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Layoffs? Did Someone Say Layoffs?

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Tis the season for layoffs. You might need a new job search in 2018. As we speak, there are companies putting the final touches on separation agreements and/or severance packages. Well, the talk about departures or the rumored occurrences lately includes Adtalem, AAP, Aetna, AFLAC, Allscripts, Allstate, AIG, Anadarko, Arris, AT&T, ADP, Avaya, Baker Hughes, Bank of America, Becton Dickinson, Bed Bath & Beyond, Boeing, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Broadcom. Not to mention every company that hired seasonal workers recently. This is why I am welcoming back to the show Tom Spiggle of Spiggle Law.

I want to hear from you of how this layoff episode resonates with you.

Here are places you can add to the conversation at large:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your comments to the same number
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

More about Tom:

Tom Spiggle is a former prosecutor and former Assistant U.S. Attorney. His website also has a very informative blog found at spigglelaw.com He is regularly quoted in the media in such outlets as the Washington Post, CBS News, and many law journals.

Our discussion today is based on the article on Tom’s article on his blog, ” The Anatomy of a Severance Agreement.” This time of year is often feared for layoffs or departures. The Bureau of Labor Statistics clumps layoffs/departures as separations. Tom has a 6 part series to offer when you sign up with your email address.

Here are some highlights from our layoff show:

Separation agreement – agreeing or wavering the right to sue, could include package with severance, outplacement services, etc
Companies are not legally required to offer a separation package, no obligation
Talk to financial advisor to get your ducks in a row
If you think you may be laid off, and you have been sexually harassed, now is the time to file before any separation agreement
Tom addresses the five components of the severance agreement in more detail: payment, benefits, unemployment, references, and obligations.

Reminder:

I am here for you! Use my contact information above to inquire about individual or group coaching. You can also sign up for my weekly newsletter at the top right of my page. I try to pack as much value in my newsletter to more than 2,000 subscribers as possible.

Grab my updated “118 Job Search Tips for the Modern Job Search in 2018” here.

You can buy my guides listed here for 99 cents each for the rest of the year! The regular price is $5.00 for most of the guides.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers," career consultant, job seeker advocate, career writer, and founder of this award-winning blog. I help the employed, unemployed, underemployed, and under-appreciated find jobs using job search strategies to navigate the new job market. I aim to give a safe place online to those with different needs, cultures, and ethnicities to find their voice in the job market. Thousands have read my career advice throughout the web as I write about everything from job search strategies to the mobile job search. I have published more than 400 articles on this blog and some of the largest career sites such as Recruiter.com, YouTern, and Come Recommended. I've been quoted in major online publications such as Monster, TIME/Money, Fortune, Business Insider and MSN. FlexJobs, JobMonkey, Aerotek, Career Pivot, and CareerSherpa listed my podcast as one of the top podcasts to help your job search. Love for you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I share the latest articles I've written, new podcast episodes, and answer any questions you may have. The new job search is scary and if you need help, I am here for it!

by Mark Anthony Dyson 4 Comments

9 Reasons Your Spouse Lost Their Mind When You Lost Your Job

Your spouse mind raced because you announced you were let go from your job. It is one thing that you have had steady employment, another when the safety net disintegrates. Many changes are about to take place, and some will affect you.

via GIPHY

Read 7 Signs That A Moratorium On Marriage Has Occurred (Until You Find a Job)

The Huffington Post recently reported that marrieds that are on the brink of divorce are waiting because of the lack of employment.

In March 2007, before the bubble burst, 4.6 percent of the labor force was unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Three years later, the unemployment rate jumped to 10.2 percent. Divorce, on the other hand, decreased by 1.4 percent between 2007 and 2008, according to the report, and then by another 2.8 percent between 2008 and 2009.

Your spouse lost their mind over time. Remember when he or she lost it because you worked overtime? You are not alone. At least stats show that it’s a slow but grinding process, so there is hope if it seems bad now.

