Earlier today, I shared several lists of recession-proof jobs. The experts who created these lists don’t agree on much, but they do seem to think that both jobs in IT and the health-care industry are fairly safe. That doesn’t mean that all of these jobs are safe, of course.
I have two friends who combine both of these: they’re IT workers for health insurance providers. One of my friends still has his job. The other will be laid off at the end of the year. I’d be scared in his situation, but my friend seems to be taking it fine. In fact, I thought about his attitude when I read an article on layoffs recently.
Over the weekend, USA Today ran a fascinating story about the lives of 15 people who used to be managers at a Louis Rich turkey-processing plant in Visalia, California. These folks lost their jobs during the recession of the early 1990s, during which parent company Philip Morris closed the plant and laid off 1,450 workers.
USA Today has been tracking these former managers for the past 16 years, publishing updates on their situations whenever the economy declines. From the most recent article:
The economy has turned down again, but the lives of the former plant managers in Visalia indicate, anecdotally, that those who lose jobs in recessions can land on their feet, and even thrive. They say being jobless can steel and motivate people to work long and hard hours, teach them to be self-reliant and to distrust safety nets, and to spur them into fields they are passionate about. The result, at least in this instance, is success and contentment, financially and otherwise.
For many of these former managers, the layoffs were a blessing in disguise. After the initial shock, they took steps to pursue their dreams. They went back to school, opened restaurants, became lawyers and stockbrokers, started their own businesses. Some of the wisdom to be gleaned from this article:
- Mike Neff: “Layoffs are always going to happen. You can move on or sit and wallow.”
- Mike Wilson says people mistakenly believe they have more job security in a corporate job, but you’re actually better off working for yourself.
- Your spouse can be an important safety net, both financially and emotionally. When these managers lost their jobs, their partners offered critical support.
This is a great story, but its sample size is small and select. As the article makes clear, these men (they’re all men) were hand-picked to be managers at the Louis Rich plant because they possessed certain traits, traits that seem to have encouraged them to become entrepreneurs after the layoffs in 1992.
Though their situation may be exceptional, I think there’s a valuable lesson for even the average person who loses his job. Layoffs suck in the short term, but they don’t have to be a bad experience — they can be an opportunity for growth.
For further reading:
- Get Rich Slowly: What to do if you’re laid off
- Fortune: 8 ways to recession-proof your job
- CNN/Money: Survival strategies: Recession-proof your life
When Kris was laid off from her job several years ago, it caused us a great deal of stress. Things worked out in the end, but for a time we were very worried.
Have you ever been laid off? Do you worry about being laid off now? What would you do if it happened to you?
Photo by Joe Shlabotnik.
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I was laid off of a job once, many years ago. It had been a very tense, underfunded magazine startup and I got laid off when they ran out of money. As the story you cite stated, after the initial shock wore off, it was the best thing that ever happened to me! I spent that year doing political work, writing a book, and generally having a life. It can be a blessing in disguise.
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I was laid off back in May, and if I didn’t practice what I preach I would have been very worried. I had a savings account as well as an emergency fund established, and I had relatively little revolving debt so I didn’t think I would be in as bad a situation as I could have been. But then again as an accountant and advisor, it would have made me look pretty foolish telling people one thing and doing another–the whole “do as I say not as I do” concept.
It did, however give me time to start getting serious about my business, and not treating it as a side project. At the same time, it also gave me a little bit of insight as to what people go through when they first hear the news, and enabled me to be more empathetic when dealing with those people.
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I got outsourced earlier this year (systems administrator/IT gig). Luckily for me, I was given several months notice and a severance package to boot. I know my wife was stressing (and I was too) about the uncertainty, but when the last day came, I had already landed my next job. I left the old job on one day and started the new job the next day. The severance package? Debt smackdown baby.
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I was recently let go from my company because numbers weren’t where they wanted them to be and I was the person they cut. I had just joined the company which was part of a large corporation that I had been an employee of for over 10 years. I can share in the sentiment that it definitely scares you, for us we had just got done building a new house with a much larger mortgage payment. To say we were panicked was an understatement. I was lucky to find a new job quickly given this economy and will have no down time between paychecks, which I’m thankful for. Because I no longer work for the corporation I was also forced to find new daycare for our two girls. So the fun just didn’t stop. All of this is yet to completely play itself out as I’m in the midst of transitioning, however looking at what things will be like in the near future we consider this one of the best things to happen to our family. I will have a better job and our girls will get better daycare and kindergarten prep. It sucks when you are in the middle of it, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.
