Since you were laid off and didn't quit or were fired, you should head down to the unemployment office so you can start collecting. You don't know how long it will be before you find a new job, and the bills will keep coming in. You may have savings, but there is no need to blow through it when you've been paying into the safety net.
Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
31–40 of 95 posts
Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
#32Did the internal re-org involve only you getting terminated? If not it sounds like it's a time to celebrate. You were going to resign later the same day and now you get the same result along with a month of pay. Re-orgs happen and some good staff are let go (Sony even called the staff they let go yesterday 'high caliber' http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-01-12-guerrila-ca...).
That said, I like the question, I have never been laid off or terminated, I've resigned from all 4 jobs I've had (employed at the 5th) and so I'm reading other answers to see if there are real issues to be aware of should it happen to me.
Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
#33>if there's anything I should be wary of
Don't cave to the temptation of making an ass of yourself. You never know when you might run into someone in a future job.
They'll likely make you sign some papers for the 1 month severance. Pay attention. Sometimes there are unsavory clauses, like non-competes, non-disclosure, etc. It would be helpful to know where you are located. If you're in California, for example, you can sign a non-compete without reservation, as they are largely unenforceable.
>any advice from people
Was it a really large layoff? Sometimes, there's opportunity there. Often, some of the key people already smell blood in the water, and are thinking of either jumping ship to a competitor, or even starting up their own competitor. If you know any of the key folks that might b e planning this sort of thing, invite them out to lunch a week or two after the layoff and probe around a bit...you might find a place to land.
Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
#34I had a similar situation back in 2009. I gave my resignation to my boss on a Friday and he said I should hold off until Monday. Monday came around and they laid off most the the dev staff. Instead of having to work for 2 more weeks I got 6 weeks severance and got to leave that day. I already had a job lined up to start 2 weeks later so I booked a week in Cancun in the interim. They make you sign a paper that says yo…
I have not heard of layoffs making you sign paperwork that you resigned. More common is they ask you to sign paperwork that you won't sue them, and give you more severance payment if you sign it. You can still claim unemployment as you were laid off. But check your paperwork.
In the US the rate a company has to pay for unemployment insurance is linked to the number of former employees that claim unemployment after being laid off from the company. Typical rates can range from as low as less than 1% to close to 8% and when calculating the rate a company pays they look at several years of history. The exact mechanics vary by state.
So it makes sense that a company might want to discourage people from claiming unemployment because it could effect their longer term costs where as a severance is a one time thing and giving a good reference to a potential new employer is free.
Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
#35If you are not hard up for money you should immediately look for a nice trip somewhere. Be flexible with location instead of time to get a good price. Take three weeks off. Nice places this time of year might be Cuba, Thailand, Costa Rica, Florida, or Big Sky. Polish your resume on the plane.
I agree with this one. You are never so free as you are between jobs (for whatever reason). Even if you can't afford to take a far away trip, go see family for a week, drive somewhere new, or just goof off all week for a week.
...but yea, also file for unemployment immediately. Your former employer paid for that safety net.
Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
#36Send an email to your peers explaining that although you might not agree with reasons, you understand management needs to do what they think makes sense. And that you enjoyed your time together, wish them success, etc.
Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
#37As your being made redundant, there's nothing untoward about their reason. 1 month for each year served is fairly normal so again, nothing untoward. Signing a release is also fairly standard. Under these circumstances I would always recommend showing the release to an employment lawyer. For me, peace of mind is worth a couple of hundred dollars but YMMV. Also, in the UK at least, there are tax breaks on some of the r…
You are not obliged to sign anything. So, it's always disadvantageous to sign these documents. Don't do it.
This is not good advice. Although it is true that you don't need to sign these docs, many countries have very low legal requirements for statutory redundancy pay. UK definitely, US too I believe.
If the company is offering more compensation and you are ok with the strictures of the paperwork, then it is entirely sensible to sign. However, as I said further up the chain, this is a legal document and it's worth getting a professional opinion.
