You have come to terms with your feelings and have worked on shifting your perspective about your former employer. Now, you need to be able to succinctly and comfortably tell family, friends, neighbors, networking contacts and potential employers why you are available and looking for a new position. Pain and pity don’t sell and false bravado doesn’t work. If you don’t believe your words, you won’t come across as believable.
Although succinct works, to merely say, “I was laid off” is too brief. The frequently used pattern is to start with the big picture, how that affected your company and then your position. Including the big picture (if you can) shows a business awareness. The following is an example from a former client with the client’s exact words in quotes. As you might know due to the economy, “Citi Group is eliminating a great number of positions, 75,000 to be exact and mine was among them.” This certainly cut off at the pass any question about why this client was laid off.
In this economy, layoffs have been common and although the pain we have felt is personal, there should be no embarrassment. I imagine there are very few of us who haven’t been laid off or who haven’t known a family member or friend who was laid off. If the pain and embarrassment are still there and getting in your way, reread the first few blog entries and follow the suggestions.
I would like to point out that there is a difference between the truth and the darn truth. Telling people the reason for the layoff doesn’t have to be an episode of True Confessions. For example, in the 1990’s I was the HR Manager who wrote up X, the VP of Sales and Marketing, for sexual harassment. Shortly after that, headquarters in their infinite wisdom (or lack thereof and yes I can remember the bitterness) gave X the authority to chose the layoff order. As you might imagine I was in the first wave. However, within a few weeks, the whole Midwestern Business Unit was closed. Although it might have been true, I certainly would have scared off any potential employer with the words “I was laid off after I wrote my boss up for sexual harassment.” It would be just as true, but less scary to the interviewer to say: “Due to the bankruptcy of XYZ Company’s major client, the Midwestern office was closed and all positions including mine were eliminated.”
You shouldn’t worry that your statement will be challenged by your former employer. Many companies are fearful of litigation and so unless there are extenuating circumstances, they will only report your title, dates of employment and possibly salary.
PLEASE COMMENT
Once again, I would appreciate any experiences, comments or questions that will help other readers. I would particularly enjoy some humorous experiences and success stories. Once a month, I will choose one commenter to contact for a free coaching session.
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QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
“Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it.” Irving Berlin