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I’ve thankfully never been laid off, having just come out of grad school a couple years ago. That said, the investment banking world is a fairly turbulent place to be right now!
When I got my job, I promised myself I would try to continue living on a poor student’s budget as much as possible. While I have raised my standards of living somewhat, to date, I’ve maxed my 401(k), put away a year of savings, and continue trying to reduce my expenses.
On the non-financial side of things, I’m concentrating on 1) keeping myself healthy and sane, 2) adding a lot of value at work to reduce my risk of getting laid off, and 3) working on a side business that I’m hoping to get off the ground in the next year, then transform into a full-time job in the next 5.
Losing a job (or the prospect of job loss) is one of the most stressful occurrences in a person’s life– and stress has significant health effects. I can’t control the world, but I can try to control my reaction to it by taking a couple deep breaths, exercising, and appreciating what I do have.
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I’ve been outsourced twice, and lost another job when my company imploded during the tech wreck. I didn’t find another one for 5 months, and used up most of my safety net. I was thinking seriously about breaking my lease and moving to something with cheaper rent, and selling my beloved sports car that I’d saved for for years. I lost some hair.
I didn’t stop looking for work. Every day, I went into my home office and continued to work on something. Either personal projects, networking, or job hunting; I kept busy. After a month, I could have taken a bad job just to pay bills. I knew I’d hate it, and that would make everything worse. I grit my teeth, and kept looking.
Eventually I found something ok. It wasn’t amazing, and a big pay cut from before, but it didn’t suck. It was a good starting point. I rebuilt, and thrived ever since. I even bought a house!
I’m now a contractor and run my own company with some mates. I have better job security than any ‘permanent’ job I’ve ever had.
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There is more risk in working for someone else than in working for your self. Often, we are not awakened to the truth until some kind of “shock” occurs in our lives.
I envision an unusually large amount of start-ups to occur over the next few years…
Destruction brings construction, death brings life, something comes from nothing…
“Thus Something and Nothing produce each other; The difficult and the easy compliment each other; The long and the short off-set each other; The high and the low incline toward each other; Note and sound harmonize with each other; Before and after follow each other.” ~ Lau Tzu
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I haven’t been laid off yet, although my employer has had layoffs 2-3x/year for the past 8 years or so, so we tend to stay ready. A layoff would hurt, but we’ve been setting up our emergency fund and monthly expenses as though it could happen any time.
DH was laid off when we had been married only a year or two. We had a car payment and a bit of consumer debt, but no real savings. Fortunately, he was rehired almost immediately by another manager at the same company. I didn’t like being scared like that. Around the same time, my employer at the time was doing its first layoffs in its history.
DH and I decided we didn’t like the fear we felt about losing our jobs. We read YMOYL, and started tracking expenses, eliminating debt, and saving.
A few years later, DH got laid off by the same employer. This time, we shrugged and said, “Could have happened at a worse time.” He found a job pretty quickly, but we weren’t worried about our finances at all. He was able to focus on finding a job he really enjoyed.
This time, even that short pay interruption gave us some idea of additional areas we could cut back expenses without minding or even noticing much. Going through the layoffs gave us the confidence to go to 80% of one paycheck for a 1.5 years and .5 year without a paycheck when we were both going to school full-time and to one paycheck for 7+ years after kids.
I’m waiting to hear about the next round of layoffs right now. (A bit distracting, I must admit!) Part of me is ready to move on but needs to have the golden handcuffs forcibly removed (lots of vacation, good pay, good benefits, flex time, work from home, etc.). I’m torn between “Please vote me off the island” and “But then what will we do ? ? ?”
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I took aggressive steps a year ago to cut spending, build some savings and pay down debt after years of overspending, so I’m not in a really bad position right now. I will be debt free, with the exception of my mortgage, in 2010 at my current pace.
Also, discovering this website earlier this year helped me accelerate my saving and cost cutting just when I was ready to lose motivation. Many thanks for your site, JD.