Obviously, if the document has strictures that you don't want to or can't agree to, then absolutely don't sign. You are definitely not obliged to but the company is then only obliged to provide the legal minimum.
Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
#38In 2011, I was "laid off" from my job along with almost everyone else when the scraps of my company was acquired. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that this day was coming, management was completely open with us about the dire situation of the company and most of us stuck around until the bitter end hoping that our options might be worth something (they weren't) or that we would get a severance.
From looking at people's LinkedIn profile, everyone from developers, to managers, to the L1, and L2 tech support staff had better jobs within a month. Once recruiters got a whiff of the company being in trouble, they started contacting people. Don't ignore recruiters. I have 15 recruiting contacts from different companies in my contact list.
I put "laid off" in quotes above because immediately after I was laid off, I did contracting work for one of my company's clients (based on a written agreement they had with the acquiring company). After that contract was over, I spent a day contacting every recruiting company I knew. Three days later, I had a phone screen with a Fortune 10 company, one day after that I had an in person interview. By that evening I had an offer letter. At the time, I was a an experienced developer but a middling .Net developer trying to get into full stack development.
Moral of the story, aggressively reach out to people, recruiters aren't evil, study up on interview prep, and don't be afraid to take chances on going after jobs that you might feel that you are not 100% qualified for. I've conducted about a dozen interviews over the past four years. I don't care if you meet all of the bullet points. I care if you are "smart and gets stuff done." And if you are an aggressive learner.
Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
#39I feel for you. I just recently went through a similar situation. I had never before been laid off. A re-org took place in my business unit, and a few people in my department were laid off including me; the company stated very clearly it was due to re-org and NOT for performance reasons. Further, it happened immediately before the holidays.
I was very lucky in that another division in the same company was having a different re-org. and a few jobs opened up, so I applied for, and got another job. Same company, different business unit. Less than ideal, but I count myself lucky. (Although jobs are posted out there, its extremely rare that companies hire or conduct interviews during the holidays!) But the feeling of having been laid off was quite devastating; again especially since I had never gone through something like that.
I think the advice that others have been offering seems pretty good. While my lay off period was extremely short, I myself woke up every morning - as if at any other regular job - and kept searching/applying for jobs. I think that "routine" helped me deal with the whole thing at least emotionally. I also like some advice throughout the comments here about working on a side project. That could help in several ways:
* Keep your mind off the challenges (physical, social, emotional, etc.) associated with finding new employment.
* Maybe it could turn into a little revenue on the side to supplement unemployment, etc.
* Possibly, it could turn into an opportunity to go into business for yourself. Even if it doesn't make you a millionaire, or is short-lived, its still work. Maybe it might pay bills, and you can feel good about putting it on your resume/linkedIn, etc. (In the state of NJ, you are allowed to collect unemployment and still have a part-time side business [1]...But there are caveats and of course I'll disclaimer that I am not a lawyer. So you'll want to seek out professional legal advice if you're considering this.)
* Even if the side project results in no new business, you will have picked up some new skills, or perhaps improved any existing skills. And, if it involves other people - like a meetup - maybe you can get some future business/opportunity contacts - i.e. networking!
The only other advice I can give you: stay positive, and keep yourself busy so as to avoid getting into a negative groove. Good luck!!!
[1] See "Part-Time Corporate Officer/Owner" section on http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/ui/aftrfile/corporate.html
Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?
#40>if there's anything I should be wary of Don't cave to the temptation of making an ass of yourself. You never know when you might run into someone in a future job. They'll likely make you sign some papers for the 1 month severance. Pay attention. Sometimes there are unsavory clauses, like non-competes, non-disclosure, etc. It would be helpful to know where you are located. If you're in California, for example, you ca…
I've seen developers turn down those severances because of the limitations of the agreement. One basically said you couldn't say anything negative about the company, ever.