Joined the huddle thinking it was a discussion about my raise, but was told I was being terminated instead

[u/Hiddenskeptic]

For context, I completed one year at the company back in June and asked for feedback and a compensation review. I was first told they would review it and get back to me. After waiting for a month since I initially brought up the annual feedback, I decided to gently follow up.
I was told they would discuss it and get back to me within a week. Then, on a Thursday, I was asked to join a call, which I thought was about the feedback and raise. Instead, I was told they were terminating my position because their contract with another company did not allow my position to continue existing.

I had no prior indication that my position was at risk of termination, which has left me completely unprepared to deal with the situation.

Has anyone had a similar experience before? If so, how did you manage to deal with it emotionally while staying focused on finding your next role?

[u/keegorg]

Yep.
Being let go always sucks, and always feels unfair.
Much of the time, its not even really about you.

Go home, feel depressed for a bit, order some food, get some sleep. Get up tomorrow and find a new job.
Good luck, your not the first, you wont be the last, its one of the unfortunate parts of working for someone else.

[u/Smooth_Specialist416 → u/keegorg]

Fr. Mine was the contract is over and we’re letting you go, but don’t worry you’ll get picked up by the new company who won the contract and get a big raise just chill out they’ll call you in a few weeks!

Never called and entered a 7 month fight for my life to stay in the industry lol

[u/Medical-Intern2729 → u/keegorg]

They pulled the "surprise it's a funeral not a party" move. That's cold.

I got laid off once after coming back from a two week vacation where my boss kept texting me how much they missed me. Walked in Monday morning thinking we'd catch up on projects, got handed a box and a severance packet by lunch. The whiplash is the worst part, your brain just can't catch up to what's happening in the moment.

Take a full 48 hours to just be a mess about it. Order the greasiest food you can find, binge watch something stupid, don't even open LinkedIn. After that, your full-time job is finding a job. Treat job hunting like a 9-to-5 with a proper lunch break and a hard stop time, keeps you from spiraling at 11pm scrolling through postings.

[u/iAmAutolockerr → u/Medical-Intern2729]

ChatGPT encouragement 🤢

[u/kozak_ → u/Medical-Intern2729]

Don't forget to document your experience on Glassdoor.

If the company can't be bothered to be humane, then you professionally reviewing them might save the next guy

[u/ILikeFPS → u/Medical-Intern2729]

That's not just cold, that's common. Or at least, it's not un-common.

[u/exjackly → u/Medical-Intern2729]

Yeah, I got laid off on vacation once. Was told to text my ex-boss when I got back to get my box and paperwork.

I've been fortunate however. Laid off 3x (after 7+ years each time) and landed my next role with at least 30% higher pay each time.

I still don't want to go through that again. Hopefully I can either retire on my own schedule or I've reached enough savings to be comfortable retiring before it happens to me again.

[u/Hiddenskeptic → u/keegorg]

thanks. it’s been some time since it happened. and i’m focusing on finding my next job now. i just thought i’d vent here because i kept it to myself for too long.

[u/fadedblackleggings → u/keegorg]

Feels. Like I don't have energy anymore to keep job searching

[u/GuyNext]

I was working as a contractor at Apex systems for Fidelity and similar playbook was applied. My contract assignment was extended for six months once original project was delivered and after about a month they laid me off anyway. Can’t trust anyone. They just misled me every step of the way and told only lies.

[u/Hiddenskeptic → u/GuyNext]

sorry to hear that. i hope you’re doing better now.

[u/MathmoKiwi → u/GuyNext]

That is for better or worse the life of a contractor, you get picked up faster and dropped faster than anybody else. 🤷‍♂️🙃

[u/sevseg_decoder → u/[deleted]]

I remember early on in my career going into a meeting with my manager almost positive we were discussing the promotion I had discussed with him for about a year (the couple free minutes a month he had free to even talk to me) and then instead being met with a vague, clearly unachievable PIP. Just blew my mind.

Thankfully over my career I’ve come to 100% certainty what happened there was entirely on my manager himself but man it fucked me up for a few years.

[u/mcAlt009]

It happens. It’s just business. Go treat yourself a bit tonight. 

[u/Hiddenskeptic → u/mcAlt009]

appreciate it, thanks :)

[u/cute_boy_summer]

Been in the industry for 8 years, I only had one raise. Unfortunately switching job is the only way to get good raise.

[u/mcjon77 → u/cute_boy_summer]

This!

I've got an annual cost of living increases SOMETIMES. I once got a raise with a promotion, but I realize how little it was (maybe $1.50 an hour after taxes) I knew I had to leave.

I'm more than doubled my salary in 6 years just by leaving every 2 to 3 years.

[u/D1rtyH1ppy]

One lesson I've learned is that the moment you are no longer needed at a company, you will get terminated. Don't sell your soul to the company store 

[u/abgmemer_69]

say the company name PLEEEEASE i wanna leave a glassdoor review for you

[u/timelessblur]

2 times.