Ed
p.s. I work in the automotive industry so a layoff, temporary or otherwise, looks like it’s only a matter of time over the next few months. I’m not where I want to be, but I shudder to imagine where I would be if I hadn’t stuck to financial responsibility this year.
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I was laid off after 9/11, struggled for awhile trying to stay afloat, and got stuck back in the job I had in high school. I didn’t have a significant other to help with financial or moral support, so it was tough just trying to keep my head above water. Eventually things started picking up, and I sold my house and moved cross country with the profit.
Once I moved, I kept myself working steadily, sometimes at two jobs just to have a little extra, and I worked hard at expanding my skill set. The company I’m at now just had a few layoffs in my department, including the person I worked directly with in the same capacity. He had been here longer than I have, but I made myself a more versatile member of the group. I can do a lot more and help the people I support a lot more, and I think that’s what saved me this time. Now, I think I’m safe until the mail finds a way to open and distribute itself (we get a lot of mail in my department!)
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my husband lost his job at the very first hint of a downturn of the economy, fall of 07. service was hurting pretty badly at this time and they were looking to cut some employees. he was working long days to keep their favor, was really unappreciated, and was always stressed out about work.
at the time we relied heavily on his employer health insurance for the massively expensive procedures he was having done for an injury, and we were just left out in the cold. fortunately, it was open enrollment for my craptastic insurance and we got what we could there. our income took a huge hit, and we had to adjust expenses accordingly.
it took 2 months of searching for another job that he could handle physically (his injury was not a short term thing) and after coming up short time and time again, he decided it was time for something new. he tried studying a couple of different fields on his own, but eventually ran into someone who inspired him- a former customer whose car he had taken very good care of in the past. he exchanged emails with this guy and got some perspective on his field.
he always wanted to go to college, but we thought it would be after i graduated and had a job to support us. well, we seized the opportunity and found the degree program that would lead to his desired career. it’s been incredibly hard in the short run, i won’t deny. but losing that job was the best thing that ever happened to him. working for that company sucked all the life out of him, and now things are really looking up for our future.
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I was recently laid off in April. I expected it with abouty 60% probability and had been taking steps to ensure our financial safety in the case it happened. (Selling unused assetts, getting rid of debt).
Then it happened. I immediately applied for unemployment but never had to take them up on it.
After 3 days I was offered a consulting contract overseas for 5 weeks. Then another one for another month. Since they were overseas they were tax free (under $86k overseas is tax free).
When I came back home in September I worked on my own business for 1 month and then started as a contractor for a hedgefund with variable hours so as to continue my own business.
What did I learn through it all?
1.) You’ll feel much better with no debt.
2.) Corporate jobs are more risky (and annoying) than self employment and contract work. Corporations aren’t loyal to you, their loyal to their shareholders. Don’t be fooled, and don’t be loyal to them… always have a plan B.
3.) Getting laid off is way better than resigning or getting fired…if you think you might quit in the near future, try to get laid off instead.
4.) Don’t worry, just hop into action… if you’ve been developing your skills and finding your niche you’ll not have to worry about a job or work.
5.) You may be better off being laid off than you were before.. take time to evaluate where your career is heading or could go … why are you doing what you’re doing anyway? … you’ll thank yourself 5 years from now.
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I think the key thing is they were managers and making a better salary than me.
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oh also… one of the scariest thoughts to my wife and I was “what about benefits?”
But then we searched around and found nearly equivalent benefits and doctors who took cash and found ourselves paying nearly the same thing per month as we were at my old corporate job.
So it all worked out for the best in the end.
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Layoffs can be productive when you are young, but over time you become more settled, less desirous of moving across country, less capable of large cuts in pay, less happy with being forced into something you don’t wish to do, and less able to replace what you had. They may suck when young, but they are a disaster when you aren’t.
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I just ran into a lay-off scare. A couple of people from my office were let go and it became apparent that more would follow. Instead of worrying about when the next shoe would drop, I was proactive. I saw the writing on the wall and looked for other employment. Last week, I got the offer I was looking for.
Yes, I’m young. Yes, I could have probably endured a layoff. But why wait? When opportunity comes knocking (sometimes in the form of a layoff), take it. The whole lemons to lemonade thing isn’t just a quaint saying. It works. So instead of worrying about the pink slip, I’m looking forward to a new job – in a growing industry. That means job security.
