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Have you ever woken up, walked into the kitchen, put your hand into your toaster, flip it on, and while it was heating up thought to yourself,” This is a good idea, I mean my hand is starting to burn but I’m okay with this”? No, me neither but yet somehow, we complete this same action every day at work.
While “we the happy few” go to work and enjoy it there is a mass amount of people who do not but in either case, the result is the same, we take part in a cycle. Get up, get dressed, grab your bags, head to work, work your standard eighty hours, get your paycheck, pay your bills, complain throughout the process, and repeat.
We complete this cycle for various reasons but whatever those reasons may be, this cycle hides away a question from the forethought of our minds that we should be asking ourselves and searching for an answer. “What would I do if my employer had to let me go?”
In case you were wondering, the reaction to pulling your hand out from the toaster is the thought that you should be aspiring to do something more than your current position. This symbolism hits all too hard.
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Heartbreaks and Layoffs
I don’t know how many of you reading this have ever experienced a layoff before, personally, I have not. I mean, I experienced being laid off in a relationship (it was her choice, not mine) but I could imagine the feeling of your heart dropping into your gut, and experience trembling throughout your very existence would be the result.
For those who don’t entirely have a good idea of what a layoff is; in short, the employer may come into a situation where they have to terminate your employment, the reasons can vary from trying to cut costs, lack of work, or funds because of reorganization, or even mergers and acquisitions.
Breaking this down in relationship terms, this is the classic “It’s not you, it’s me” situation. This differs from being fired because, well… being fired is something that happened on your end. So, again, in relationship terms, this is the classic “I’m breaking up with you because we’re just not meant to be” situation.
Breaking hearts aside, if you have been living under a rock, the company Google, is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc that focuses on various business areas such as advertising, search, platform, and operating systems, and the list goes on, had to perform a massive layoff and people were informed via email, that they were being let go despite their longstanding with Google.
Again, haven’t been laid off before but I could imagine your world becoming microscopic after reading the email. This is heartbreaking because there are many people who spent their better years trying to acquire a spot in Google only to be treated like a mishandled Door Dash order and be left out curbside.
Door Dash here I come.
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Letting Go by Numbers
You may be curious to know how many people and why is Google laying off. As of right now Google either has or seeking to let go of about 12,000 employees. And interns looking to land a job with Google have been put on freeze with a chance of having to pivot their plans because landing a job at Google isn’t looking promising anymore.
Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai informed employees this decision resulted from the realization of unrealized growth expectations. This translates to, if you have ever thrown a house party, I invited too many people and a good chunk of you have to go. So sorry folks but don’t forget to tip your bartender and close your tab on the way out.
This makes Google the latest tech giant to “trim the fat” after the rapid expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic had worn off. Pichai did take full responsibility for the decision however, this doesn’t soften the blow but at least he did address his muck up.
Yours truly even applied at Google and like most of the companies I’ve applied to, they scoffed at my achievements because I didn’t come from a university or have the certifications, they were screening for but after applying for their apprenticeship program and never hearing anything more about it, this all makes sense now.
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Being The Jack of Spades
This brings things back into perspective from the introduction I made earlier. Not the toaster part but that has a play in it too. What would you do if you had to part ways with your employer and either have a small chance of coming back or none?
After spending years on the conveyer belt traveling from school to college and from college to fall into a position in a company that you hope to carry you into your golden years, you find the world is changing and companies of yesterday have less of a care for their current longstanding and hope-filled potential employees due to having to rapidly change.
A thing about jobs is that they are meant to be a short-term service while having a career, on the other hand, is better but not the best since you must specialize in something. The problem with this is you have to be careful with whatever specialization you choose because it could either contribute to oversaturating the market or end up being such a small niche in the wrong area that people have no use for it.
A solution to preparing for this situation if you are ever so unlucky to come face-to-face with it is to treat your skills like a stock portfolio and be diverse as possible. Be the Jack of All Trades and master of none because in this case, it’s better than being a master of one.
I’m sure there are a few people in Google who were able to shrug off being laid off because either they have a decent amount saved in their savings plan or they have other skills they can rely on. But for a large amount of them, this is removing the blinders and a rude awakening. If you noticed, in school you’re never taught how to adapt to change.
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