Achievement Unlocked: Laid Off
December 1, 2023 4:55 AM Subscribe
I found out that my day job will cease to exist early next year because the organisation I work for is winding down. I've not been in a salaried role in a LONG time, and it's my first time getting laid off. What should I know? (Based in Australia, asking anonymously since part of the issue is that I don't know how public I can be about it.)
I work in an admin-style part-time role for a community non-profit in my city. It's my first salaried role in over a decade - most of my career has been based on freelance or short-term contracts, and that salaried role was very short-term anyway.
The non-profit didn't get continuing funding, so all our roles (we're a small team) will wrap up at the same time on the project funding end date. Unlike everyone else in my team, I was on a fixed-term contract that was meant to take me into 2025. I'm having a meeting with my boss next week to talk redundancy details. What sort of things should I ask her? I can't seem to find a lawyer that works with employees of non-profits to look over my contract, and I'm not sure what my union would be (I am part of a different union for a different line of work), but I do want to be prepared.
What is the etiquette regarding looking for work, or at least letting people know I'm looking for work? I've let my friends know but in indirect terms (not naming the company, for starters). It's also the end of the year, so not much is hiring right now, and the layoff isn't for another few months, so I'm not even sure if I should be job-searching because they might expect me to work earlier than I'm available - but also, starting the job search just as the layoff happens seems a bit late. When's a good time to go public?
Also, what should I say in my application or interview if they ask me why I'm leaving my current job? Would "the organisation is winding down in X Month so our roles are being eliminated" suffice?
Thank you!
I work in an admin-style part-time role for a community non-profit in my city. It's my first salaried role in over a decade - most of my career has been based on freelance or short-term contracts, and that salaried role was very short-term anyway.
The non-profit didn't get continuing funding, so all our roles (we're a small team) will wrap up at the same time on the project funding end date. Unlike everyone else in my team, I was on a fixed-term contract that was meant to take me into 2025. I'm having a meeting with my boss next week to talk redundancy details. What sort of things should I ask her? I can't seem to find a lawyer that works with employees of non-profits to look over my contract, and I'm not sure what my union would be (I am part of a different union for a different line of work), but I do want to be prepared.
What is the etiquette regarding looking for work, or at least letting people know I'm looking for work? I've let my friends know but in indirect terms (not naming the company, for starters). It's also the end of the year, so not much is hiring right now, and the layoff isn't for another few months, so I'm not even sure if I should be job-searching because they might expect me to work earlier than I'm available - but also, starting the job search just as the layoff happens seems a bit late. When's a good time to go public?
Also, what should I say in my application or interview if they ask me why I'm leaving my current job? Would "the organisation is winding down in X Month so our roles are being eliminated" suffice?
Thank you!
Hi, I was laid off in July and I've been laid off before.
I've been asked "so why did you leave job X" in interviews, and I've been honest about that; if you think about it, the hiring people just want to make sure that you weren't fired or aren't this job-hopping dilettante. I can very honestly say that my career path moved the way it did because:
1. The finance job laid me off about 3 years after the recession;
2. I voluntarily left the IRC because I wanted to get back into being an executive assistant, but there weren't any openings there because it was the Trump administration and so nothing was opening up at an organization that was assisting refugees;
3. The construction non-profit I moved onto closed its NYC office and booted us all;
4. The mortgage broker job was turning into way more of a sales job than I could do; and
5. I worked for a tech company, and EVERYONE in tech was having layoffs this year.
That comes across as maybe SLIGHTLY more unlucky than usual, but is understandable. It'd be different if I said something like:
"1. The finance job let me go because I kept having trouble with my boss' expenses;
2. I left the IRC because they weren't gonna pay me enough to be an EA there;
3. The construction non-profit laid me off because I got into fights with the controller;
4. I quit the mortgage broker because I got into fights with the co-workers; and
5. The tech company laid me off because I was trying to get a job assisting the CEO and they said no."
You see the difference, yeah? If I was saying things like how I got laid off because of performance or that I quit because I felt like something was beneath me, that'd be a bit of a red flag. But the ACTUAL history, with me getting a couple of money-ran-out layoffs and choosing to leave a couple other things because of the job changing to something that was not in my wheelhouse, shows that I give things a good try but also know when to cut my losses, and otherwise I'll stay around. It also suggests that if the business itself had been doing financially better, they'd have kept me on.
I've slowed down my job search this month too, because December is kind of a crap time to be looking - I still plan to send out the occasional application, and I am about midway through a couple of screenings so who knows, but otherwise I'm taking it a bit easy and will kick back in come January. (I've even taken on a THEATER job that will pay me chump change but will keep me busy enough.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:30 AM on December 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've been asked "so why did you leave job X" in interviews, and I've been honest about that; if you think about it, the hiring people just want to make sure that you weren't fired or aren't this job-hopping dilettante. I can very honestly say that my career path moved the way it did because:
1. The finance job laid me off about 3 years after the recession;
2. I voluntarily left the IRC because I wanted to get back into being an executive assistant, but there weren't any openings there because it was the Trump administration and so nothing was opening up at an organization that was assisting refugees;