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I’m excited to read the article. Thanks!
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I was laid off during the big defense cutbacks in 1992. After the initial shock, I decided that continuing as an engineer was not going to be a good career move. After a shot at running for public office (lost, but it was an education that has served me well) and a few false starts, I decided to get into computer programming. Starting with a “learning edition” version of a programming language, I learned to write code and ended up with a program that has been quite popular within its own niche. I write software that political candidates and PACs use to electronically file their financial reports.
Despite the shock and ego-busting disappointment of being laid off, it turned out to be the opening of an incredible door of opportunity. As others have said many times: look at getting laid off as an opportunity to break free and change your life.
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I work in the corporate world and can feel the heat daily seeing employees are evaporating from Canada’s heart – downtown Toronto. This prompted me to write this post – Canadian and Global Employees Starting To Feel the Effects of Global Financial Crisis – http://adawnjournal.com/2008/11/09/canadian-and-global-employees-starting-to-feel-the-effects-of-global-financial-crisis/
Cheers,
A Dawn Journal
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I noticed a few that commented that you should job hunt as soon as you hear about a potential layoff. That might be the best strategy for most, but I was surprised at my husband’s winning strategy.
Instead of jumping ship when layoffs were predicted he worked even harder. As his friends got better paying jobs I started to get annoyed with him for not looking. It was a tense time at home. In the end though he was promoted instead of being laid off! His manager had jumped ship and he got to take over the position. He’s still not being paid as well as some of his former co-workers, but he learns something new each day and some of them are now being laid off at their new companies.
Another friend was laid off earlier this year from a high level position at a tech firm and now he’s writing a book and working as a consultant, making twice what he used to make.
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The best things in life have come from getting a kick in the pants.
My layoff story: I was low management in a big corporation that I had started working for while an undergrad student. As I got promoted, I started cutting back classes until I was taking only one or two per semester, and working full time.
The head office then decided to shut down our site. It was quite a shock, but before the day was out I knew that it was time to go back to school full time. I got my degree and got a job paying a lot more–by the time I left that job to go to law school, I was making nearly twice my corporate salary. And now I’m happy in my legal career and my salary has doubled again.
So overall, being laid off was a great push in the right direction. I’m fairly comfortable, and I love my career. I don’t think that would have happened without the layoff.
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Layoffs definately will happen. That is why I work for myself as a writer. I do freelance work and I run my own blog so hopefully I will not get lay off.
But I will continue to grow through this enconomic downturn
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I think being laid off puts things into perspective. You learn to understand that there are no certainties and things could switch just like that. It makes you more self reliant and realistic about your outlook towards work and priorities in life overall. I also think it could boost a negative outlook towards companies and loyalty since there seems to be none these days with work.
Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com
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My layoff memory is me sitting in a wheelbarrow in the backyard, drinking a beer with my husband in the middle of the day. Lots of folks said it would turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. I wouldn’t go nearly that far, but it really wasn’t so bad. Having a healthy emergency fund was the key.
Also, since we’re young and in good health, we got private insurance coverage at very reasonable rates–much more affordable than COBRA, at least.
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I just graduated from college in May and recently became engaged.
I have just been laid off today. I have to admit I am afraid, but excited at the same time.
Unfortunately, I have lived a bit ahead of my means and I have education debt as well. So I decided to commit to eliminating my debt, saving for a wedding, a house, and building my wealth.
I always wanted to blog as a job, I have just never felt like I had anything interesting to say. I planned on blogging about my, and my fiancee’s, journey to be debt free. The layoff will just add another wrinkle to the whole process.
DJ
http://theyoungandthebroke.blogspot.com/
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If I was to get laid off I would need to be dependent on 0% APR Offer credit cards, or withdrawing from my 401k. Not very encouraging. My small 2500 emergency fund would not even cover a full months expensives (even at a reduced rate). I realize it should be higher but with several loans >8% isn’t it worth the risk to pay down as much of those as possible rather than saving a larger emergency fund?
The worst thought about a job layoff to me wouldn’t be the temporary loss of income, but the realization I would take a huge paycut once finding a new job. Making my debt reduction plans grow from 6 years until payoff up to 12+.
