Laid Off: What I Learned & How I Moved Forward
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In this episode:
I’ve made a lot of voluntary career changes in the past five years. But the first career change I made after graduating college was anything but voluntary. I was let go instantly, without any notice. I can still remember the feeling of panic that hit me when I heard the news.
I wouldn’t have been able to recognize it at that time, but being let go from a dead-end job was the best thing to ever happen to me in my career.
While so many people are dealing with hardships and changes in their work right now, I wanted to reflect on my experience being laid off and how it’s turned into good over the past few years.
In this episode I share:
What my first job out of college was, and why I felt stuck there
The fears and insecurities that kept me from considering making a career change
How I was laid off, and what it made me realize about my potential, worth and professional goals
Then, I’m answering a listener question from Claire about how to know when it’s time to start planning for a career change.
Laid Off: What I Learned & How I Moved Forward
What my first job out of college was, and why I felt stuck there
Let me paint the picture for you. I was 22 years old. I had just graduated from college in Michigan with a degree in Writing, and moved to Tucson, Arizona with my brand-new husband. Literally 2-days after getting married, I got on a plane and moved across the country, where I promptly began searching for jobs.
The only person I knew in Tucson was my husband. I had no network, and really not a clear idea of what jobs to look for.
While I take some responsibility for being distracted my last year of college planning a wedding… I also don’t remember being offered any practical advice for how to apply my writing skills on the job market.
What I do remember, however, is professors making jokes about how writers don’t make money so we should plan to work at McDonald’s while we worked on our writing projects.
That being said, I was very intimidated by the job market. I had very little confidence in myself as a business person.
With that, and a completely foreign business landscape, I frantically applied to 75 jobs and didn’t get a single response!
Obviously, there was something wrong with my approach. I knew that, but I didn’t know what was wrong. I created customized resumes and cover letters for each of those job applications. It was exhausting and deflating. I didn’t know how to present myself on paper, but it felt like people were rejecting me.
Looking back, I can see clearly how I could have positioned myself to compete for great, entry-level positions. I had worked professionally throughout college as a program manager for a church youth group. I had a strong record of leadership positions and clear examples of self-motivation and initiative (like starting and maintaining my blog, for instance).
Anyways, lucky job application #76 got me an interview--3 months after I had started applying.
I got all dressed up, carried myself with pride and walked into a tiny insurance office on a busy street for my interview.
To my surprise, and delight, the interview went great! I felt like myself and the hiring manager, my future boss, obviously like me. She told me she wanted to offer me the job on the spot, and asked me what my salary expectations were. I told her $30,000, and she said, “okay.”
The next day, I got the job offer via email and it looked great--mostly. It had an awesome title of Creative Development Coordinator (essentially Marketing) and I was able to work remotely a couple of days a week, but the salary was only for $25,000.
I emailed to ask about that detail, and she assured me that it was a probationary salary, and that following my 3-month probationary period, the salary would rise to the $30k I had asked for.
I was in no frame of mind to negotiate. I needed a paycheck!
My husband and I were sinking into credit card debt--something I had never personally experienced before and it scared me. So I accepted the job.
There were definitely perks to the job. It was a small team and felt sort of like a start up. While we worked in the tiny office, there was a construction site a few blocks away where a new building was being built that we planned to expand to soon.
I had a boss, but hardly no oversight in my work. I mostly came up with projects to work on and campaigns to improve and made them happen. Usually, I worked faster than my boss was able to keep up with, meaning I would have to pause and feel bored.
After just a few months, I became restless in my work. I looked at all that I had been able to accomplish, and realized that I had good ideas and follow through. It was frustrating to feel stalled in my work, to not have my efforts recognized and to not feel a real connection with my work.
I started to think more seriously about my career, and realized that I wanted more from it.
But what did that even mean?! I didn’t even know where to start.
The fears and insecurities that kept me from considering making a career change
My experience on the job market was so humiliating that it was inconceivable to me to willingly put myself back out there.
Additionally, I was very aware of the stereotypes flying around about Millennials at the time--that we aren’t committed and can’t hold down a job. I feared that my desire to want more for myself and my career was potentially just my being flaky and non-committal.
I remember talking with a couple of friends and telling them I wanted something more, and as I heard myself talk I judged myself for sounding ungrateful for the job I did have.
It was so confusing. I remember feeling like no one wanted to listen to me or help me sort through my options because they were just recovering from supporting me through my unemployment.
My main fears were:
I still didn’t have enough experience or knowledge to get another interview/job offer
I would feel just as unhappy in my next job as I did in my current one
If my boss found out I was considering other options, she’d fire me
My main insecurities were:
People saw me as a flake and/or that I thought too highly of myself
That I lacked skills and knowledge that would warrant a decent salary
That I seemed ungrateful, and my friends and family members were tired of me
I told myself things like, “I need to wait for at least three years before I can make a respectable job change,” or, “Your friends don’t even understand what you do for work, how are you going to explain your value in an interview?”