Read Marriage and the Unemployed Spouse

Hiring in your career industry appears bleak, and your marriage has peeling chips from its paint. I have listed a few reasons why your spouse is losing their mind if it’s still a mystery to you:

Your spouse thinks you should have seen job loss coming. This premise exposes the lack of communication you had before it hit the fan.
You are minimizing the impact on the family. Saying things like, “It’s not so bad.” “I’m glad its over.” “My boss was out to get me!” Transparency is the key, and never talking about it with yours spouse is a problem.
Either laid-off or Fired, you were dishonest about how it happened. That will tick him or her off for sure. Own up to a poor job performance, or an incident that was your responsibility.
You’re the one freaking out. You are lashing out at your spouse, children, for no reason. Showing control and restraint is YOUR responsibility. Practice temperance and reason and everyone else should follow.
You lack updated, relevant skills to find a job. Unfortunately, a spouse that has encouraged you to go back to school, or pursue another career track will have little mercy on you. It is best to be humble, hear the noise, and push forward.
Your spouse knows the lazy person in you will not conduct due diligence. He or she knows that your ambition barely treads water. Diffuse the bomb before it explodes, and be aggressive in searching and researching jobs. Let your family see your research, talk with your spouse about potential decisions critical to the household (night job or day, lower pay, mandatory overtime).
That makes two. When both spouses are out of work, the panic button is abused. Keep your hand off the button!
You won’t take on extra chores since you have extra time. Unemployment has fringe benefits, but another way to reclaim your spouse. If there is a disconnect, then find ways to reconnect. If you know what makes your spouse tick, then be what they need to make him or her happy.
The lack of money will eventually exploit all marriage weaknesses or at least most. However, the focus on money can into idol worship, thus an even larger issue. Don’t be surprise if this was always prevalent in your marriage.

Read 10 Ways Your Spouse Can Boost Your Career

Sure there are other ways to keep the peace. The unemployed spouse has to compensate for the fear of not contributing financially. Although decisions made out of guilt or compulsion are potentially hazardous to any relationship, this is the kick in the behind you need.

Many issues existed before you lost your job. How you deal with it will determine if your marriage grows or perishes down the line.

What are other reasons spouses go CRAZY when job loss in the family occurs? Perhaps there are ways to properly handle a spouse’s job loss. Please share either by commenting below.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson 12 Comments

Job Interviewing Best Practices (PODCAST)

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Melissa Cooley, of MelissaCooley.com, is a Certified Resume Writer, Interview Coach, Career Consultant, Blogger, and a contributor to the career book, Nourish Your Career. Her blog, The Job Quest, equips job seekers with tools needed for a successful job search and job interview. Melissa is also a friend and this recorded conversation is the first time we have talked person-to-person since connecting online for the last four years. Her insight into coaching job seekers is worth modeling because she goes beyond the surface practices. That is what made it easy to ask her to share her knowledge in this area. If you want to read a post from her blog that demonstrates her insight, read “3 REASONS WHY YOU STILL NEED TO DO INTERVIEW PREP. (YES, EVEN IF YOU ARE A “SHOO-IN.”).”

Job interviewing is a skill requiring more practice than 95% of job seekers are willing to do. If it is hard to spotlight your best attributes, then your interviewing skills have equal to or less value than your resume.

One of the questions I ask Melissa is what are a few of the techniques she uses to prepare job seekers for the job interview. She cited a technique from Dr. Lynn Joseph, creator of the Job Loss Recovery Program. Melissa says that by visualizing interview success as part of the preparation really has helped a few of the clients she coached.

We also tackled some of the areas job seekers are challenged with such as, communication, networking, and deciding if it is appropriate to go to an interview sick.

I am slightly embarrassed that I flubbed her introduction. My attempt was to roll out the red carpet, but instead, the carpet was spotty in one place. Otherwise, I think this serves the job seeker community well and has advice that is worth putting into practice.

Here is a partial transcript:

Mark Anthony Dyson: And we appreciate you joining us back here at The Voice of Job Seekers, we thank everybody who is downloading the podcast. Hopefully, you are getting great value out of what we are sharing. Amongst all of the guest we have, today I have a very special guest. A few years ago I stumbled upon Melissa Cooley of MelissaCooley.com and she has a blog called JobQuest and I was really intrigued that her blog was a whole lot better than what I was writing at the time. Nevertheless, she reached out to me in conversation and then from that point on I think for 3 or 4 years we always had the conversation. We have shared each other’s content and we have shared a few to follow lists. Most of all, what’s important about Melissa is that she is a resume writer also co-author of “Nourishing Your Career.” Welcome, Melissa and thank you for joining in.

Interview

Melissa Cooley: Thank you for having me, Mark.

