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Your #Career : Take These Three Steps At The First Sign That Layoffs Are Coming…A Layoff isn’t Necessarily a Catastrophe, Especially if you Can Snap into Action at the First Signs that Your Job May Be in Trouble.

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When someone from HR tapped me on the shoulder and invited me to join her for a private conversation, I knew what was coming. By the time I had my, “We think you’re great, but you need to exit the premises right now,” conversation, several former colleagues had already had the talk. In fact, two rounds of layoffs had preceded mine within the past 18 months or so.
Laid off Worker with Box

The first one didn’t affect my team directly. That meant it was relatively easy to ignore it and still spend the majority of my allotted stress-about-my-career-time reading studies stating that sitting at a desk all day was shaving years off my life.

The second round hit closer to home. Suddenly my solid job didn’t seem so solid. I responded by firing off a few applications for positions that looked okay, did a few interviews that went okay, and before long, settled back into the same old routine of doing my job.

This was a mistake. And I don’t mean I should’ve launched a massive job search at this point, because I truly believe getting laid off led me to make career choices that I never would’ve made otherwise. (And I’m certainly not the only person who feels that way.) But I do know that taking a few steps during this in-between time would’ve made that first unemployed week far less frightening.

So if you’re currently employed at an organization that feels a little shakier than you’d like it to feel (for the record, I like my companies to feel 0% shaky), I’d suggest taking these three simple steps.

1. START WARMING UP THE OLD NETWORK

You know what’s really un-fun after losing your job (besides having to think about what sad half-eaten stale snacks the person packing up your desk is finding in your drawer)? Sending awkward, “I just got laid off, know any openings?” emails to people you haven’t spoken to in a while.

You know what’s less awkward? Sending notes to those same people sans the scent of desperation.

For example, I wish I’d sent a message like this to a few old colleagues after the first round of layoffs at my company:

Hi,

How are you doing? That campaign you shared on LinkedIn last week looked really awesome. But you always were the graphics wizard at the office. I’m starting to think about making a job move and I’d love to grab a drink and talk about your experience working at Company X.

I’m free most nights after 7 p.m., let me know if any work for you in the next few weeks or two.

Looking forward to catching up,
Jenni

Meeting for coffees while you’re still employed doesn’t just make it less awkward to send out follow-up emails if you do actually lose your job. But it also means your conversation won’t just be a pity party full of inspirational quotes that leave you both repeating tired mantras about silver linings and turning lemons into lemonade. Instead, you’ll remind people why you’re so awesome. That way, if the worst happens, they’ll be far more eager to help you out in the way of leads and references.

 

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2. UPDATE YOUR RESUME AND LINKEDIN PROFILE

Ugh, I know. You were totally hoping that I wouldn’t say “resume.” But trust me when I say that spending a leisurely Saturday afternoon bringing yours up to speed is far less stressful than doing it in a hurry after losing your job because your cousin just sent you an opening that’s filling up so fast.

Plus, it’s much easier to remember your impressive accomplishments andquantify your bullet points when you have access to your files and inbox. Because it’s actually really hard to figure out exactly how many users you helped the website acquire when you can’t see the internal company spreadsheet that lays out the month-to-month growth oh-so-nicely.

Not to mention, you’ll be less likely to come up with bullet points like “Grew Facebook by 4 billion users, not that those selfish idiots appreciated it” if you’re in a good place mentally.

3. CREATE A BUDGET

First, I recommended you update your resume, then I asked you to create a budget. I know—I’m the worst. But hear me out. When you go from making any amount of money to none overnight, it’s really (really!) scary. And even if you have emergency savings for times just like this, it’s still a little nerve-wracking to actually start transferring those funds out. (Trust me, the moment when you have to do this, you’ll realize that you always assumed “emergency fund” was just a shorter way to say, “My life is together because I have an emergency fund, so I’ll never have to touch this.”)

Here’s what I suggest: Figure out how you spend your money each month. That’s it. Right now, you don’t need to change a thing when it comes to your spending habits. And tell you what, you can figure this out in any which way you like. Personally, I love Mint, but there are lots of budgeting apps out there. And if you don’t trust apps with your confidential information, people also swear by Excel.

