I was asked to summarize my situation as a potential “human interest” story…so I wrote the following copy. Some of this is clearly redundant with previous blog posts…
Dave Atkins is a veteran of the up and down world of start up companies. Prior to his current job, he worked in Silicon Valley during the dot com bubble bust and as a Director of Engineering, he went through multiple rounds of layoffs, deciding who to layoff and delivering the news–in one case to a returning new mom. But when the economic downturn hit his current company, Dave and his team members faced a sudden rude awakening.
As of early November, the company had funding adequate through May 2009 and began talking to VC firms about another round. But his CEO quickly learned there was no money to be raised. The company decided that in order to preserve any possibility of a future, drastic measures were needed. Nearly all senior personnel–8 out of 17 people–are to be laid off effective December 31.
What’s surprising about these layoffs is how the team continues to work. Dave and another “short termer” were up at 6am last Thursday morning to deploy a major upgrade to the website. As the Technical Operations Manager, Dave is responsible for setting up and transitioning the systems the sole remaining engineer will have to manage. The 3 of 4 technical people to be let go are planning the termination process–how to change passwords, disable accounts, and ensure that the remaining team members are “positioned for success.”
“I can’t deny it’s not weird,” Dave said. “But I think we all feel a certain personal loyalty to one another and we all recognize that this is a business decision that was not easy or made lightly by our CEO. She trusts us to continue functioning as professionals and we respect the choices she made.”
Dave, the sole income earner for a family of 5, is making the most of his time before the layoff. As the company meeting unfolded, Dave began texting his friends on twitter, getting an immediate job lead. That night, he blogged about the start of his job search, optimistically observing that because of his involvement in social networking sites, he knew hundreds of people he could contact now–a far cry from only two years ago when his role had been very isolating in another company. One of his connections is a personal coach who offered him advice and support; another connected him to the Salty Legs Career Club.
Dave balances his “finish up” tasks at work with networking meetings and an all out effort to meet new people and find work. “My employer is very supportive. Our CEO has offered to connect us with anyone she knows and help in any way possible. And if I need to go to a meeting or interview, of course no one is going to question that.”
“This whole experience finally woke me up,” Dave observes. “I should have found a way to be doing this months ago. A career club is much more than a place for job seekers to exchange leads, it’s a mechanism to connect with people outside your company and to develop new leads. I think we all need to stop thinking in terms of “jobs” and start thinking about finding work and connecting with real people in as many channels as possible: social media and face-to-face. No job is ever going to satisfy the many things we want to do in life and working for a single employer is just too risky to do without some kind of network for when the work runs out.”