Meanwhile, at work, I came up at the end of my probationary period, and I asked for a review. Despite only having received positive feedback from my boss about my work (she’d frequently tell me things like, “I know you’re going to run your own business someday--you’re so organized and professional!”) she declined to give me the salary raise we discussed. She said, “you haven’t had the time to demonstrate your ownership on projects quite yet, so I don’t feel comfortable with that change.”
Ya’ll--do you see how contradictory that was?! She literally celebrated my ownership and initiative. But once it came to payment, she used it as an excuse to pay me “fairly.”
I was still so young in my professional career, that I didn’t understand everything for what it was. I was embarrassed and ashamed for being paid so little, and then for not passing the “probationary period test” that I didn’t even know how to ask for advice or seek counsel. Had I, I probably would have realized that the issue was more with my employer than myself.
How I was laid off, and what it made me realize about my potential, worth and professional goals
After that poor review, I decided I would suck it up and stick with the job for the foreseeable future. My confidence had been crushed, which made me less likely to look for jobs.
Then, one Tuesday morning something unexpected happened. First, I remember this day clearly because it juxtaposed hope and fear so perfectly in my life. Earlier that morning, I had paid off the last of the credit card debt my husband and I had racked up in our first couple months of marriage when I didn’t have a job.
It felt so amazing to get out from under that burden! We had been sticking to a budget and it worked.
Then, right after 11:00 am my boss walked into the office and asked everyone to come into one room. She told us she was closing the business, and, effective immediately, we were all let go.
There was literally no warning. And the reasons for closing the business were personal to her, not based on our performance as a business. I was stunned.
I remember driving home and calling my husband, not even sure how to make sense of what happened. I called my parents and in-laws after that. And even while I shared the story and I obviously wasn’t at fault, I still felt guilty. I felt guilty for taking a job that turned out to be unstable. I felt guilty that that was the only job I had been offered, and I feared what that said about me.
Initially, after being let go, I felt like I was back at square one.
But it turned out, I was actually a lot further ahead then what I had thought.
What I realized after being laid off was that I was just given an opportunity to act on the discontent I’d been feeling for months. I had the chance to go after better, more interesting jobs and prove to myself and the hiring managers that I was worth them. I had the chance to evaluate what my work was worth, and what I wanted to earn and negotiate for it.
I chose to turn it all around. Instead of wallowing in my fears and insecurities, I decided to get to work and challenge myself. And it paid off!
I started getting interviews within 3 weeks of being laid off. It was exhilarating! I got to interview with HubSpot, which was a dream company of mine back then, as well as a couple of technology companies in Tucson that I was really intrigued by.
I ended up deciding to take a job as a Marketing Communications Specialist at a solar technology company and I felt respected as a professional from the moment I walked in the door for my interview. They matched my salary request and gave me benefits.
I only stayed at the solar company for a year. While it was a great company and I had a supportive boss, I lacked the mentorship and challenge that I really desired.
I had been able to get really clear on what I wanted my future career to look like (running my own business, writing books and speaking professionally), and I was confident that this job wasn’t going to help me get there, so I pursued a career change into a position that would.
If it weren’t for having been laid off of my first job, I wouldn’t have learned first hand how much growth comes from getting clear on your goals and making moves to make them happen.
I likely would have stayed in that position for three years -- but because of being let go, in that same time frame I was able to work at the solar company for a year, and get my next job at a tech company and be promoted.
All this to say, intentional action is rewarded.
And I’m so grateful that I was able to learn that lesson through the challenging experience of being laid off early on in my career.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and where you’re at mentally and emotionally in this COVID-19 pandemic. Send me your thoughts, opinions and questions by going to jenniferspoelma.com/contact and sending me a message!
Weekly Listener Question
This week’s listener question is from Claire. She asked:
“I know I want to make a career change, but I also know it doesn’t happen overnight. What is a realistic timeframe to plan on for making a major career change? How do I know when it’s time to start planning that change?”
Hi Claire, this is such a timely question!
You are definitely right that career changes don’t happen instantly. Especially if you are employed while seeking your next career opportunity, it can take some time to really get clear on what you want in your next role, and create the time to apply and interview for positions.
There is no specific timeframe that me, or anyone else, could guarantee a career change to take place within. But with the economy the way it was prior to COVID-19, I usually estimated 2-3 months, on average, for my coaching clients to make a successful career transition.
Now things are a little different. There are opportunities, but there are also a lot of unknowns.
The best thing you can do to plan and prepare for your career change is to focus on getting really clear about what you want, and don’t want, in your next job. That way, once those opportunities start to become more available (maybe they still are available!) you’ll be able to recognize them and have an advantage on the job market.
Thanks so much for your question, Claire!
If you have a career coaching question you want answered, you can go to: jenniferspoelma.com/contact and use the form there to send me your question!
