Big Book of Job-Hunting Hacks

A typical day goes something like this for most workers. Wake up at six. Breakfast at seven. Report to work at eight. Do your thing until noon, with a break for coffee at ten. Lunch at twelve. Return to work at one and slug it out through the rest of the afternoon. Leave work at five and return home. Alternatively, on some days you might go shopping or for a drink with friends. Dinner at six. Then spend some quality time with the children, watch TV, or read a book. Maybe go to a movie with your spouse or partner. Go to bed between ten and eleven. This routine continues indefinitely until something else happens at work, usually late in the afternoon, near quitting time.

That something else emerges like this. At 3:00 p.m. your boss invites you to the office of the human resources director for a chat. A bit unusual but nothing to worry about, you think. You know the HR director: nice woman, understanding, supportive. They call her Mrs. Friendly. Nothing to worry about. Probably some change in office routine or maybe a new office. Maybe an out-of-sequence performance evaluation. Maybe a promotion. Maybe a change in health benefits. She is all smiles, and so is your boss who closes the door. Mrs. Friendly asks you to sit down in the chair in front of her desk. Your boss sits down beside you. Here’s what happens next.

Your boss begins the chat saying something like this. “Joe, you have really made a solid contribution to the company, and we appreciate it. You were great. Always on time. Job requirements fulfilled. Good leadership potential. Nice job, Joe!” So far, so good. But why are your palms feeling a bit clammy? And what did the boss mean by “were great”?

Mrs. Friendly says, “Yes, Joe. I echo all of what your boss said. And I do like your last performance review. Nice job, and we thank you.” Hey, you think. How nice of them to single me out for some well-deserved recognition after three years on the job.

She continues, “Joe, don’t take personally what I’m going to say next because it has nothing to do with you. And I really mean that. However, the CEO and the president believe the company needs to cut expenses as we head into the next quarter. Unfortunately, the highest company expense is employee compensation. In order to save money and maintain profitability, we are having a reduction in force. So, Joe, we have to make some cuts, and it really pains me to tell you that we have decided to eliminate your position.” Your boss nods his head in agreement. “And so, today is your last day working here, Joe. I’m truly sorry.”

Then Mrs. Friendly hands you an envelope and says, “Joe, enclosed are your severance benefits that include your COBRA options, a check for your two remaining paid holidays for this year, and a check for three weeks of base salary, one week for each of the three years you worked with us. I know you will be happy with that. Your wife will be, too.”

Now your boss chimes in: “Joe. I could not be more upset to see you go, but it happens sometimes. I’ll give you a good recommendation. You will probably find something else very soon. Look, it’s only 3:30, but you can leave early today. I’ll walk you back to your office and wait while you collect your personal belongings and then escort you out of the building. Oh, by the way, we have already eliminated your company e-mail address and shut down your company cell phone. And Ed, the security officer, will walk us to your car. Nothing personal. Just company procedure. Routine, Joe.”

You don’t know what to say to your boss or Mrs. Friendly. You are shocked into silence. In addition, you are humiliated because you feel the eyes of your coworkers sneaking peeks at you from their cubicles. You collect your personal items, including pictures of your wife and fifteen-month-old daughter, and walk out of the building in a daze, accompanied by the security officer and your former boss. You are hurt . . . hurt so much that your hands are trembling and you are mad as hell and humiliated in the extreme.

And you wonder out loud, “Why didn’t my colleague, Marsha, get sacked like I did? And what about Bill? He’s still there. All of us had comparable jobs in the marketing department. What am I going to tell my wife? I didn’t do anything wrong, so why did they let me go? Was I fired? Laid off? What’s going on here? Maybe I should get an attorney to sort this out.”

Does it really happen like that? Count on it. On any given day, thousands of workers will be fired just as you were. Use any euphemism you want, but when your employer tells you to leave the premises, consider yourself fired. However, you can use laid off or let go if it makes you feel better.