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To Ed in Detroit: I am with you all the way. I am also in the auto industry and am due to have my plant close in 2010, although what month is a question. I am furiously paying off all debt, snowballing thanks to JD’s articles and hopefully will be in decent shape by the end of 2009. However, that is not a “for sure” thing. I am have an emergency fund of $1500 that won’t really make a difference if I lost the job tomorrow. Other than paying off the debt ASAP, I figure on going back to school while on unemployment at the minimum. I have a BS in Business and have been applying online for jobs. No offers for the last 1yr! Thinking I may have to drop The BS off my resume just to get a PT job in anything! I am definitely stressing even though I have a job! Ouch!
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almost took a payout last year.. but i decided to stay.. luckily i have not been forced to leave.. i’ve been with the same company for 9 years now
still in a good position where i could survive without a job for a few months.. but i want to make sure i always have a back up plan in case that happens
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My husband got laid off the day before I went on maternity leave, 2 and a half years ago. Financially, we were OK – I had a decent emergency fund. Emotionally, he took a battering and it was four months before he found work again.
So I got laid off yesterday myself. Once again, financially we have a cushion, thanks to very frugal living over the last couple of years. Careerwise, I am determined to rise from the ashes of this and find a new direction. This could be the best thing that ever happened to me.
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Our entire department is sitting on death watch awaiting word on how many will be ‘right-sized”, “simplified” or whatever euphemism is en vogue these days. We should know something the week of Thanksgiving. A big bowl of “not good” all around. I had established an emergency fund earlier this year, when times were good and my wife and I have moved to much more frugal lifestyle.
We’ve been down this road before (I was laid off three years ago at a job that I had hoped to retire from), and we survived. I forsaw this coming a few months ago and diverted every spare cent from debt repayment into shoring up the emergency fund. I hated to do this, but flexibility is important in today’s environment. I haven’t lost sight of the goal to rid ourselves of debt, it’s just slipped a little further over the horizon.
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I was laid off from Enron Broadband in Portland Oregon on September 1st, 2001. At the time, I was pretty sure I was going to find another job pretty quickly and bank most of my severance. Then 9/11 happened… It was the first time I had been out of work, and it was traumatic. No network, some severance, and plenty of fear.
Fast forward a few years… I’ve built up a much richer network of contacts and colleagues that could help me should that situation ever occur again. We also have an emergency fund, no debt, and are less than a year away from paying off the mortgage entirely (thank you, Dave Ramsey!).
While I have no desire to relive that experience, I am moderately hopeful that I’d be infinitely more proactive and resourceful this time around…
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It seems like many folks barely see the layoff coming. To me that’s the worst part about the corporate scene. Not even the decency to let you know you might look for another job a few weeks in advance.
My belief is that working 1 main contract or “consultancy” + 1 side contract is a great method for hedging against job loss and it puts more control in your hands.
Not that this would work for everyone, but given a cutback you can always simply ask to reduce hours instead of a cut altogether. But if contract 1 does eliminate altogether you can always increase time on contract #2 (or 3 or 4) hopefully.
Also, it’s a good way to keep your employer guessing… when things aren’t going your way simply start working less on contract 1 and more on 2 (3 or 4) and let them know that your other contracts are more lucrative … if they need you they’ll shape up.
It’s surprising how many industries you could do this in.
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I’ve just been laid off for the second time, and I’m not even 30 yet! I seem to have a knack for finding declining industries. Now I’m trying to decide if I have the cojones to go freelance full-time.
I have a question: should someone roll a 401k to an IRA in an economy like this (sell low and buy low) or wait (and sell high and buy high)? Does it come out to a wash?
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I was laid off in October. Luckily I had realized it was coming last March/April and started stashing away more than our normal. The pay difference is not a huge issue for us, as my husband & I have never relied on my salary for bills. It has always been our “fun or extra money”. However, the health benefits are, with my husband being self empoyed I carry our family health insurance. Luckily I worked out an “agreement” with my company and have health coverage for six months. I plan on enjoying the holidays with my family and then looking hard for a new job. Not to say I am not looking now, if the right opportunity comes along I will nab it! I am taking this time to evaluate my priorities and really look at what I want in my next job. I know I’m forunate as not everyone has this privilege.
