I Think My Employer Is Circling The Drain... What Do I Do?

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For every company that makes headlines for its amazing stock price increases, there are others that don’t survive to see another day.

In 1991, Drexel Burnham was a wildly profitable multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy by the New York Federal Reserve and the Securities Exchange Commission for illegal insider trading in the junk bond market. At the time of its insolvency, Drexel Burnham had 10,000 employees worldwide. One day they were working for the 5th largest investment bank in the United States and the next day they were in the unemployment line. Ten years later, Texas-based energy, commodities, and services company Enron collapsed; subsequently Enron’s accounting firm, Arthur Andersen, was dissolved because and its 28,000 employees had to move on. Then there was Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns in 2008, followed by Dynegy in 2012 and Theranos in 2018. Today, it is FTX.

Every year companies go down the drain. They can be global conglomerates with tens of thousands of employees or the “Mom and Pop” restaurant on the corner. What binds them is that people are thrown out of work, and if you have ever been part of a corporate meltdown, you know it often happens in slow motion. Long before the lights are turned off and the doors are locked people know an epic collapse is on the way. 

If you suspect your company is going down the drain, what should you do? 

• Don’t panic. Take a deep breath. It’s not your fault the company is failing (we hope) and the company’s fate should not adversely affect your professional standing. Uncertainty about your livelihood, financial security, and future is serious business, and the best thing you can do is remain as even tempered as possible. Try and avoid rash decisions. Proceed with prudence and professionalism.

• Assess the environment. Do not rely on whispers, rumors, or media reports about the fate of your company. Do your due diligence and get the facts. You cannot make an informed decision about your future if you are not informed. For example, let us say your company is headed for bankruptcy. Which kind? Chapter 7 is a complete shutdown. Chances are you will not have a job for too much longer. But if it is Chapter 11, a reorganization and sale, you may survive (if you wish). 

• Get your financial house in order. If things are looking grim, now may not be the time to buy a new sports car or take that vacation in Bali. Until your situation is less ambiguous consider a more conservative lifestyle to make whatever transition is on the way easier and less stressful.

• Decide your play. If your company is going down the drain, you have three potential plays – swim, sink, or hold.

  • Swim: You do not wait to see what will happen and get out as soon as possible.

  • Sink: You go down the drain with the company. Perhaps you need every penny of salary or severance. Maybe you are in a role that will guide the company in its final days and have been offered a lucrative retention to stay until the bitter end. Whatever the case, you’ll be the one to turn off the lights and lock the doors.

  • Hold: This is a form of intentional self-paralysis. You can sit back and watch the train wreck. Maybe it’s bad for you, maybe it’s not. You let it, whatever it may be, happen and let events dictate your next move. 

• And, of course, prepare for a job search. You know the drill. Update your resume. Update your LinkedIn profile. Create a profile and upload your updated resume to applicable job boards. Get your interview clothes ready. Seek help from your professional network. If you prepare in advance, you can make the job hunt and interview process easier to navigate.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

How To Effectively Mobilize A Job Search After Being Laid Off

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You've been laid-off – not fired. This can happen for many reasons, such as a buyout, restructuring, company relocation, or general budgetary downsizing. Being laid-off is a shock to the system; from the moment you hear the word "transition" to the day you walk out the door for the last time, is general numbness. Unless you have the time to find a new job before your current one ends (more on that below), it is not uncommon to start your new life in justifiable paralysis. Hopefully, this list of tips, informed by personal experience, helps you mobilize for your next big thing.

• Let the emotions happen. It is never pleasant when the hammer falls; including 900 employees laid off by a CEO on Zoom right before the holidays - talk about a shock to the system! One moment you're employed, the next you're not; the opposite happens too. You've been laid off, but your end date is far away, and you walk around with a pink slip in your back pocket. People respond to a professional "separation" differently. Relief. Anger. Fear. Anxiety. A little of each? Allow yourself to feel however you are going to feel. Try your best to conduct yourself with dignity and professionalism (no easy task under some circumstances) and, if you're part of a mass layoff, help each other out.

• Assess your current situation. At some point, you must set your emotions aside and conduct an objective assessment of the reality of your finances. Run the numbers. How much money are you owed? How much severance will you get? Get a rough idea of your financial cushion. If possible, have an employment attorney or someone familiar with employment law review your termination agreement. Make sure you understand the potential trade-offs if you sign the document. For example, if there is a non-compete clause that will play a role in how you game-plan your next step. Review existing employment agreements to make sure the company is not in breach.

• Get your references lined up. You may have to work quickly but line up as many high-level references as possible. You have two advantages. First, from a perception perspective, it matters in the market that you're laid off and not fired. People are more willing to say nice things about you when you're laid-off rather than fired. Second, you can leverage more and higher-level references. You may be able to get references you would not be able to get otherwise. Ask and you may receive. And use your LinkedIn profile to cast a wide net for your Recommendations section.