So what’s next, Mr. Fired? First, it means finding another job in order to put food on the table for you, your wife, and your kid. And a roof over your head for you, your wife, and your kid. And clothing for you, your wife, and your kid. In addition, it means collecting your unemployment compensation check each month, with embarrassment. By God, you never imagined that you would be on welfare! A college degree was supposed to prevent this from occurring. Now what, food stamps? Section 8 housing? A government cell phone? Medicaid? Asking friends and family for a long-term, no-interest loan?

The first next step means finding another job—any job, you believe, to stop the nightmare. This means going through the job-hunting process again, a hated activity that keeps you awake nights. Résumés? Interviews? Rejection? Who needs it! You get advice from everyone: your spouse, your friends, your industry network, your neighbors, and those irritating bloggers who tell you that finding another job is just a matter of crafting a dynamite résumé, which they will do for a price. And so you sit at your computer day in and day out scouring the job boards and firing off your brilliant résumé to places like Box 21, Position 47, and Employment Manager. The result? Nothing. Might as well send your brilliant piece of dynamite to the third ring of the planet Saturn.

Finding new employment is not just a matter of creating a résumé and firing it off to multiple job boards. It is a multistep process that requires your patience, time, and understanding.

In a US News and World Report article, Alison Green lists ten things to do immediately after being let go:

• Don’t panic.

• Don’t freak out.

• Don’t do anything rash.

• Don’t sign a severance agreement immediately.

• Negotiate how your departure will be described.

• Look over your finances.

• File for unemployment.

• Plan to keep in touch with clients and coworkers.

• Remain objective.

• Remember that you’re not alone.

This list is a good starting point to rebuilding your career. Consider it a bit of first aid to get past the initial trauma. The last bullet point is something to always keep in mind as you navigate the rest of your working years. Today, as you are reading this page, thousands of workers will get laid off just as you did . . . through no fault of their own. Being laid off, being fired, and being hired are just impersonal events in the world of business. (This brings to mind my experience, being laid off in a company-wide conference call. Laid off by phone? It does not get more impersonal than that.)

We hear so much from the pundits, financial gurus, and national media about companies letting go thousands of workers at a crack. One might think that the US economy is in a constant state of recession. Reality, however, is much different. Workers are let go for a number of reasons, all of which have to do with the numbers. A look at the reasons why workers are laid off will set the record straight.

Learning why workers are laid off is important not only for those out of work now, but also for those still working because one never knows when the ax will fall. Going forward, you will be looking for good job opportunities, not just any job. This requires information about how employers operate, why they do what they do—like lay off ten thousand workers at a crack. The last thing you need is to jump into another job that will disappear in six months. To avoid that potential tragedy, you need to do your homework while you are unemployed, or still employed and preparing for what could happen on any work day at 3:30 p.m.

One could argue night and day about why workers are laid off or fired. You hear one story from the academics, another from business executives, another from the talking heads on the financial channels, and still another from politicians. And do not forget the chatter on social media. To cut through the hype, let’s go to the numbers.

Workers are constantly being downsized, reorganized, or rightsized. For example, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that approximately 55,000 workers are fired or laid off each day. That’s approximately 20 million per year! On the plus side, millions of workers will be hired each day. Because of this constant churning in the workplace, workers will change jobs an average of six times during their working years.

The American workplace employs over 155 million workers, making our workforce alone the world’s eighth largest “country.” There are many moving parts in the workplace, some working in sync and others fighting against one another. Employers are constantly revising plans, merging, acquiring competitors, moving operations to another country, going into bankruptcy, and going out of business. All of this means that workers are going to lose their jobs. For you, the laid-off worker, it is important to remember that being let go is usually not about you personally. It’s about an employer fighting to survive and remain profitable.