Mark Anthony Dyson: This is really great because Melissa is actually a friend that I talk to her all of the time so we are going to be pretty comfortable in talking to each other and it won’t be the standard interrogation that I may perform at times. We are going to try to make this engaging and involving if you guys want to comment feel free to comment on the blog or you can send me a voicemail on my site. I have a “send a voicemail” or “use your microphone” on your computer and leave a comment or a question as well. Melissa, please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Melissa Cooley: I started up the JobQuest about 4 years now. It’s something that just came about because I had a loved one that was laid off during the recession and I was helping him with getting his resume together, helping him with networking, giving him tips on interviewing, and everything that goes into that. During that time, I got on to twitter and started to talk to some more career professionals that really liked what I was saying and the question that kept coming up, What do you do? They liked some of the ideas I had and my writing in some of the blogs that I had written early on. The fact that the question kept coming up with the career professionals and they were really interested in what I had to say got me thinking that I should try to do something with this. So that’s where all of this came about just because of helping that one person in my Life with his issues and it kind of blossomed from there now I have my practice. Working with people in whatever aspect of their career management that they need. Whether it be personal branding, interview prep, or being able to clearly articulate their value and resume or cover letter and all of that type of stuff. Now it has been almost 2 years that I have been certified as a resume writer through Career Directors International and that is something that gives a bit of assurance to people who are interested in working with me that I really do know what I am talking about.

Mark Anthony Dyson: It’s interesting you should mention that and for that to stand out and we just had a show a couple of weeks ago with Bridget Wiede Brooks. We talked a lot about how valuable having someone who is a certified resume writer is to the actual person and how they can get into depth and get the value out of the person because of the training and the information they may have. Whoever gets serviced by you will definitely get some of the best information out there including different trends and different ways and not being a one trick pony in writing resumes and that’s pretty important. It’s very interesting when I have different practitioners on we always tend to talk about what people are doing and what we are seeing in our practices. Today since we are talking about interviewing and resume writing we will probably weave in and out of our discussion. What are you experiencing as far as people seeking your expertise for interview coaching?

Melissa Cooley: I’m finding a lot of people who sometimes come to me because they feel like they have gotten themselves to the door of they are at the interview and then something happens it all seems to fall apart but they aren’t able to seal the deal and they come to me saying I don’t know what’s happening what the disconnect is and just being able to do mock interviews its part of what I do and I’m able to hear how they are answering questions. Of course, there are questions that are pretty unexpected such as tell me about yourself, the greatest strengths and weaknesses, and more of getting into the behavior questions which people have a hard time responding to because they haven’t actually thought about how their experiences relate to the future and how they can fully articulate the value in what they can bring by what they have done and that’s a lot of times where they have been having problems and things kind of fall apart.

Mark Anthony Dyson: You are discerning where people are disconnecting is there a particular pattern that people where they are coming apart at other than the regular questions? You mentioned the behavioral aspect of it. What are some of the behavioral questions you find people are stumbling across and failing to connect with the hire manager?

Melissa Cooley: Sometimes it’s a matter of being clear about their role in something. This is particular for women but I’ve seen it go for both genders, of not taking enough ownership in a project especially a role in a leadership. More often in women, just because women are building a community where it’s all about us and not necessarily the I and that can be a hard thing because it doesn’t necessarily give a full picture to the people making the decision about the role they may have played in let’s say developing the project or managing the outcomes. Sometimes people don’t give themselves enough full credit for the value that they bring or enough credit for what they do.

Mark Anthony Dyson: Women are having a hard time bragging about themselves?

Melissa Cooley: Yes, we were always taught not to brag and that is an impolite thing to do. However, you have to be comfortable with talking about the things you have done. If you pull back and try to deflect with the group then the person won’t be giving themselves enough credit for what they have done and the people who are interviewing you and may not have that knowledge about you won’t fully understand the value you brought to the project.

What you say or do in an interview matters

The power in your words can affect your chances to impress and perhaps disqualify you from job candidacy. Melissa and I created this video to emphasize the words and terms (and the context) are more important than showing up. These are absolutely the wrong kinds of things to say in a job interview. Can you get away with any of these things? Rarely. In most cases, NO! It’s all about professionalism and the value you bring to a company.

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More about Tom:

Here are some highlights from our layoff show:

Reminder:

Grab my updated “118 Job Search Tips for the Modern Job Search in 2018” here.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

About Mark Anthony Dyson

Here is a partial transcript:

Interview

What you say or do in an interview matters

About Mark Anthony Dyson