Why do you need to do this? Because if you do find yourself unemployed, you’re going to very quickly need to make changes to your lifestyle. And it’ll be far easier (and therefore, way less anxiety-provoking) if you can determine right away what can be cut out. While the dinners and the drinks are obvious, it’s often the small things that will surprise you when you see how you spend your budget.

I waited until the very end to tell you the best part of taking these three steps. And it’s the fact that even if you never get laid off, they’ll only benefit you. Unless, of course, you’ve met the one person in the world who trudges around town, ruing that Saturday she spent updating her resume.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Muse and is reprinted with permission.

 

 FastCompany.com | JENNI MAIER, THE MUSE 09.30.16 5:00 AM

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Your #Career : Walmart Layoffs; Troubling Signs For White Collar Workers…Your Job — Whether you’re a Blue Collar Worker or from the Professional Class — Will always Be in Jeopardy. Sometimes, Like in the Case of the Recent Walmart Announcements, those Threats can Come as a Surprise.

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Redundancy and layoffs are typically worries for low-wage, blue-collar workers — at least these days. Technology and automation are creeping into the picture, and that has millions of workers on edge about the future of their jobs. But white-collar workers haven’t experienced the same anxieties, at least not to the same extent. Sure, white-collar employees face layoffs as well, but they’re typically less expendable and have a bit more job security.That may be changing, however, as some of the nation’s largest employers are starting to cut back not only on low-skilled workers but on those in the professional class as well. That is, it’s not only cashiers that may be on the chopping block. Accountants could be next.

They are next, in fact.

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LONDON - SEPTEMBER 15: Employees comfort each other outside Lehman Brothers' Canary Wharf office on September 15, 2008 in London, England. The fourth largest American investment bank has announced that it is filing for bankruptcy protection during a growing financial crisis. (Photo by Cate Gillon/Getty Images)

White collar workers faced layoffs at Lehman Brothers in 2008, and now they face them at Walmart

For proof, you need to look no further than America’s largest private employer, Walmart. The company recentlyannounced the layoffs of 7,000 back-office employees, mostly those working in accounting and invoicing. These jobs will now be handed off to automation systems, which Walmart had been experimenting with in several hundred of its stores prior to deciding to make the call.Walmart did say that the fired employees would have chances to remain with the company in other capacities.

Walmart layoffs

A woman at a closed Walmart trying to make sense of it all

A woman at a closed Walmart trying to make sense of it all | Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

7,000 employees being fired by the nation’s largest private employer isn’t that big of a deal, really. The company has earned a reputation for being an adversary of the working man, in many respects, and has had little troubleclosing entire stores on a whim due to talk of unionization, or other perceived dangers to its business model.

Wal-Mart says the move is being made in an effort to expend more resources in its stores themselves. Walmart has earned itself a reputation with American consumers, and though millions love shopping there, a large contingency also avoids its stores for a number of reasons. Facing increased competition from online options — Amazon, mostly — Walmart execs are trying to make their stores more pleasant to shop in, to lure consumers away from their computers and into brick-and-mortar locations.

With that comes a cut down on back-office staff, or those who aren’t helping them achieve that goal. This, from what is being reported, anyway.

This is more or less standard fare for a changing economy, though. Jobs are created and destroyed when new technologies or businesses are created. But it can’t or shouldn’t sit well with workers who felt that they had job security.

White collar jobs on the chopping block?

A white collar worker receives a rude notice regarding layoffs

A white collar worker receives a rude notice regarding layoffs | iStock.com

Let’s not lose perspective; we’re only talking about 7,000 jobs. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not an awful lot. But we’re not used to hearing about accountants or office workers getting the boot because they’ve been replaced by computers or technology — that’s something usually associated with fast food workers, or taxi drivers. Should white collar workers be worried?

Kind of. Sooner or later just about everything you can imagine will be automated to some degree. There are numerous jobs and industries that will soon be handed over to technologies, like long-haul trucking, for example. It’ll be a painful process, but people will find other jobs and other things to do. But the big difference here is that specialized skills — like those done by many white collar workers — are also being made redundant by technology.

It’s making the future seem a lot scarier, rather than awesome, for people who aren’t holding patents or intellectual property rights. How is one supposed to make a living in a future where human labor is widely unneeded? That, of course, is a bit hyperbolic, but it’s a conversation that needs to start somewhere.

