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In today's dynamic and volatile job market, layoffs, while
devastating, are commonplace. In the eyes of most everyone,
being laid off is the same as being fired and people oft times
have trouble coping with it. In this week's job tip, we discuss
how to explain layoffs to potential employers.
When an individual has been laid off but still records the job
on a resume, he/she will often have difficulty explaining the
reason for leaving that job. Even though lay offs are
commonplace today, it is a blow to your ego and those emotions
are still right on the surface. If asked why you left that job,
you stutter or your face gets red and that employer knows
something happened.
So, your goal after being the victim of a layoff is to come up
with a plausible and true reason why the company laid you off.
The key word in the sentence above is 'true.' The next goal is
to put that event in its place and realize that while hurtful,
it was not personal.
Economic conditions
In most cases, when you are laid off from a company it's related
to poor financial condition. Most times, companies have lost
revenues over a period of time and find that they must cut back
on their workforce to prevent more damage being done. No matter
what the reason, the company is no longer able to support their
employees and they will start laying people off.
So, the first part of your reasoning could be that the company
you were working for was having financial difficulty. Hopefully
you were not the only person laid off and you can say, "ABC
Company ran into financial difficulties and laid off 8 employees
(or however many it was)."
If that is not the case and you were the only person laid off at
the time then try to be more generic and say something like, "I
got caught in the layoffs of 2003." This way, you are still
telling the truth but letting the employer draw his or her own
conclusions from your statement.
Why You?
Sometimes an employer might ask why you were the one
About the author:
Scott Brown is the author of the Job Search Handbook (http://www.JobSearchHandb
ook.com). As editor of the HireSites.com weekly newsletter
on job searching, Scott has written many articles on the
subject. He wrote the Job Search Handbook to provide job seekers
with a complete yet easy to use guide to finding a job
effectively.
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