Advertising Discussions
Layoffs

Wanted to get some insight. Recently laid off due to pandemic. Was in an irrelevant field. Turning 40 soon & considering a career change into creative. Considering going to MAS NY as this location is only option. Finances not a concern. I can afford school & living expenses & work 5-10 yrs to make 100k+ again. Complete beginner at Adobe but will be taught by my significant other who is ACD at big agency. 1) level of adobe needed entering MAS? 2) Landing jobs after graduating? 3) am I crazy?
TIA

To those who have been laid off, what are you doing in terms of looking for work? I am not seeing many opportunities and those I do see have well over 300 applicants. It’s depressing, but so is doing nothing.

Pre-COVID you were promised a raise to come in June to accompany the smaller raise and promotion you got in January. Now, your company is like every other company - combating layoffs and going through raise and hiring freezes; which makes the opportunity for that raise look pretty impossible. The thing is, the job you’re doing is at least two levels above what your promotion brought you to and you feel like you’re doing twice the work for half the pay. What do you do?

Any tips on how to manage ‘upwards’ in a subtle way?

Post-layoffs (round 1?), three layers of management got removed between me and the SVP, who is now my direct line manager. (CONT)

Are you ever surprised by the coworkers who DON’T reach out to you after you get laid off?

How do layoffs work if we’re all working remotely? For example: Does the direct manager and someone from HR do it? Does your computer stop working immediately? Do they ask you to mail your computer and ID badge in? Is it done via videoconference?

Fear of being laid off (at 50) is so all enveloping that it’s affecting my health and sleep. I have a pit in my stomach all the time. Sitting alone at home (single) knowing if I’m on the list I’ll never get hired again. And not enough savings for the next three years let alone forty. Decision makers: when you lay somebody off you are condemning them to years of unemployment. fight not to do it.

What are some things a recently laid off junior can do right now that’ll benefit them once agencies start hiring again?

Stuck in a weird limbo where I want to leave my job more than anything, but grateful that I have one at all with all the layoffs in our industry. It’s a new kind of trapped. Anyone else in the same boat?

Is it weird to mention i got laid off due to Covid in calls with recruiters? They keep asking what I’m up to/why I’m searching and really not sure how to phrase without coming off negative or desperate. It’s a buzzkill during a good conversation but I feel like it’s going to come up sooner or later?

Is there a separate bowl for agency people who got laid off?

It’s hard to be motivated when rounds of layoffs happen and you see all your friends leave. But one thing that’s gotten me through all of this is working out. And when I say workout I mean the most pathetic, sad, barely completed beginner-level cardio dance routines. I’ve somehow forced myself to move while on lockdown and it’s somehow forced me to feel better. Whatever you’re doing, wherever you are: get up and move even if you don’t finish or end up going on a walk. Pls take care of yourself❤️

Are layoffs and furloughs over?

What does the wind tell you

Creatives who got laid off. What are you doing now?

I’ll loose my job soon due to covid and live at the other side of the world so flying back home is not an option. I’m ok staying here as the city is amazing but all agencies have a hiring freeze until the end of the year.
I need to make money. I also need to get my head around the situation. Any inspirational suggestions would be helpful and much appreciated.

Serious note to all those posting on LinkedIn offering to write a recommendation for anyone they know who has been laid off. How about just writing it without having to be asked first. The last thing someone who just lost their job wants to do is ask you for help, even if they need it. If you want to make their day, just go ahead and do it. Oh, and don’t write about them in the past tense, especially if they haven’t changed their employment status on LinkedIn.

If you were laid off and had a 401k of about 14k, would you leave it alone until you find a new job or pay taxes to roll it into your Roth IRA?

Industry-wide layoffs tomorrow or nah?

So I know layoffs suck. I’ve been laid off twice in two years (and I’m pretty good at my job!) But I want to say that each time, my next gig has netted me a 20%+ salary increase. So jokes on them! I start my new gig on next week, so fingers crossed I like it. Good luck to everyone starting over! You will succeed and know your worth!

What are the odds on Fauci being fired or removed from the Task Force now, post testimony?

Half my team got laid off and while I’m grateful to have my job still, I feel like I’m drowning in the additional work. All of their responsibilities have been assigned to me, the most junior person on the team.

When I brought up that this was a bit much for one person/didn’t think this was sustainable (hinting at the fact that some of the other existing team members should pick some of the laid off peoples’ work), team lead went off on what I’m sure he thought was an inspiring speech about...

Do strategists ever get fired for being bad at their core jobs - writing briefs? Creatives get fired for this all the time.

Heard BBH NY laid off 1/3 of the agency today. Mostly women and/or POC. 😬

Airbnb laid off freelancers and has now published a Talent Directory, including their resume and links. Man, that is super generous and classy. Well done.

Anyone ever transition from creative to account? Thinking that if I get laid off I might go after those roles too. How’d you get them to give you a shot?

Been furloughed for a month. Sucks, but silver-lining is that I'm building a game with my girlfriend.

If you're furloughed / laid off, what're you doing w your newfound free time?

I've become so jaded that town halls all sound the same. After getting my salary cut and seeing so many people get fired, I'm losing morale and it's hard to believe they actually care about us

DDB Chicago posted ‘we’re hiring!’ today. For the same creative roles they just laid off.The press DDB would’ve gotten for being the first agency to bring people back? But instead they humiliated those people with this tone. Really sad!!!!!

Im a huge booster for Chiat LA, always have been, always will be. (I feel like how theyre valued is a metaphor for how creativity is valued in the industry.) Does anybody have any news, or goss, for how they’re weathering the virus times—layoffs or lack thereof? I feel like they were getting a pretty good head of steam going and then this crap.

I was recently laid off and my client offered to be a reference and wanted to see if there was anything else she could do to support me during this time. Any tips on taking advantage of this generous offer?

As bad as being laid off is, one of my biggest fears about someday possibly reaching a leadership role in an agency is the reality having to let people go. It’s never really appropriate to complain about since the person let go is the much more sympathetic figure, but does anyone who’s been on the other side of that conversation feel like talking about the stress and difficulty of being the one dropping the ax?

Perhaps an odd question, but for those of you who’ve been laid off recently, did you tell your parents?

Serious question: has W+K ever had layoffs in the last decade or so? I don’t think I’ve ever heard about it if so.

We’ll never be in this together until we realize that layoffs cannot be the normality in this business. Yeah this is a special time. But how come we’ve accepted to have layoffs all the time even when everything was ok?

Do you have to disclose that you were laid off? It happened like 4 days ago..

How did your agency handle layoffs? All-agency meeting before they started? After they ended? Both?

Kinda sorta trying to predict if I’m losing my job tomorrow.