I was laid off by Edelman after 9 years with the compny. Honestly I wasn't expecting it... I knew layoffs were always a possibility but somehow after almost a decade you just don't think it's going to happen to you. And now here I am... still kind of in shock trying to figure out what comes next. I worked in market research for Edelman and over the years I ended up specializing in a pretty narrow part of the business... mostly managing secondary research projects. I guess I got comfortable doing what I was good at, and nobody really pushed me to develop outside of that area. Looking back maybe that was a mistake... because now I'm realizing how many market research jobs require experience managing primary research, especially surveys, and I just don't have much beyond analyst level experience doing that stuff.
What makes this soooo frustrating is that I gave this company 9 years of my career... and while I wasn't completely blindsided by the possibility of cuts, I certainly didn't expect to be the one leaving. I was already at the top of my salary band and probably wasn't going to get promoted anytime soon... so I knew that might make me a target if layoffs started. Still... knowing something is possible and actually having it happen to you are two very different things.
At least Edelman is providing 3 months of severance and healthcare, so I know things could be much worse... I'm grateful for that. But 3 months can go by pretty quickly when you're suddenly looking for another job, especially in this market. And to make matters worse, a lot of the positions in my field seem to be in NYC... and I don't live there anymore.
For 9 years I had a job, a steady paycheck and a pretty clear idea of what I was doing professionally... now suddenly I'm questioning whether I even have the right skills for the jobs that are out there. It's a strange feeling realizing that spending almost a decade specializing in something might actually make finding your next job harder (????)
I'm trying to stay positive and figure out my next move... maybe this is an opportunity to do something different. But right now it's hard not to wonder whether those 9 years at Edelman actually prepared me for anything outside of Edelman.
I'm curious whether others at Edelman have been affected by layoffs recently... Which teams and departments were impacted? And for those who have been laid off after spending 8, 9 or 10+ years with the same company... how difficult was it to find something else?