Fired for Now: Getting fired, laid off, and hired again

I need to take a moment to call my own industry onto the carpet once again. But this time I’d love to get your impressions to determine if my impressions are off.

This time the ad in question is a new TV commercial from Gatorade featuring NBA star Kevin Garnett. It also features another Kevin who no one’s ever heard of. Just an ordinary Kevin who’s an amateur swimmer.

The commercial cuts back and forth between the two different Kevins, trading lines from their own points of view…. Continue Reading

Let’s go back in time. Let’s say a year ago. And let’s say, just hypothetically speaking, your manager has just asked to meet with you.

You head to the meeting room and already sitting there is the HR manager. After about 2 seconds, you know this is not good news.

You’re told that you’re laid off, or you’re fired, and your exit from the company is swift, accompanied by a strong dose of shame and embarrassment.

That shame often means a flight to safety, retreating to a higher ground called home, and … Continue Reading

There it was. That piece of yellow plastic tucked under my windshield wiper, unmistakable from 50 feet away. I’d been all of 4.5 minutes. After circling, I couldn’t find a parking spot, and I took my chances to run into this tiny store to just grab some postage stamps and run back out again.

Just that morning, I’d been stressing out fiercely over finances. It was bill payment time.

I took a pay cut when I accepted my 3-month contract gig, and it’s clear I have to make some serious adjustments. So this … Continue Reading

If you watched the Golden Globe Awards last weekend, you may have seen a new Monster.com commercial. It’s part of a just-launched ad campaign accompanying the launch of Monster’s rebuilt web site. And according to the ad agency behind it, (BBDO New York), in the face of massive layoffs, people just want to laugh. (You can watch it here at nytimes.com.)

Now, that could be true. Attendance at movies is up as it was during the … Continue Reading

Remember when the phrase “the war on talent” meant you might actually have some clout out there? When you could negotiate terms of a job offer and a compensation agreement?

Now that unemployment numbers have brought about a major cease-fire, the best and brightest are no longer hard to find behind enemy lines. They’re gathered in Starbucks armchairs across the continent, laptops in hand, browsing the net and revising resumes while they seek the intangible comfort of like-minded companionship.

The shift in power is a humbling feeling. I used to feel I had something to offer. I still do, it’s just that … Continue Reading

December’s just-announced unemployment stats were so predictable that another month of whopping job loss across North America hardly raises an eyebrow.

However, buried in the Associated Press story today I came across a stat that really did surprise me.

In reporting the various industries that slashed jobs in December, leisure and hospitality were at the bottom of the list. Seriously?

Here are the U.S. stats for December’s job cuts by those industries that did major damage:

Construction companies: 101,000 jobs cut
Factories: 149,000 jobs cut
Professional & business services: 113,000 jobs cut
Retailers: 67,000 jobs cut
Leisure & hospitality: … Continue Reading

I’ve been unemployed now for exactly 5 weeks. And it’s taken me that long to follow through on a promise I made to myself.

Five weeks ago I told myself, that as long as I’m not working, I’d use some of this time to do something I don’t usually do, something that I may have wanted to do but never found or made the time for, something that would be uplifting and soul-giving.

And I said the same thing to myself 4 weeks ago. And I said it again 3 weeks ago. And … Continue Reading

Here’s a little quiz:

• Are you worrying — even obsessing — about things more than usual?
• Are you unusually quiet and seem unable to share what’s bothering you?
• Are you more irritable than usual and maybe sometimes lash out at those who try to offer help?
• Are you sluggish, fatigued, and lack your usual interest in things you usually enjoy?

Guess what – you may be depressed. But you probably didn’t need this handy list to tell you that.  I didn’t.  I think most of us have a pretty good sense if we’re depressed without a formal label being applied.

In the past few weeks, I … Continue Reading

I’m unemployed. My extended health care benefits run out at the end of the month, in exactly three days. I’m taking a short-term contract job in the new year that will offer zero benefits.

But if my health or the health of my family is threatened, I’ll be fine. We could develop a serious illness, have a major accident or just develop a  garden-variety sinus infection. Doesn’t matter. I and my family will get the health care we need, employed or not.

Why? Because I live in Canada.

And if I lived in any … Continue Reading