• Build your timeline – and stick to it! Layoffs are often both dramatic and traumatic. If the lead-up was a classic case of a long time coming, you may be burnt out. It is in this space you may be faced with a difficult decision. What if someone reaches out to you and wants you to slide into a new job – no loss of income, no worrying about what comes next, no risk? Think carefully about what you need. You may lose mind share in the marketplace if you take time off, but maybe you should. Only you can decide that. If you take time off, practice self-care and build in wellness time. Your mental health is a critical factor in finding a new job or launching a new business (or whatever endeavor you undertake). If you're burnt out, you're not going to stick to your timeline, which you must do because your timeline works in tandem with a financial plan to fund it.

• Optimize your resources. Build a detailed financial plan for your timeline. Many layoffs happen when there is a general downturn in the economy, which may make it more difficult to find a new job than in a healthy economy. Even if you take time off and expect to be employed well within the constraints of your financial plan, you just never know. Reduce your expenses. If that means canceling your annual trip to Bali, cancel it. Maximize revenue. If that means filing for unemployment, file for unemployment. Amortize your severance to cover your baseline expenses. Pick up extra income where you can.

• Take advantage of any outplacement services your company offers you. Outplacement services give the newly unemployed a structured way to jump-start a job search and can include help with your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profiles, references, interview skills, and generally developing your professional brand. Don't wait. Take advantage of any help your company offers during your exit, especially outplacement services.

• Build and nurture communication with current/past co-workers. It's all about who you know. Your professional network is a web of people, most of whom are willing to help you out. In turn, you should help them out. The world of online job postings is relatively new. Until the 1990s, people found out about jobs by word of mouth, and listings were in the newspaper. Word of mouth can be better than all the online job boards combined. You can get juicy and solid job leads through your professional network as well as other perks, like a referral or recommendation Likewise, referrals inside a target company can often move things forward by contacting Human Resources or the hiring manager to check on the status of your application, in a way that you can’t.

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Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching is a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email us at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or reach us via the website, www.insidercs.com.

I Think My Job Is Going to Get Eliminated – What Should I Do?

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As we move into the second half of an already difficult year, things continue to look challenging. Now that the first round of Federal financial relief has expired and the next round is delayed, unfortunately small businesses and furloughed employees face a new reckoning.

Even if you believe there is only a slim chance of being affected by the current downturn, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Here are some steps you can take right now that will help if you jump ship to a more stable position (if possible) or suddenly find yourself in the unemployment line.

1.     Be your own historian. You are still working and have access to all of your work history – performance metrics, reviews, project files, etc. Pull them, review them, and determine what information will bolster the contents of your resume and help you in a job search.

2.     Update your resume, now. Chances are you haven’t updated your resume in a while, starting with your current, and therefore most important, position. Most people view their resume the same way they do a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles or a root canal, so to update it is like getting a root canal from a DMV employee. Spend some time reflecting on your work history. Make sure it is as perfect as it can be.

3.     Update your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is your billboard. Once you’ve wowed a recruiter or hiring manger with your resume, their second stop will be your LinkedIn profile. It must be up to date as well. Take advantage of all the extra opportunities LinkedIn gives you to promote yourself and your work. In your Headline and Summary articulate clearly that you are searching for a new job. Also, go into your Settings and make sure to enable the function that lets recruiters who are actively seeking candidates on LinkedIn know you are open to new opportunities.

4.     Line up your references. You’re still working and interacting with co-workers, managers, and beyond. Now is the time to get references ready. References now have multiple forms: 1) a traditional, formal, written reference from a manager or co-worker, 2) a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile, or 3) simply agreeing to be a reference and allowing his or her contact information to be shared. If circumstances are amendable (i.e. everybody knows they are losing their jobs) offer a mutual agreement where you write a recommendation for someone who writes you one.

5.     Assess your financial situation. Yes, this is a career coaching blog, not a financial one, but being prepared financially (even in a basic manner) can put your mind at ease and give you a platform to wait long enough for the right job opportunity. If you believe your job may be in jeopardy, or you just want to hedge your bets until the COVID-19 crisis and economic recovery is more predictable, tighten your belt where you can, right now. Cut down on unnecessary spending. Create a budget (yes, we know, another thing to do – do it anyway), and stick to it.

6.     Listen for clues about the future of your company. At this point, everyone should be aware that things can change at any time. 2020 is the year of shifting sands. Keep your ear open. Read the company memos. Try to get a picture of the state of the business.

7.     Don’t take your foot of the gas. As mentioned above, everyone should be aware that things can change at any time and sometimes those changes are to your benefit. At no point, should you let your job performance slip. As quickly as layoffs are announced, often they get called off just as quickly. Without warning, company plans and fortunes change and job insecurity can become too much work overnight (it happens!). Keep engaged. Don’t let your work suffer. Your management will take note of who’s working hard, and who’s mailing it in, and staying motivated and productive can pay dividends.

8.     Don’t sign anything – Not immediately, at least. If your belief that your job may be at risk becomes a reality and you are fortunate enough to exit with some type of severance package, make sure you understand what is in the contract before you sign. “Severance package” makes it sound like your company is being nice and giving you a gift, but it’s a contract where they get as much as they give – sometimes more – and that’s why you should your protect yourself – don’t sign anything until you’ve had time to properly review it. If you have the resources, you may wish to have an attorney take a look at it. Contracts are tricky business.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.