Member-only story
What to Do When Massive Layoffs Hit
Here are my tips from my own massive layoff experience
My heart goes out to those who have received layoff notices. Two of my former employers, Microsoft and Amazon, announced laying off 10,000 and 18,000 employees respectively and other Big Tech companies are doing something similar. As someone who has been there before, I know how confused and anxious the impacted people might be. By sharing my own massive layoff experience, I hope you can gain some insights on how to deal with the situation and move forward.
My Experience
I was one of those impacted by the first and the largest major massive layoff of Microsoft back in 2014. At that point, Microsoft had been my employer for 15 years.
Shock and disbelief were my first reactions. But at the same time, I was glad it happened for two reasons. First, for weeks, there have been rumors about a massive layoff announcement among Microsoft employees and everyone was a little anxious about it. With the news finally breaking, the anxiety was lifted. Second, I wanted to make a career change for quite some time but was hesitant to do so. Now I was on the list, I was forced to make a move.