The best option may be to just suck out as much wealth from the system as possible and run — as the folks running for-profit education company ITT Tech recently did.

The key is to stay ahead of the game and know what skills are going to be in demand in the future. You’ve heard it before, but here it is again: Learn a skill — a skill that commands value. As anyone can tell you these days, even a college degree isn’t going to get you much unless you can do something with it.

Your job — whether you’re a blue collar worker or from the professional class — will always be in jeopardy. Sometimes, like in the case of the recent Walmart announcements, those threats can come as a surprise.

Follow Sam on Twitter @Sliceofginger and Facebook

 

 CheatSheet.com | September 11, 2016 | Sam Elliott

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Your #Career : 25 Signs your Company is About to Conduct Mass Layoffs…If you Notice a Combination of these Signs in your Own Company, it May be Time to Start Looking for a New Job.

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In my career as a journalist, I’ve lived through two rounds of mass layoffs. While I didn’t see either of them coming, hindsight is always 20/20, and I now have a much better sense for when the tides are changing.

Row of People viewed from Outside

To get a better understanding of the signs that layoffs are coming, I polled others who’ve been through them, scoured the news about high-profile mass layoffs, and crawled the depths of the internet.

If you notice a combination of these signs in your own company, it may be time to start looking for a new job.

The most obvious sign: Executives confirm layoffs are coming

The most obvious sign: Executives confirm layoffs are coming

Kimberly White/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

Last year, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and ESPN’s John Skipper sent memos to employees detailing imminent layoffs.

 

 

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Executives hint at layoffs using other terms, like ‘restructuring’

Executives hint at layoffs using other terms, like 'restructuring'

Reuters

HP, which has been going through layoffs since 2008, proves there are many indirect ways of saying “layoffs.”

CEO Meg Whitman and other HP executives have used terms like “downsizing,” “restructuring,” “reorganizing,” “incremental synergies,” “offshoring,” and “streamlining.”

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich used the term “headcount reductions” in an email he sent to employees about rumored layoffs.

And IBM has referred to layoffs as “workforce rebalancing.”

If you hear or see these terms bandied about, it’s time to brace yourself.

Your company gives you a ‘non-negotiable’ job offer

Your company gives you a 'non-negotiable' job offer

http://www.businessinsider.com/cms/posts/edit?id=50abddf3eab8eab77c000009

If you don’t take the non-negotiable job offer, you will get laid off.

Last year, HP gave a group of several hundred employees in its struggling enterprise-services unit an unusual ultimatum: Either take the new job we’ve lined up for you — or get laid off without severance.

A WARN notice has been issued

A WARN notice has been issued

New York Department of Labor WARN notice

If more than 250 full-time employees are being laid off, or if 25 or more full-time employees are being laid off and this constitutes 33% of all workers at the site, a company must file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) with the state’s Department of Labor 90 days prior to the layoffs.

This is public information that can be found on a state’s DOL website. As an example, here’s the New York site.

Your company’s IPO flops

Your company's IPO flops

YouTube / Margin Call trailer

As Business Insider’s Alexei Oreskovic reports, layoffs are often a symptom of a souring market. If your company’s IPO flops, it could be a sign layoffs are coming.

Your company is hiring too fast

Your company is hiring too fast

REUTERS/Stringer

For a while, Groupon was the world’s fastest-growing company.

When the company opened its offices in Korea just two and a half years after launching, it hired 300 people in a week by pulling them in off the street, The Telegraph reports. At the time the company had already expanded to more than 40 countries.

Last year, however, the company announced it would lay off 1,100 people and would close operations in seven countries.

When a company grows rapidly, it risks overshooting its needs, and may eventually be forced to make tough decisions. However, there are many successful companies that grow rapidly, hire aggressively, and then settle down.

Your company gets acquired or merges with another

Your company gets acquired or merges with another

Thomson Reuters

After Kraft and Heinz merged last year, it announced that the combined company would cut 2,500 jobs, Fortune reports.

Mergers frequently lead to layoffs. As Business Insider has written, “synergy” is the one word that should terrify employees: “Synergy is what you get when you eliminate redundancies in your efforts to cut costs.”