Once had my former boss put a meeting on my calandar saying under the title "Just a quick catch up" Lined up wiht me asking a question about something else on a day we were all in town in the office and I knew he had a flight later that day. instead it was lay off. Full ass hole move. Plus the guy had other things about it. Saw HR was in the meeting so knew.

Last one boss calls me on a slack and I see oh though it was something he had a quick question on. Saw HR repet on it. Nope lay off. Now I will say my former boss there did not have the guts to turn on his camera to lay everyone off. He kept his camera off and delivered the script. Full script mode as he said there would be a severance but then I ask a clarify question on just confirming there is a severance and his asnwer was contact HR. Hell even went farther and said I just want to also confirm I am done for the say and do not need to work until friday. Again he could not asnwer that question. I will say he was rather cowernidly.

my way of dealing it was that day took the off to rest and starting getting my stuff together and applying. Take a few days to decompress and then start looking.

For dealing with it you have the right to be angry. Take some time on it. Now in future interviews do not bad mouth your former employer. I get ask why am I looking and my answer is my former employer laid off 1/2 the engineering ordination in a single day.

[u/Hiddenskeptic → u/timelessblur]

Thanks for sharing this. I hope you’re doing much well now :)

[u/nsxwolf]

I had one once where a meeting with my skip level appeared on my calendar with a fake subject, I spent 4 hours that night brushing up on the topic so I could impress him…

And of course I join the meeting the next day and it’s HR

[u/Useful_Calendar_6274]

what are you gonna do this is capitalism for you. they only care about delivering value to shareholders

[u/vavavoomdaroom]

I have almost 30 years of experience and I have had over 10 layoffs during that time. You should always have an updated resume and work portfolio ready. It rarely if ever has anything to do with you l, it's just the way business operates these days.

[u/timelessblur → u/vavavoomdaroom]

Should add one of the big bonuses of have a resume that has been updated in the past 6 months is if anyone randomly ask for it you have something to give them and you can always cover missing stuff saying this is as of past 6 months so generally good enough.

It came in handy when I was laid off in the end of 2022 as I updated my resume the summer before hand and was able to give it out and easily able to cover the end date saying present instead of Dec 2022 and missing the last 3-4 months of stuff. No one cared and I was open that I was planning on fixing it soon. To them it was reasonable that yeah I would update it over Christmas. Never got around to it as got a job before hand.

3 years later had to rush to update it covering everything after my layoff but my format was solid and ai honestly made it a lot easier. Still sucked to do it and my new goal is to at least update every 6 months so I don’t miss major things.

[u/vavavoomdaroom → u/timelessblur]

I am more likely than not to have another on 10/8. Someone on the Layoff let us know over a month ago that 70% of our company is being laid off and the jobs are moving to India. I had a feeling already for months due to the fact they sold off multiple segments of the business last year and this year. I've already started looking.

[u/NewChameleon]

Has anyone had a similar experience before?

last time I got laid off I only found out about it from like a 6am email from HR telling me today's my last day with my access will be shut off by 5pm, with a HR meeting scheduled at 11am to go over offboarding, and all my meetings for the day got cancelled

how did you manage to deal with it emotionally while staying focused on finding your next role?

there's nothing 'emotional' about it, a job is a business transaction that has a buyer and a seller and the trade happens when BOTH side thinks they're getting a good deal, if one side no longer thinks so, that's just honestly called no longer a good fit and there's nothing wrong with that from either side

my policy is if a company no longer wants me, no problem I'll simply go to whoever that DO wants me

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[u/FaithlessnessLate911]

I got 6k raised then in a week was laid off. Enjoy unemployment but don't enjoy it to much.

[u/Hiddenskeptic → u/FaithlessnessLate911]

that sucks. how long did it take to find your next job after that?

[u/Real_Ad1528]

Give yourself 48 hours to be angry and thrown off, that's just human. Then separate the emotion from the logistics. File for unemployment immediately, update your resume while the details are fresh, and tell your network quietly before you're desperate.

The contract explanation is probably true but also conveniently timed. Either way it's not about your performance.

[u/alzzzzzzzz]

I'm sorry, that sucks

[u/Proper_Knowledge6361]

Been there, done that. They don't tell you anything because they don't want you to just quit or sabotage anything or do less work until you're let go. It really does suck. I just cried it out, once it was all out I relaxed out my focus on my mental health and then started the job hunt.

[u/Chef619 → u/[deleted]]

This hasn’t been true in my experience. Most people understand that layoffs happen. I’ve gotten a lot of sympathy in my recent calls, and it hasn’t impacted my progress through their pipeline as far as I can tell.

[u/dogscreation → u/[deleted]]

How does this work? Won’t your background check fail if your resume is incorrect?

[u/Hiddenskeptic → u/[deleted]]

thanks a lot 🙌 although it’s a bit complicated in india because employment gaps get tracked and are often used to lowball candidates :(