3. The construction non-profit I moved onto closed its NYC office and booted us all;
4. The mortgage broker job was turning into way more of a sales job than I could do; and
5. I worked for a tech company, and EVERYONE in tech was having layoffs this year.
That comes across as maybe SLIGHTLY more unlucky than usual, but is understandable. It'd be different if I said something like:
"1. The finance job let me go because I kept having trouble with my boss' expenses;
2. I left the IRC because they weren't gonna pay me enough to be an EA there;
3. The construction non-profit laid me off because I got into fights with the controller;
4. I quit the mortgage broker because I got into fights with the co-workers; and
5. The tech company laid me off because I was trying to get a job assisting the CEO and they said no."
You see the difference, yeah? If I was saying things like how I got laid off because of performance or that I quit because I felt like something was beneath me, that'd be a bit of a red flag. But the ACTUAL history, with me getting a couple of money-ran-out layoffs and choosing to leave a couple other things because of the job changing to something that was not in my wheelhouse, shows that I give things a good try but also know when to cut my losses, and otherwise I'll stay around. It also suggests that if the business itself had been doing financially better, they'd have kept me on.
I've slowed down my job search this month too, because December is kind of a crap time to be looking - I still plan to send out the occasional application, and I am about midway through a couple of screenings so who knows, but otherwise I'm taking it a bit easy and will kick back in come January. (I've even taken on a THEATER job that will pay me chump change but will keep me busy enough.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:30 AM on December 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
please feel free to talk openly about the situation and feel under no obligation to keep things hush-hush. there is no shame in being laid off because your employer ran out of money. it does not reflect poorly on you. please also feel like you can start interviewing for new jobs immediately.
I work in australia, in the private sector, & had a job where i interviewed many people. sometimes we had people applying for jobs who'd been recently laid off. i'd ask: "why are you interested in this job?" and they'd answer something like: "i was working for a startup, it failed, ran out of money, and everyone got laid off". from my perspective this was a great answer, makes sense why this person needs a new job. everyone has bills to pay, no red flag. on to the next question. in an interview it sure doesn't hurt if you follow up saying something positive and forward-looking about the new organisation and new role.
This might only be a tricky situation to navigate if you were a director / CEO / CFO of the organisation that ran out of money, and you're applying for a new job where you would have a similar responsibility. You would likely get asked a bunch of hard questions as the interviewers try to figure out if you got dealt a bad hand of cards but your decision making and behaviour was fine, you played it as well as anyone could, or if your decision making / behavior / ability was poor and one of the causes of the failure.
I doubt this is remotely likely to happen, but what would be a major red flag is if your boss or the directors want to keep things hush-hush and want you to sign some weird NDA or contract not to disclose that the organisation is winding down. i struggle to think of a situation where people would want to do this for a legal reason! people who run for-profit or not-for-profit corporations that continue trading when they're aware that the company is not going to be able to make payroll -- people get into a lot of trouble for that -- criminal convictions, directors can be found personally liable for the company's liabilities, lose their houses ...
posted by are-coral-made at 9:04 PM on December 1, 2023
I work in australia, in the private sector, & had a job where i interviewed many people. sometimes we had people applying for jobs who'd been recently laid off. i'd ask: "why are you interested in this job?" and they'd answer something like: "i was working for a startup, it failed, ran out of money, and everyone got laid off". from my perspective this was a great answer, makes sense why this person needs a new job. everyone has bills to pay, no red flag. on to the next question. in an interview it sure doesn't hurt if you follow up saying something positive and forward-looking about the new organisation and new role.
This might only be a tricky situation to navigate if you were a director / CEO / CFO of the organisation that ran out of money, and you're applying for a new job where you would have a similar responsibility. You would likely get asked a bunch of hard questions as the interviewers try to figure out if you got dealt a bad hand of cards but your decision making and behaviour was fine, you played it as well as anyone could, or if your decision making / behavior / ability was poor and one of the causes of the failure.
I doubt this is remotely likely to happen, but what would be a major red flag is if your boss or the directors want to keep things hush-hush and want you to sign some weird NDA or contract not to disclose that the organisation is winding down. i struggle to think of a situation where people would want to do this for a legal reason! people who run for-profit or not-for-profit corporations that continue trading when they're aware that the company is not going to be able to make payroll -- people get into a lot of trouble for that -- criminal convictions, directors can be found personally liable for the company's liabilities, lose their houses ...
posted by are-coral-made at 9:04 PM on December 1, 2023
Even if your employer has not yet made the fact that they are winding down public, it is entirely proper to say that you are looking for a new job because the grant funding your position ends on x date. This would be very normal in the nonprofit world without disclosing anything about the larger health of the organization.
posted by metahawk at 12:15 PM on December 2, 2023
posted by metahawk at 12:15 PM on December 2, 2023
« Older Converting Canadian Currency, Some of It Old | What books should I teach in 9th grade honors... Newer »
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
Use whatever phrasing is typical to your industry. "Our funding wasn't renewed, so we're ceasing operations on xx/xx/2024. I am generally expected to stay through that time though I have a couple weeks' flexibility there if necessary" or whatever is accurate to say.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:59 AM on December 1, 2023 [1 favorite]