10 Hard Truths About Layoffs

Suddenly, those old-fogy companies with org charts, dress codes, and silver-haired CEOs are looking a little more attractive. Have they gotten sexier, or is it just their earnings statements that have a certain pheromonal appeal? Our sources tell us that even some new-economy diehards are now open to overtures from the larger, more-established companies they once spurned.

"Candidates who dismissed old-economy companies as not being exciting enough now place higher value on stability and a big paycheck," says Marc D. Lewis, managing director of the technology and venture practice at the executive-recruiting firm Christian & Timbers.

This is not to say that everybody's going to work for insurance firms and machine-tool manufacturers -- although there's nothing wrong with that. But even the hottest CEO candidates are being downright fussy about their next gig, veering away from companies whose ideas may be promising but whose funding may be dicey, to those whose prospects seem more secure. And many are opting for Global 1,000 companies, where they can apply their Internet experience within the enterprise, but without the constant pressure to achieve profitability.

Challenger suggests that job applicants lose their new-economy arrogance. "Don't reject a company out of hand because it doesn't have the appearance of the dotcom culture," he says. "You can find pockets of excellence in many companies."

8. You may also have to consider a different city.

Remember the old real-estate mantra, "Location, location, location"? Same thing's true in the job market. For the past five years, the Bay Area has been as potent a magnet as Haight-Ashbury in the Summer of Love. But the dotcom debacle, coupled with a cost of living predicated on a healthy market for IPOs, has had a drastic effect on the city's workforce.

"California seems to have been hit by an earthquake," says Lewis. "The number of people pulling the rip cord and trying to get out is gargantuan." Data from U-Haul's Mountain View office in Silicon Valley indicates that from December 2000 through February 2001, some 43% more families left the region than entered. That's compared with only 7.5% for the first half of 2000.

Where are they heading? Challenger says that Houston, with its energy businesses, is hot again. Charlotte, North Carolina is still healthy, with its combination of high-tech and banking. And overall, the Northeast, which has more medium- and large-sized companies and a more diversified base, seems to be holding up better than some other regions, according to Lewis.

9. For all the turmoil, never forget that your professional life span is longer than that of most companies.

Still, maybe the thought of going to work for a large conglomerate in Chicago or Dallas just isn't doing it for you. Maybe a layoff is a way of telling you that you were never meant to work for a big company. Consider working for yourself. Then all staffing decisions will be yours and yours alone. And besides, you're likely to be around longer than Napster, Netscape, or Megagigabyte.com anyway. "Free agency is often a better place from which to weather a bad economy, since your future is not lashed to one company or to one big client," says Dan Pink, author of Free Agent Nation. "When a company has layoffs, a lot of people think that they're better off buckling down and doing twice the work, but it's a fool's bargain. As a free agent, if one of five clients disappears, you can weather it.

Pink notes that the fundamental unit of business is still the individual. "There is a fairly sizable change in human longevity versus organizational longevity. Think about Netscape. It's unlikely that Netscape will exist in 10 years. But most people will. I'd put money on me over any company in the S&P 500. I'm not going to be acquired."

10. So your real job is to find what you love and then find a way to do it. (Return to point 1.)

Ultimately, your goal should be not just to find another job but to find work that feeds your soul -- no matter the business climate, the state of the Dow, or the mood of Alan Greenspan. And that's the real truth.

Linda Tischler (ltischler@fastcompany.com) is the Fast Company managing editor of new media.

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