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There is no doubt that you need to be the change you want to see in your life. Some of the biggest success stories I’ve read have happened because an individual was laid off. Losing your job is never easy, however try to keep a positive attitude and look at as an opportunity to learn something new.
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My husbands contract just ended, we new it was coming. He had been “laid off” er gotten rid of a year earlier. That happens when the employer is self insured and your child has a disease and it costs them about $100 k in 6 months. anyways, we took the crappy contract job for the year, got some expereince, although it’s really not helping so far.
We have enough $$ for the bills, we’ve been careful, had a condo we owned and sold it off to pay off our CC debt. We’re going to owe capital gaines tax but since we’ve been living on crap money we will get a ton back from the feds, so figuring that will pay for most of the capital gaines tax.
Our big problem is insurance. The kids are fine, they are on chip/medicaid and the sick one gets SSI so he qualifies regardless but DH and I do not have insurance.
Trying to purchase insurance is a joke, it doesn’t cover anything and the 1000 questions that they ask, so that they can prclude everything you’ve ever had, I just don’t see the point, however i’ve got about$400 in prescriptions I’ve got to figure out how to pay for.
I don’t really see an end in sight. I think he’ll find another crap job and back we go, however at least crap jobs keep the medicaid. Because if we don’t and have to go back to paying his medical bills, well we are better off with the crap job.
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I find it amusing that “rigth-sizing” never means getting enough people to do the job properly, only cutting people.
I haven’t really worried about losing a job, although there are times when it was a possibility, because I’ve always felt that I could get a job or two to live off of if I did lose a job. Then again, I don’t mind flipping burgers if I had to if I lost my 6 figure job.
I agree, that one of the best things hopefully to come out of this economic downturn will be the behavioral and attitude change among American employees. I think for the 45 and under crowd (I’m in that crowd) we have had too many easy years, from access to credit, to hopping jobs if we didn’t like eggrolls being omitted from the free lunch buffet, to merely being present to get a paycheck, to not having a real appreciation for money, to being self-reliant. Everything has been too easy these past 20 years, it’s about time we had to struggle. Fortunately for the 45 under crowd we have time to make adjustments and to teach our kids these tough lessons, because we sure didn’t have very many great depression era folks around to teach them to us directly.
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I sounds like a common theme to surviving a layoff without totally losing your shirt is to have a working spouse that can help keep things afloat until you find another job.
Try being a single parent, and living with the layoff axe looming overhead. I feel like I’ve had my head in a guillotine for about 3 years now at my current corporate job, but I’m too chicken to jump ship on my own because the pay and benefits are so good.
Well, luckily I’ve been living the frugal life for about 5 years now, and have no debt other than the mortgage. And thank God I have an emergency fund to help me if the company totally tanks and I don’t even get severance pay (I work for one of the major banks that recently failed and was bought by another major bank).
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@Greg: I think you should be guillotined for letting my WAMU stock sink…making all those bad loans to people. for shame on you…
p.s. i’m kidding
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My husband was laid off in July when his employer panicked at what was perceived as “the end of the industry.” (He is in book publishing, where the “end of the industry” has been gloomily announced every 12 years without fail since Gutenberg.) With five children still at home, and me a homeschooling SAHM, our first reaction was shock. But, he received a reasonable severance package and we planned to have a different job before it ran out.
His business contacts keep saying, “Man I can’t believe you’re still available! If I had a job for you, I’d hire you in an instant!” But there are no jobs.
He has been moderately successful freelancing, and is currently making almost half of his previous salary working from home. It is more than it sounds like considering we have no commuting costs. We are doing okay, and barring crisis, should be okay until February.
But that home employment does not include health insurance, and that seems to be our biggest issue right now. The five kids and I are just plain uninsured, not good. Hubby is taking the COBRA option for now because he has high medical expenses. But that COBRA stuff is ridiculously expensive. I’ve looked into all the available insurance plans and we just can’t afford them and keep the house. We are about $10 over the wage requirement for assisted.
We are still living and learning.
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I was, twice in one year. It hurt, especially since the first time. I’d do a few things differently, definitely.
First off, if you suspect it may be coming, be actively looking for a job before it happens. I asked a high-level manager how safe I was. She assured me I was safe. Either she didn’t know, or she lied to me.
