Dear Diary:
I recently saw this question posted on the New York Law Journal:
“Q:
Dear Ann:
I am a junior associate and I just got laid off from my firm due to low volume of work in my department. I’ve been offered a severance package and an assurance that the firm will assist in helping me find a job, including the use of my office for three months, and that most people at the firm will not know that I did not leave voluntarily.
I have begun to work on my resume and have started to talk to some headhunters. Should I tell any headhunters that I end up using that I have been laid off and should I reveal the real reason for my departure from my firm to the other firms?….”
Ann Israel, the legal recruiter who answers questions for NYLJ, answered that not only are you ethically obliged to tell the entire story, one would be crazy not to. As I previously mentioned, I gained some valuable lying and nunchuck skills while in BigLaw, but I would have to agree that this is not the time to use them, at least not the former, maybe the latter.
Ann continues to say “if you don’t think that everyone knows that you have been laid off then you are only fooling yourself.” I agree. I really do not understand why the people who have been laid off continue to go into work every day and work their butts off and are too humiliated to tell anyone they’ve been laid off. Instead of looking for another job, networking, going on informational interviews, etc. (and if you’re in NYC, you should sign up for Free NYC and My Open Bar for free events and free open bars), and going out and enjoying life while you’re inbetween jobs, people are doing the same miserable shit they used to do, except now they know they have no job security because they’ve just been laid off, which only compounds the misery.
Don’t sit there and cry, whine, weep, feel sorry for yourself, and be a pussy crouching in your office that is only yours for the next three months.
Just let go. They let you go. You need to let go and go out and try to find another job and at least try to do something that makes you happy while you look.
Don’t be humiliated. Don’t be scerred. Because, as Ann says, “In this economic climate, there is no shame in being laid off. As Cole Porter might have said, first years do it, senior counsels do it, even partners past their prime do it; everyone does it lately.”
The bad news is, and I again agree with Ann, is that she suspects “it may take far longer than three months to find a new employer….” (at least to find one that is deserving of you and your skills and education) so “You need to be very proactive about your job search… Be aggressive and proactive. And don’t be ashamed because you are yet another victim of this economy, there is nothing to be embarrassed about unless you don’t do anything about your situation. Just remember, this isn’t going to be easy and it may take a long time until you are able to find the right job, hang in there and don’t give up. Best wishes!”
I really can’t stress this enough: don’t be ashamed. Your coworkers might still have jobs (for now) but don’t buy into the b.s. that it was performance based to explain why it was you and not them. And for godsakes, quit showing up to work to do work–if you are going to go to work, make sure you are following up on leads, checking your email and voice mail, using office resources to help you find another job, and using your work laptop to read and comment on Lawshucks and Laid Off Diary.
And if you’re not doing this, I hope you’re drinking and enjoying the nice summer weather.
Go get a tan.
Related posts:
I don't understand why they would bother offering the use of an office for three months to save face. Even if everyone doesn't already know an associate has been laid off, they will when the three months are up and that person is no longer in the office. What good are they doing?
I think the goal is that the person secures another job within those three months so it looks like a run of the mill lateral move rather than a stealth lay off (though they still make you work sometimes and so they're still making money off your laid off ass). Also, the firm tries to help the associate find another job–theoretically–and I think it's so that the associate leaves on happy terms and doesn't give anonymous tips about dirt that happens at the law firm to blogs like lawshucks.com for all to see.
That and, arguably, it's easier to find a job when you have a job. So there's some theoretical benefit to having the contact number and email still go through to a firm. It gives the affected attorneys a little bit of runway to act like they're in good standing and trying to get out ahead of a wreck.