a layoff but get scared into waiting for it, says Kanchier. Be proactive; you are the manager of your career and you should always have a backup plan. Now is the time to determine what else you can do, like moving to another department, getting additional education, or changing occupations. And if you’re exploring career options in another field with specific entrance requirements (like teaching), execute those now.
Don’t lash out at the messenger. Do your best to keep emotions to a minimum. Don’t express any threats during the meeting, such as your intent to sue the company. Comments like this can create a volatile situation, and you may be seen as burning bridges, says Traditi.
Don’t isolate yourself. You may not feel like talking with friends and family, but it’s critical to stay connected. It’s also an opportunity to renew professional relationships you’ve allowed to languish (for help, see “How Networking Really Works” and “Networking: A Lifelong Process” both on BlackEnterprise.com).
Don’t automatically accept the first job offer. Ordinarily, people don’t just rush into the first job they come across, says Kanchier. Take the time to process the change and get to know yourself. Evaluate your skills, your abilities, your needs, and your purpose. You may very well be in a position to get the job you really want. You don’t have to settle.