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> If you are laid off, the most important thing to
> remember is -- don't
> take it personally. I sat through many meetings with
> department
> heads while they discussed who would/would not keep
> their jobs.
> And bottom line? They were clueless
I have to disagree in part. It *is* personal in how it
affects you. In a layoff, unless it actually is a
thinning out of the deadwood, there is often very
little logic to who stays and who goes. Why? Like you
said, they're clueless, which is why it's personal in
a way. Those who make the layoff decisions *should*
know who to keep and who to get rid of. That's their
job, just like it's our job to know what information
needs to be supplied to whom. In a way, those laid off
are victims to others inabilities to do their job
correctly, whether it's knowing their business plan,
knowing the market, knowing how to grow a company, or
whatever. You can't help but make it personal,
especially if you were a hard worker who had the
misfortune of losing your job.
The key is not to let it eat at you. Just as you
develop skills to do your job well, you need to build
skills to ensure that if the unfortunate happens, you
can quickly pick up and move on.
I've been through it twice. If you can't pick up and
move on, you're in a pretty bad place. Don't dwell on
your misfortune, but also don't kid yourself that it
was no one's fault or it doesn't affect you
personally. In a layoff you lose your job because of
someone else's incompetence. The trick is to
acknowledge that, learn from it, and be able to look
for it next time.
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