My Lay Off Story…

A text I got from a coworker while we were getting laid off.

I got laid off

I cried

I got to work.

Sharing my story of getting canned!

I was embarrassed for so long after getting laid off. I was experiencing so many emotions I’d never processed as a 22 year old who had never been so much as reprimanded at work before. I constantly made jokes to try to lessen how confusing the time was for me (one of those jokes got 1.6 million views on TikTok LOL.) Amidst this all, I quickly realized nobody prepares you for something like a layoff, so I wanted to share my experience to hopefully help someone who might go through something similar. 

I was a cocky college graduate working for a little start-up as an Account Executive. If you’re not in sales, AE’s are the big dogs. Usually, the people with years of experience, who had worked their way up into a position where they no longer have to prospect, cold call, or get hung up on constantly….. they are senior enough to close the deals. I had less than one year of experience and came into this position super excited about what it could do for my future. Was being hired as an AE with such litte experience a red flag? Yes, but I was 22 and just excited to see an offer letter. When I started,  I immediately fell in love with my team and the culture of this company. Although the product wasn’t launched yet, and I wasn’t selling anything, I seriously looked forward to interacting with my coworkers every day. I met ten of the most amazing humans, all of whom proved to be a great support system after the layoff, and people I still consider amazing friends today. 

Now, back to the layoff!

I got pulled into a Zoom meeting at 6pm and was told my entire department was no longer needed. My heart ached for myself, and the stability I had just lost, but it was devastating to think about the parents on my team who needed this paycheck more than I can imagine. We all started dropping our phone numbers in the Zoom chat because they had turned off our access to all platforms during the meeting. My team created a group chat where we processed our emotions, referred each other to jobs, wished each other good luck before every interview, and congratulated each other when finally, one by one, we all received job offers.  

This was a serious blow to my conceptualized reality. 

I thought I had it all figured out! I had a stable job, income, savings account, and paid my own bills. I realize this is basic life for most people, but it felt really good to be “doing it all” 6 months after graduating from college. But here I was with extreme anxiety to find a new job, trying to convince myself I wasn’t a complete loser. I drove to my parent's house to find some comfort, and the next day I got to job hunting!

I woke up with a pit in my stomach but a mindset to apply to 50 jobs a day until I had one. Within two weeks I had 5-10 interviews per week. Within 3 months, I had multiple offers (and had negotiated them all like a big girl!) I had countless Google docs on interview questions, tips, and research on each individual company I had interviewed with. I had grown my LinkedIn connections from 100 to 500+. This is not to highlight what I did as a form of self-boasting; instead, it is to highlight what needed to happen after getting laid off. 

Nobody is ready for the feelings that come after losing a job. Nobody is (completely) ready for the financial blow. Nobody is ready to lose their coworkers who they have grown to love. Nobody is ever prepared. A layoff was something that was so far removed from my 22-year-old mind, I thought it could never happen to me. But I’m so glad it did. Ultimately, I landed an even better job, and one that  I would never have looked for had I not been laid off. But most importantly, I learned that nothing is permanent and I was able to process something in my early twenties that will prove to be life long learning lesson.  I am no longer embarrassed to say I got laid off. I still make jokes about it all the time but I chalk that up to the way my generation responds to adversity. 

If you have experienced a layoff recently, my heart goes out to you. Please feel free to message me - whether you need support, interview/resume tips, or to see if I can point you in the direction of someone I know who can help you network. I’m extremely grateful for the people I had around me during this hard time and I would love to lend a helping hand where I can!  The support we give is often as beneficial to us as the support we receive from others. Let me know if I can help!