Daily, we hear the pundits, talking heads, and media gurus screaming about one of their favorite topics—the unemployment rate. To hear them talk, one would think that America is heading for financial disaster with unemployment taking a leading role. The numbers help us sort fact from fiction. And they will help you understand why you got that sorrowful “good-bye, Joe” from the human resources director at 3:30 p.m. on a day you were not expecting it.

The average rate of unemployment in the United States since the Great Depression has been approximately 6 percent. Many economists interpret that to mean that an employment rate of 94 percent is truly full employment. Since 1970, our lowest rate of unemployment was 3.8 percent in 2019, and the highest was 10 percent in 2009.

The three main causes for unemployment are seasonal unemployment, when workers are laid off because of bad weather; structural unemployment, when workers are laid off because their jobs are replaced by technology; and cyclical unemployment, when workers are laid off because of changes in the economy, such as a recession that weakens consumer demand for products and services. These three causes of unemployment will always be present. There will never be such a thing as 0 percent unemployment.

The numbers tell us that America has an average employment rate of 94 percent. If workers in America claim they can’t find work, it is not the fault of the president, elected officials, their teachers, or their mothers and fathers. The fault lies with them alone. If you really want a job, it is there for the taking—if you use the rules for job hunting in this book and other resources.

1. Reduction in force. Businesses exist to make money. If they make money, they remain in business and grow, which results in more hiring. This applies to for-profit and nonprofit businesses alike. If a company does not make money after deducting expenses and taxes, it will go out of business and workers will lose their jobs. To maintain profitability, companies are constantly adjusting the size of their staff. For example, when a fast-food company like McDonald’s experiences a downturn in profits over a period of two or more quarters, it will downsize its staff. The result? Massive layoffs. This process is frequently called a reduction in force, an RIF. Those laid off in this process are referred to as having been riffed.

2. Mergers. Tens of thousands of companies combine forces each year for a variety of reasons. When two companies merge their operations, workers are laid off. For example, when company A and company B merge, the new company C will need only one vice president of sales. The result? One of the VPs from A or B will be laid off.

3. Acquisitions. You hear it every day. “Company X buys company Y.” Again, when two companies are combined into one, workers are laid off to prevent duplication of services. Also, businesses sometimes sell only their products or services. The result? Massive layoffs occur because the acquiring company does not take the employees, only the products. It is called an asset acquisition.

4. Trade deals that send jobs overseas. Staff employees are usually the last to hear that their American employer cut a deal to have their products manufactured in a foreign country. It is only after the layoffs that workers learn their jobs were lost because the company’s products can be made more cheaply outside of the United States. The same applies to services. For example, when was the last time you spoke to an American-based customer service worker? And what is the country of origin of your new pair of Nike shoes?

5. Bankruptcies. When a company is consistently unprofitable, it uses the business tactic called bankruptcy to pay off creditors. When a company files for bankruptcy, what usually follows is a reorganization, which results in massive layoffs.

6. Reorganizations. Periodically, companies reorganize to improve day-to-day operations. For example, General Electric moved its corporate home office from Connecticut to Massachusetts. GE offered to relocate workers with key positions, but this was not acceptable for those firmly rooted in Connecticut. Those who did not accept that offer were laid off along with workers in support positions. The same thing happened to workers employed by Merck in some of its New Jersey offices. When the company decided to relocate some operations to other states, many workers were laid off. Frequently, it is less costly for companies to lay off workers and hire new talent in the new location.

When you are seeking a new job, it is prudent to learn as much as you can about a potential employer’s plans going forward. This information is available from company press releases, from TV interviews with company executives, and from company hiring managers during interviews for a new position.

Being fired or laid off is a traumatic experience, one like no other for a midcareer worker with financial and family responsibilities. All workers who have been let go, regardless of the reason, experience several stages of grieving, and it is of paramount importance to deal with this process as soon as possible. In the next chapter, we will identify the various stages of grieving and provide help for moving through them as quickly as possible.

Berman, Karen, and Joe Knight. Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean. Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.