There’s already been a round of layoffs

There's already been a round of layoffs

REUTERS/Joshua Lott

The first round of layoffs is rarely the last.

Your access to work accounts is denied

View image on TwitterView image on Twitter

 

Higher-ups start quitting

Higher-ups start quitting

Margin Call screenshot

Senior managers are usually privy to what’s going on at the top. Pay attention if they start heading for the exits.

The discretionary stuff starts to go

The discretionary stuff starts to go

Sergio Vassio Photography/flickr

Fewer parties and happy hours, less and cheaper food and drinks in the kitchen, no more expensed lunch for meetings, stingy vacation time — these could all be signs that the end is nigh.

Company bills aren’t getting paid

Company bills aren't getting paid

PROAlan Levine/flickr

“I started receiving emails from clients about bills that had gone unpaid,” said one worker who’d been through layoffs. “I thought the accounts team had just missed paying them, but looking back, that was a sign we were in financial trouble with nothing left in the bank.”

 

The uprooting of plants

The uprooting of plants

Tim Lucas/flickr

“No matter how secret an upcoming round of layoffs may be, the seal is never 100% rumor-tight. There’s always one old-school veteran who knows something,” writes Evany Thomas, a brand writer and content strategist at Pinterest, who details getting laid off twice in a Medium post.

“And the way you can tell they know is that they start bringing home all their accumulated personal belongings in easy-to-manage nightly shipments. Starting with their plants.”

Conference rooms are booked by HR all day

Conference rooms are booked by HR all day

Thomson Reuters

Whenever conference rooms are booked all day by your company’s human-resources department, it’s a sign that big changes are coming, and they’re probably not good.

Good news like bonuses and raises can be delivered individually in a number of ways. But HR folks prefer to deliver bad news like layoffs behind closed doors.

Some Yahoo employees reportedly knew layoffs were coming last year: “Employees saw it coming when on getting to work two to three conference rooms in every floor were suddenly reserved for HR with all previously scheduled meetings in the room canceled,” one source told Business Insider.

All managers are suddenly pulled into a series of meetings that span a few days

All managers are suddenly pulled into a series of meetings that span a few days

Flickr/Sebastiaan ter Burg

Cornett says this is another sign layoffs are in the works. And if managers find it difficult to directly answer questions about what is going on with all the meetings, this could serve as confirmation.

 

There are more tissue boxes than usual

There are more tissue boxes than usual

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Your office managers could just be stepping up their allergy-season game, but if these tissue boxes are conveniently stacked up in conference rooms — especially ones that are booked by HR — chances are some bad news is on the horizon.

There are a lot of empty boxes around.

There are a lot of empty boxes around.

rick/flickr

Unless you missed the memo that you’re moving to a nicer office, odds are those boxes aren’t a pleasant surprise.

Upper management avoids your gaze

Upper management avoids your gaze

Shutterstock

“When I got let go from Friendster, I was blindsided. I totally failed to see it coming,” Thomas writes.

“When all of us let-goners went out for the traditional post-layoff drinks, everybody teased me for missing the signs. ‘You mean you didn’t notice that upper management had stopped making eye contact weeks ago? Amateur.'”

 

You stop getting invited to important meetings

You stop getting invited to important meetings

Dotshock/Shuttershock

“It’s usually a sign that you will personally be laid off when senior management postpones a meeting with you that they usually accept or you stop receiving invitations to meetings for long-term planning or where confidential/strategic information will be discussed,” Cornett writes.

 

 

Businessinsider.com | August 9, 2016 | 

 

 

Your #Career : 3 Important Things to Do Before you Leave your Job…So, Before Making any Rash Decisions, you Should Have a Plan in Place for Transitioning into a New Role.

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In today’s world, it’s more common than ever for people to make fast career changes. You may not be looking to make any changes today, but at some point, you’re going to want to start a new venture.

fired-layoffs-let-go-box-leaving-work-3

Whether you’re thinking about resigning or planning to sell your business, taking the first steps is the hardest part of your exit strategy.

Related: The 10 Telltale Signs It’s Time to Quit Your Job

So, before making any rash decisions, you should have a plan in place for transitioning into a new role.

