Thread regarding Comcast layoffs

Good ideas, but it might work better for everyone to just be paid the money. That way, everyone can decide if those things (LinkedIn, training access, etc) work for their own situation.

@cj

"Work smart not hard" is a classic saying, and its applicability to real life situations is timeless.
And it's been around since well before just within this current century:

"The Origin of “Work Smarter, Not Harder”
The phrase “work smarter, not harder” was coined in the 1930s by Allan H. Mogensen, an industrial engineer who created the Work Simplification Program - a methodology designed to help people produce more with less effort, which he explained in his 1932 book Common Sense Applied to Motion and Time Study.”

He was also noted for polularizing flow charts...smart guy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_H._Mogensen

Anyway, no one suggested to put YT on a resume as a credential or certification. DUH. If you can't figure out how to leverage whatever you learn into padding your resume, then you're (again, applying a classic saying to a current situation) "working hard, not smart."

You can learn skills on your own, then use them to improve work tasks, which can then be mentioned and described on your resume in how you used those skills to: save the company money, increase sales, drive deliverables, create more efficient/streamlined processes, etc.

Hey, here's a quote from Mr. Mogensen, which could apply to how you're being within this very thread!
"First of all, we resist anything that is new; secondly, we all resent criticism."

Clearly, not everyone is naturally (or maybe even capable of being at all) innovative, independent, creative, or open to suggestions to new ways of doing things.
You may very well be such a person.
Is that our problem?
No.
It's yours.

Best of luck navigating through whatever comes your way next!

@e7 the next batch of RSU would not vest until a few weeks after my severance ended. All unvested RSU were zeroed out right after my last day. Did find a better job though.

@a4 I heard no one got a job from that agency despite how helpful they were so if you did, kudos to you. I also think many of you need to come to terms with where you work: Comcast does not give a damn about you. It’s performative. It’s not that they don’t know these things and need and experience an aha moment from your suggestions. They do know and don’t give a damn. You need to rely on yourself and break from this company.

@cx while your message is not wrong, the condescending tone is likely why it received only down votes so far. The reality is more nuanced. For someone who has worked at Comcast for many years, it is easy to become focused on a narrow area and become siloed. Then they look at the job openings out there and find out a lot of them are looking for unicorns with experience on a wide-ranging but very specific products. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know - at least here everyone already knows what you can do, and you may have worked out a structure that helps you meet family obligations as well, but you will need to prove yourself again if you start afresh elsewhere. The shock when someone is laid off is real, and the self-doubt suddenly creeps in. If you expect to work for many more years to come, look for another job while you still have this one, because once you are laid off the pressure will become increasingly higher as the clock ticks off toward the end of severance pay. If you are close to retirement as some of my former colleagues are, then I hope you will survive long enough to retire. I was let go and quickly regained my footing to work elsewhere, but I also know skilled former colleagues dealing with a long period of unemployment and not for lack of trying to up-skill. I wish everyone the best of luck amid the intense uncertainty.

@as hope you found a better job. Did they accelerate vesting for you? Do you get paid for the rsus and bonuses that would have been paid within the severance period counting it as a period of employment? Lets say you’re laid off in Jan, your RSUs are vesting in Mar, your severance period is 16 weeks

There ain’t a bat chance in he-l that they’re giving you any of that. I’ve worked there for over 20 years and got into the upper management levels and this is not part of the procedure.

If you already don’t have enough confidence ans skills to leave Comcast, and work somewhere else then you owe yourself a part of the problem.

Pray that you get laid off, take the severance up skill and reevaluate

@aq “work smart not hard” so 2000’s corporate speak :-) Let’s take your argument that credentials don’t mean much, how one can prove that they have some formal training in AI and applied or practical knowledge of it? One good example comes to mind is how quickly “every one is prompt engineer” hype fizzled out?
I do understand your premise but you can’t make everyone an AI expert, especially not those who are not from IT background or near their tail-end of careers but still got few years left. Again the whole domain is so new and so rapidly changing no one can stay on top of things changing almost every few months.
Maybe you can throw in some suggestions how or what people should do, please remember you still can’t put youtube as a credential or certification on your resume!

@ar I heard it's scaled with your title. So of you're higher up the chain, your base is higher then it's like 1 week per year of service after 3 years.

HR never responds just after the 1one layoff call .. the worst service I ever got in my whole career.

What if you have less than a year and you are on the layoff list? Asking for everyone in my hiring group.

@a4 @a1 YMMV on this one. The agency that Comcast contracted with tried to engage early on but I kept pushing it off as I needed time to get myself to a better place mentally. By the time of the first scheduled meeting, I already accepted a job offer.

@OP those who spent their own money on LinkedIn premium often report it is worthless.

@ar someone mentioned in an earlier thread that it is 16 weeks for the first 3 years, then one week for each additional year. That formula seems to match what myself and a couple of others got.

@ak I believe 2 weeks per year of service is the standard.

@OP

You don't need a subscription to anything to upskill or learn something new, when there's YouTube for free. There are endless tutorials to be found there, and a lot of the people are really good with how they show step-by-step how to do things. Just do a search there for what you want to learn, and check out whichever vids/instructors suits you best. Then you'll have those newly learned, additional skills to list on your resume.

Community college is a waste of time, and no hiring manager worth their salt is going to be impressed with it.
Yes, you can go to community college for the first 2 years, then transfer to a university to finish out your degree, but really, college itself is becoming obsolete.
A lot of careers are becoming obsolete too, with all of the AI automation being implemented world-wide.
You seem to still be thinking and operating as if it's 20 or 30 years ago.
The way people learn now, and how they do business now has drastically changed.
You need to change with it, or be left behind.

"Work smart, not hard."

The more independent and flexible your thinking and action plans become, the better your chances of succeeding in the future.

Hope HR gives at least six months of severance. I am hearing 2 weeks of per year of service, instead of a month.

Is that correct? Does someone knows?

@a1 I disagree on this one. I worked with an agency when the divisions went away and they were absolutely fantastic. Great resume building, had awesome perspective and just overall solid tools to help me find my next role. Maybe not everyone’s experience is the same, but I was pleased.

Also please do not hire “career coaches” or any of those expensive “career transition consultants”, totally useless and waste of time!