During the early days of the pandemic and throughout 2022 and 2023, there has been a steady flow of layoff announcements.
Losing one’s job can be an extremely difficult and emotionally taxing experience for many people. Layoffs can negatively impact nearly all aspects of life and require time and support to process the loss.
A downsized person can go through the gamut of emotions—shock, disbelief, sadness and anger. For those lacking a financial safety net, the job loss can be traumatic for the impacted person and their family.
It’s natural to grieve the loss, as professionals often wrap their identities in their jobs. Once you lose your job, you don’t know who you are anymore. You lose your work wife or husband and friendly co-workers, whether in the office or remote.
In a tough job market, finding a new opportunity may take a while. Anxiety over all of your expenses sets in. Unemployment benefits help, but aren’t equal to wages. Your self-esteem is shattered, and you feel untethered from reality. There’s a loss of purpose. Your daily routine is thrown off kilter, and you’re unsure what to do with yourself.
Depression And Doubts
Over time, depression may sink in, especially if you are draining your nest egg and the dozens of résumés submitted don’t result in interview requests. It’s compounded by being alone and not getting many interviews, and the ones you go on, you get ghosted or not asked to return for further meetings.
Instead of telling family, friends, former co-workers, neighbors and others in their network and community, many people shrink away from social events, as they feel ashamed and embarrassed to discuss the job loss. Unfortunately, this is one of the worst things to do, as you need to let others know you are in between jobs so that people can help you.
Being long-term unemployed is brutal. Job seekers face blatant discrimination throughout the job search process. Companies sometimes look unfavorably at applicants between jobs for six months or longer.
Interviewers look askance at the unemployed applicant and demand to know why they haven’t found a job yet. Hiring managers will wonder if the job seeker did something wrong, was a poor performer, a problematic employee or committed a heinous act that made other companies pass on hiring them.
Workers in most states are eligible for up to 26 weeks of benefits from the regular state-funded unemployment compensation. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics defines long-term unemployment as jobless for 27 weeks or more. As of August 2023, the number of long-term unemployed in the U.S. was 1.3 million, which accounted for 20.3% of all unemployed persons.
Breaking The Taboo Of Talking About Long-Term Unemployment And Finances
Wendy Turner-Williams is the former chief data and artificial intelligence officer at Tableau, a division of tech giant Salesforce. Turner-Williams joined Tableau after several years with parent company Salesforce, leading the global information management and data strategy program. Before that, she worked at Microsoft on the cloud and enterprise analytics team. Turner-Williams has over 20 years of management experience, spanning multiple business sectors. She was downsized by Tableau in November 2022.
In a LinkedIn post last week, Turner-Williams wrote about her job loss and the taboo topic of money, “I went from the brink of a promotion to 11 months now without a job.” She continued, “While I had a C-suite title, I did not have a golden parachute. I had worked my way up to the title internally. We all know the job market is tough, but executive roles are a slow drip even in a good market.”
Turner-Williams wrote about her struggles after being downsized, “Layoffs are more than job losses; they entail profound losses of self-identity, income and crucial benefits, including healthcare. Each of these can lead to sleepless nights and immense stress.”
Turner-Williams, the sole provider for her family, shared that she’s at the end of her financial rope and at risk of losing her “forever home.” She has made the difficult decision to start selling personal belongings to help bring in much-needed cash to provide for her family of six.
Looking To The Future
If you have been laid off, you must learn to accept what has happened and forgive yourself and the people who let you go. Building a plan to jump back into the job search is essential, keeping your options open and giving it everything you’ve got.
Consider reinventing yourself by learning new skills and pivoting to a new career. Taking control where possible boosts resilience. It is important to leverage your support system of family, friends and career counselors. Additionally, networking is critical to rebuilding confidence and limiting despair. To move forward, reframe your job loss as an opportunity. Focus your energy on the next step and create structure and routine to help regain positivity.
Turner-Williams is not giving up—just the opposite. As the white-collar job market for senior-level professionals is weak, she’s taking things into her own hands by building a startup company called TheAssociation.AI. Her platform will focus on bridging the disciplines of AI, data, privacy, ethics and the regulation of automation, machine learning and security.
“The emotional, mental and financial blow of a layoff can be all-encompassing, but it can also be a blessing in disguise. After many months of self-reflection, I’ve realized the type of work that brings me joy, and luckily, it also enables me to serve others,” Turner-Williams said of her renewed mindset and purpose-driven work.
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