Unfortunately, I think you have to treat a layoff like a firing. If you were a magician, and you could turn every dollar they handed you into two dollars, I don't care what the company does, they would keep you. When you get laid off, I think you have to approach it like, "Why are there other people left there and why wasn't I one of them?" It could be that your boss was racist/ageist/sexist/etc but the case is *usually* the case that your terrible boss is *both* those things *and* that there's something that other people had that you didn't. Objectively looking at ways to address that as part of your narrative is important. Otherwise, someone's just going to look at you as only expendable and not "previously expendable but newly motivated to be indispensable."
Of the four layoffs I have been a part of (three this decade), one involved a company shutting down entirely, one closing the entire IT department to begin a shared service, and one via merger. If these are firings, that's a high bar to succeed otherwise.
No no... if your company or department literally disappears, that's different. I don't think you need to explain it at all. You did a job, and the company or department disappeared. Although, I might count that in "you leaving a bad job" b/c you didn't really get fired, so it doesn't reflect badly on you, but it couldn't have been a super great place to be if it tanked or was rendered not needed entirely. Anyway... these are very different examples than "the company cut 10% equally across the board and I was the part of that."
Thanks for this reaffirmation, Charlie! Way to help a lot of us make transitions without beating ourselves up about changes. Too often, we feel pressure to be perfect and then imposter syndrome creeps in because we feel like we failed. This is certainly something I'll remember while I interview for my next role.
Except...where does a layoff fit in this diagram?
Unfortunately, I think you have to treat a layoff like a firing. If you were a magician, and you could turn every dollar they handed you into two dollars, I don't care what the company does, they would keep you. When you get laid off, I think you have to approach it like, "Why are there other people left there and why wasn't I one of them?" It could be that your boss was racist/ageist/sexist/etc but the case is *usually* the case that your terrible boss is *both* those things *and* that there's something that other people had that you didn't. Objectively looking at ways to address that as part of your narrative is important. Otherwise, someone's just going to look at you as only expendable and not "previously expendable but newly motivated to be indispensable."
Of the four layoffs I have been a part of (three this decade), one involved a company shutting down entirely, one closing the entire IT department to begin a shared service, and one via merger. If these are firings, that's a high bar to succeed otherwise.
No no... if your company or department literally disappears, that's different. I don't think you need to explain it at all. You did a job, and the company or department disappeared. Although, I might count that in "you leaving a bad job" b/c you didn't really get fired, so it doesn't reflect badly on you, but it couldn't have been a super great place to be if it tanked or was rendered not needed entirely. Anyway... these are very different examples than "the company cut 10% equally across the board and I was the part of that."
Thanks for this reaffirmation, Charlie! Way to help a lot of us make transitions without beating ourselves up about changes. Too often, we feel pressure to be perfect and then imposter syndrome creeps in because we feel like we failed. This is certainly something I'll remember while I interview for my next role.