If it does happen to you, stay calm. It’s difficult, especially if the people on the other side of the table are people you once considered friends. They’re more interested in covering their legal requirements than in helping you, and that will show, and it will hurt. Find out what’s in your severance package, find out what, if any of it, is negotiable. If possible, commit to as little as you can in that meeting, so that you can come back and sign everything when your head is a bit more clear.
Of course, cut your expenses to as little as possible to make your severance package last as long as you can. Search, but don’t beat yourself up about spending 8 hours a day pounding pavement and not getting results.
And finally, if you do have a lead, don’t give up on other possible leads to chase that one. I gave up all other searching for a week because I thought I had another job locked up. Then that job didn’t pan out, and I lost a week’s momentum.
In the time that you aren’t searching for jobs, brush up on some skills. Spend some time at the library reading up on things that will help you on the new job. You’ll be doing yourself some good, and you can turn off the thermostat at home for a while to save a couple of bucks while you’re gone.
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I was laid off twice, two years in a row: end-of-June 2000 and 2001. I was single but also lived inexpensively, and was able to survive just fine on unemployment for the time it took me to get back to work (16 weeks in 2000, 20 in 2001.. I still remember exactly, for some reason). In fact I loved being unemployed, except for that niggling concern about What Next.
It was okay for me because I knew if worse came to worst, I could get by working one or two retail jobs, but of course that’s not an optimal plan. I had been working in software and project management, and didn’t want to go retail unless I was desperate.
The first time I was unemployed I did some soul searching and identified some of my skills and interests (knowledge/information management), and identified a grad school plan (library school). I actually started grad school after being laid off the second time, and got an entry-level library job.
Lo these years later, I’m working at a gig that combines library and technology skills, so it all came together really nicely. I’m not at all worried about being laid off now (but I have calculated that I’d be able to squeak by on unemployment, if I had to). However I wouldn’t be adverse to having 16 weeks off at some point!
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Several of our friends have been laid of over the past 6 months, or are facing lay-offs in the near future (I live in metro Detroit) So we have started a Jobs Club. The idea is that some are able to make a small monetary investment and those who can’t will contribute sweat equity. We are currently brainstorming jobs and opportunities. Our group consists of an engineer, PR/Marketing people, lawyers, a CPA, a couple of business owners, a banker and various others. There are 25 of us on the distribution list. I’m sure that number will dwindle once we decide which businesses to pursue.
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Well, I got laid off a month ago. While the timing wasn’t the best, it could have been worse. At very least, we’d been trying to get our finances together since the beginning of the year, and it definitely has made a difference. I don’t know what we would have done otherwise. At very least, if I find another job soon, then we’ll be OK. If not … well, we will see.
A friend of mine actually has multiple “jobs”. He is a district manager, but he also has income from giving some motivational speeches. He said that years ago, someone told him that the wave of the future is in “multiple streams of income”. I am beginning to think he is correct. At very least, each of us needs to have a fallback position and not take anything for granted. I’m still working out what that second income might be, but I am beginning to get a better idea of some options.
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Sounds like a good time for some job sites -
http://www.linkedin.com (professional networking)
http://www.indeed.com (aggregated listings)
http://www.realmatch.com (matches jobs based on your skills)
Good look to those looking for work!
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My wife and I discussed the possibility of either of us getting laid off from our regular corporate jobs, and agreed that it would be stressful at first. We both feel the fact that we have a fledgling web design company is a good safety net, along with our 6-month emergency fund which will be fully funded in 3 months. The one caveat is that we are working on starting a family, so getting laid off while expecting a baby would be REALLY stressful….hoping this does not become a reality.
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Hi! Nice post!
Another option to help everybody around with the recession crisis is to check out http://www.bizsum.com.
A cousin of mine who migrated to the US lost a job but gladly informed me recently that after having read a summary from the website and also constantly browsing the blog (www.contsum.com/blog), she was able to get and apply tips on how to get hired and sustain that job.
It’s worth checking out especially during hard times like this which almost everyone is going through.
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Great post once again.
Being a contractor a bunch of us found out we are getting laid off Dec 5th. Lucky for me I have savings, an emergency fund, a few investments, and a spouse who has a decent job. The only debt we have are two cars. Might be about time to prepare to work on my dream jo, writing for a living.
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