Getting laid off sucks
Make your own silver linings
When I left academia and moved into tech, my first role was half product, half marketing. I actually didn’t know what “UX writing” was at the time, but I could write and had a background in genetics and the company needed a UX and marketing writer for a genetics product and so it began.
Then, in 2018 the company downsized. I was let go with about 15% of my colleagues and I was devastated. I loved my work. I loved the people I worked with. This was pre-COVID when we were 5 days a week in the office, and that office felt like a second home. I cried a lot the first few days, and then put my emotions in a box, and focused on my job search. This search after my first role in tech was quite different from the search right before. This time around I knew what I wanted.
- Sit in the Product org
- Be on the UX team
- Full time UX writing
- Proactive, strategic projects; not only reactive, tactical microcopy
- Mentorship specifically in the field of UX
I found all of that and more where I landed. I had applied to more than 30 companies, many of which were not actually hiring a UX writer. I leveraged my network, asking anyone who knew anyone I knew to get my application in the right hands. I also applied to LinkedIn posts where I had no “in” at all — it was one of those where I actually ended up.
Learnings: Know what you want; cast your net wide; you don’t need connections to succeed.
Four years later I had grown so much, as a UX writer, as a professional in general, and as a person. And I was laid off again. Toward the end of 2022, 40% of my company was let go, including 50% of my team. This time in a market-wide environment that was going to make finding a new job that much harder. This time there weren’t 30 companies to apply to, everyone was firing, not hiring. And now more senior, there were fewer relevant roles.
I started thinking outside the box and outside my comfort zone and started thinking about what compromises to my latest wish list I’d be willing to make.
- I’d never thought now would be the time to move away from practicing content design day to day, and yet I pursued an opportunity in the content design education and community organizing space.
- I never thought I’d work for a small startup, and yet that’s where I landed.
- I wanted, for once, not to be a solo practitioner, and yet, here I am again on my own.
And I couldn’t be happier.
Learnings: Consider breaking the career path you had in mind; decide where to compromise and where it’s not worth it.
All throughout these layoffs and job searches, I still had a whole life. At the time of the first layoff, I had a 5 year old, 2 year old, and baby. A the time of the second I had just moved to a new city and bought my first home. But in a way, the non job-related challenges made things easier, not harder, because they were reminders that there’s more to me than my title. My job is not my identity and therefore not having a job was not a crisis of self, but rather a compartmentalized challenge. Yes, I identify as a content designer and that’s part of how I see the world. But I am also a mom. And a wife. A daughter. A community member. An educator and a writer. And so much more.
Around this time I started a youth program in my community and created a community website. I updated my lessons for the college courses I would teach in the coming semesters and promoted my book which had recently been published.
I took the opportunity to have real conversations with my kids about why I work — the financial side and the personal fulfillment. They learned and grew and matured in ways they couldn’t have if I had never been between jobs. These were silver linings I created, they didn’t just happen.
Learnings: Remember there is more to you than your job, anchor your identity to something outside of work; create your own silver linings.
Going through a layoff is hard. If you are on a work visa, financially supporting others, have a history of anxiety, or similar, it’s even harder. If any of my learnings from my own layoffs resonate with you, it’ll have been well worth writing them up.
Stay strong! Your fit is out there.
