"An organization could be extremely merciless when firing employees".2021 - 2023 is a crazy time: global pandemic, financial crisis, the Great Resignations, the Great Layoffs. I believe it will not stop here. In the future, there could be even more things like that with greater affects. This article pays more attention to the Great Layoffs because its author was also laid off recently lol. Being in that situation is not good but from the other side, it gives us a valuable experience to deal with similar situation in the future.
What is the Great Layoffs? I don’t think I need to explain what it is because we can find it everywhere (e.g. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/view-half-a-million-job-cuts-could-be-just-the-start/articleshow/99229769.cms). Let’s discuss more about what to do after that.
The first thing is “keep calm”. Being panic or getting out of control is just useless. Those things will just keep you down and do not resolve anything. Someone even perform negative actions against their employers. Again, it does not help, just moving forwad. Don’t let your mood down. In the first days, you can tried several things that you haven’t had chances to do before. Maybe you can spend more time on your hobbies (for myself, I enjoyed playing with Gundam, Lego etc). Another choice is traveling. Traveling with your family or your friends is a great way to relax. Or just buying something you like. For me, after being laid off, I spent more money than before :D . Believe or not, shopping (or just spend some money) is a greay way to relieve stress.
After relaxing for a while, it’s time to come back to the real life. There are two options in this case: finding the next job or start your own business. Starting your own business is a break-through and it might be good or bad (you can become a millionaire or you can become bankrupted). Therefore, think twice and make sure that you have everything you need. While starting a business is risky, the most common option is finding a new job which is similar to your previous job (or not). If you cannot find a new job after some weeks, it’s time to review and re-evaluate your skills. Maybe your skills are out-dated and it’s time to learn new ones or try to keep up-to-date with the latest trends. Being up-to-date is also a way to better deal with similar situations in the future. You have some free time now, use it wisely. You can look at the job descriptions in the market to see which skills the companies are looking for and enhance your skills. Finding a job is a chance to refresh and recalibrate yourself. I know several people who work for a company very long time and just do what they do everyday without improving themselves. And then, they are laid off and it’s extremely difficult for those people to find a new job. Some of them spent months to find a suitable job while some others have to change to something different from what they did and it’s not they like. Therefore, keep improving youself day-by-day is always a smart mindset. And who know, after being laid off, you could find another job with is much more better than before.
Last but not least, don’t be hurry. The pressure of finding a new job to take care of your family and pay your debt might lead to hasty decisions. Don’t just accept the first offer that comes to you. Instead of that, it’s better to explore different opportunities, put everything on the table and choose the best fit for you. It’s a pity if some good chance coming to you but you cannot take it because you already accepted another offer and cannot reverse your decision. So, keep calm and set a high bar!
Remember: no matter how difficult the situation is, the best way to deal with a crisis is keeping a positive attitude because it’s a “plus”.
Keep calm and good things will come!
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