At one point in my career I was laid off unexpectedly. It happened suddenly one day, even though I was the head of the human resources department.
Leading up to this, the CEO had been telling me — for many months — “Don’t leave the company, we’re likely to get acquired, and you’re a big part of that.” Then one day half the company was gathered together, and we were all terminated on the spot.
If you’ve ever been laid off, you know that the experience is extremely disorienting
I felt like the floor fell out from under me, and it was so heartbreaking to leave a place where I had spent three years. I adored the work and my colleagues.
But I wasn’t mad at the company, nor was I mad at the CEO. From my perspective as a HR executive, I’ve seen the underbelly of a business and the gut wrenching decisions they have to make in order to keep a business alive during tough times.
Because I had always been acutely aware of how businesses can face the sudden changing tides (they are always looking to appease stakeholders and job security isn’t real), I had planned for this.