Here are three things you can do before leaving a job:

1. Evaluate the risk and opportunities

There are a variety of reasons for leaving a job or selling a business. You might have other opportunities waiting on the horizon that you’re eager to pursue. Or possibly you’re tired of your current role. Maybe you’re looking for a change of pace.

As you begin to consider your options, make sure to evaluate both the risks and opportunities. Don’t forget that work is work, no matter what role you’re looking to move into. You will have both good days and bad days at your new job.

On the risk side of things, have you been saving up? Do you have a good amount of money stored away for a rainy day? A transition into a new role can be difficult and even costly. And in a world with no guarantees, that job you thought you had lined up may not pan out by the time you’re ready to pursue it. If you’re dependent on your employment income, then make sure you have a comfortable nest egg before putting in your notice.

As for opportunity, what exactly are you planning on doing next? Do you have a clear idea? Do you have a new job lined up, and do you have a backup plan in case it doesn’t work out? Will you be getting an increase in salary at your new position? Will your new job be more enjoyable and fulfilling than your last? Do you have a long-term plan for your career progression? Will you be learning new skills that will help you expand your opportunities?

Don’t get too caught up in the excitement of moving into a new position, as it can blind you to the potential risks and opportunities that exist.

Related: 9 Reasons to Quit Your Job As Soon As You Can

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2. Tie up loose ends

Many people tend to “check out” before they’ve even handed in their two weeks’ notice.

As hard as it may be, try to stay engaged in your work as you are wrapping up your term. Check in with a manager on a daily basis if you need some motivation. Also make a list of everything that needs to get done before you leave.

There is the possibility that your projects and tasks will be taken over by coworkers before you officially leave, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take responsibility for what you’ve already started and agreed to do. If you have the opportunity, delegate smaller tasks so you can focus on your top priorities and see them to completion.

Keep a line of communication open with management and coworkers. There may be those who need to hear directly from you — don’t leave them in the dark about your decision to move on to new opportunities. Get in touch with clients if you need to, and share the news with coworkers or managers who need to be in the loop.

This should help you establish clarity around what you need to do before moving on. Your former employer will appreciate it if you leave your tasks in capable hands, instead of leaving a trail of incomplete assignments and appointments your co-workers need to chase down.

It’s also best to leave on a good note. If you game-plan and communicate who is going to handle your tasks while your manager looks for your replacement, you’re likely to form a lasting, positive relationship with your former employer — and you very well may need that for a good recommendation later on.

3. Clean, purge and organize

Make an effort to leave your office, desk or working space in good shape before making your exit.

Start separating out your personal possessions — family pictures, stationery, electronics — into boxes. Don’t forget about your personal files on your work computer. Back up whatever information you need: documents, music, pictures and so on — and save it on an external hard drive or thumb drive. Don’t touch sensitive company data or save it for personal purposes. Only keep contacts with whom you’ve personally built a relationship.

Get rid of old files or memos that no longer hold any relevance. Archive important documents that belong to the business. Pass on other relevant documents to your co-workers if they need them.

Throw away any trash and wipe away any dust and dirt. Discreetly remove T-shirts, mugs and other swag from your desk and put these items away.

There is the chance that you won’t have much time to clean, purge and organize. Sometimes, when people quit their jobs (particularly sales positions), they are escorted out of the building in fairly short order. If you don’t have much time, just prioritize what matters most to you so you can be on your way.

Even if your boss is away, he or she should be able to trust you to get your desk in order before you leave, so you can make a smooth exit. But “smooth” largely depends on the amount of trust you’ve built up with other people in the company while you were working with them.

There may be other steps you need to take to make a smooth exit from your job. The exact nature of your work is a factor here, as is your relationship with coworkers, management and your boss.

Related: 5 Steps to Take Before Quitting Your Job to Become an Entrepreneur

Don’t forget: It’s best not to burn bridges unnecessarily. It is possible to leave a job in an honorable way. You can also give your employer feedback on any issues that may be at the root of your departure. Providing this information at an exit interview is often valuable in improving the company’s operations, so long as it’s constructive and specific. After all, you never know when you might want to go back. 

Read the original article on Entrepreneur. Copyright 1969. Follow Entrepreneur on Twitter.

Businessinsider.com | April 22, 2016 | Thomas Smale, Entrepreneur