Before I begin this topic, I guess asking for sympathy after three months of vacation was probably not too smart. Oh well. :)
I recently received an email from a student who stated "the one thing college didn't prepare me for was the threat of layoffs... I would like to believe the quality of my work would be rewarded...with layoffs it doesn't even matter."
Layoffs are a real part of life. It doesn't matter where you work - public or private - big company or small - teacher or engineer. The worst part is, the people most susceptible are those most junior and probably least financially prepared for the loss of income. I don't have any advice on how to avoid layoffs. Perhaps the best advice is to, as soon as you start working (before you take out that big car loan or buy a new house), get enough money into savings to cover a couple of months of lost income.
Personally, if I worked in a place where there were threats of layoffs over a long time, I would look to move on. The stress is real and no fun.
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A Place for Current/Former Students of Ron Ulseth to find Job Search Information
Re-Tooling TBL
For several years TBL was a blog where I wrote about a wide variety of topics. Those postings are still in the Blog Archive and many are about professional development for engineers. I am now transitioning TBL to be a place where my current and former students can find information related to job searches.
Minnesota Works
Every person viewing this blog should immediately join MN Works job search site.
https://www.minnesotaworks.net
The BOTTOM Line
This Blog is intended for the former and current engineering students of Ron Ulseth.
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2 comments:
I'd like to share my layoff experiences with you and maybe even give a little advice to share with the students.
When I finished my BSEE, I took a job with a big, world-wide company. Since then, that company spun my division off into a new company and most recently we merged with another world-wide corporation. To put it simply, I've had the same job for over seven years but I've worked for three different companies during that time.
As all of these name changes happened, layoffs had become common occurrences. I have survived six rounds of layoffs and seen many co-workers lose their jobs. In my small department (ten of us are still here), we've lost seven guys to layoffs. All but one of those guys had been here longer than me and had many more years of experience. I've basically been the "new guy" in my department for the past seven+ years.
Most recently, my manager/mentor was one of the guys that got laid off. After one of the previous layoff rounds, I asked him why I still had a job while others around me weren't so fortunate. He told me that everyone has a "toolkit" and that some people have more tools in their toolkit than others. He felt that I had more tools in my toolkit and that made me more valuable to the company than others.
I'll always remember that talk and to this day, I do whatever I can to add to my toolkit. For me, that means I need to keep broadening my horizon. I don't hesitate to try something new, I forge ahead with new concepts and ideas, I learn new software either by teaching myself or taking a class, I try to find new ways or faster ways of doing things, and I always try to keep my job exciting. As the young guy coming into a department of "old-schoolers" I was able to shine by doing documentation better and faster than it had been done before and by taking the initiative to streamline old documents and processes to make our jobs easier. Innovation and a willingness to learn have definitely been a key to my success.
Make yourself an active learner and don't be afraid to let yourself shine. Keep adding to your toolkit, you can never have too many tools.
Also, don't forget who your friends and colleagues are. I may have lost seven co-workers but as long as I keep those networks open, they may be the ones helping me get my next job if I do get laid off. These colleagues have gotten jobs other places and using them provides a huge advantage for getting a job with their respective companies.
Layoffs will happen, you just do what you can to keep yourself in the game.
- Adam S (Former ICC Engineering student)
Thanks Adam! This is tremendous insight.
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