Laid Off & Sleepless in Corona

This thing called Corona has been the most disruptive thing that has happened to humanity in the past 50 years, there is no equivalence of this event in the recorded history of the earth. It has laid to bare the faults that existed in us, like the rocks on a river bed visible when the water has all but dried out. It has shown us the what the world really is, how our leaders are, how we are as a country (India is in the lower quarter if not the lowest) how supportive our family and friends are, and also what kind of organizations we are/were working for.

We all know our leaders came out as clueless people who failed at the very first step, developing a plan to tackle the crisis and then unable to demonstrate any skills or leadership in tackling the crisis. Some of us also discovered family and friends are the bedrock of our life and existence and some of us also discovered that family and friends is a four letter word when it comes to a crisis. Lack of leadership in the country and lack of support from the family pales in comparison to what some of you may have experienced in the organizations that you were working for, if you were laid off.

In the first wave most of the people were laid off from organizations that were struggling even before Corona started and Corona just accelerated the demise of the organization, sinking the ship and taking down those in it with itself. While this was happening people in bigger ships felt safe with their open air cafes and plush seating, and all you can drink tea and coffee, it was unimaginable that such a stuff would happen to them. Then Airbnb, Uber, Cult.fit, Zomato, Swiggy, Ola, WeWork, OYO Rooms, the poster boys of Indian startups announced cuts, and the fancy offices and tea and coffee became out of reach. From the feeling of having accomplished a lot in life, that comes with working in plush offices, the laid off had to grapple with the life of despair and despondency that comes with the feeling of living your life in a two bedroom house in Bathinda that you share with 4 other family members away from Gurgaon. The rest who still have a job are left wondering for how long their jobs would last, the thought not letting them sleep at night or work efficiently at the job.

To be sure we are not done with the layoffs yet, there is more to come as more and more quarterly results come out.

So?

The amazing thing about humans is when we are hungry, we go and slink in a corner and wait for food to magically appear or someone to feed us, when that does not happen, we become even more hungry and you know what would happen if we are hungry for long periods of time — we would die. The thing to do when you are hungry is to go out and hunt and not wait for someone to feed you or for food to magically appear. Extrapolated to the current situation it means, if you have been laid off and even if you have not been laid off, this is the time to reassess your career goals, your priorities and a plan to make your career more resilient, in short — don't wait for the hunger to strike to go hunting. Here are a few tips I think maybe useful to build a more resilient career:

1. Work for yourself not your company — When you are working for a company, work for yourself as well. Organizations don’t have long lasting loyalties, they are profit making enterprises who would do anything to stay afloat or be profitable, your loyalty and your commitment would be of no use, if your job is made redundant. I have friends you were working for IBM, and were in love with the company so much so that they passed opportunities to work for better companies, because they loved working for IBM, but that loyalty did not stop IBM from firing them when the times were bad. Work for yourself, build your skills, develop your talent and don’t be in a committed relationship with your organization, if better opportunity comes along take them.
2. Ask about the training plan, not the drinks menu — When choosing an organization to work for, don’t be overawed by the plush seating and the drinks menu, ask and assess how much you would learn, does the organization even have a useful training program. If you are planning on spending years in an organization, you don’t want to come out of it after a few years with the same level of knowledge and skills, like you wouldn’t spend years in grade 12 of your school because the classroom was air-conditioned and teachers were hot.
3. Improve yourself — Your supervisors or managers and your organization do not owe you an improvement plan, they are not bothered if your skills and career is on the right track. You are the owner of your own career, develop your own plan and invest your own money and time in yourself. If your organization does not give you a chance to develop your skills in a particular area take classes, start your own side project, volunteer for an organization, build your own self, get experience.
4. Build a plan for yourself — In this downtime of Corona, build a plan for yourself, what you would see yourself doing in 5 years, 10 years. What are your goals? How would you reach your goals? If you don’t know what your goals are or what your passion is — take this questionnaire to understand more about yourself.

In this time of Corona don’t be sleepless, use the downtime to build a plan for yourself for the future, make yourself resilient and skillful so that you are the last person the organization lets go off.