It seems like everyone’s getting laid off right now. Last year and the year before, too.
I’ve been laid off before. Early in my career, most of my roles were grant-funded, and that was just part of the gig. If the grant got renewed or a new one came in that they needed you for, you stayed employed. If funding was cut and there wasn’t room for you elsewhere, you were out. Later, I started working in startups and tech companies, which, I’ve learned, can come with even more uncertainty than grants. The last two companies I worked at laid people off not long after I left voluntarily. I also have countless friends who were recently laid off from their positions, mostly in health tech.
I’ve also laid people off, as the leader of an organization. When too many contracts weren’t renewed and I had cut as many expenses and found as much money in the couch cushions as I could, it was the only option in order to keep the organization afloat. I hope that all leaders take the same care I did and use layoffs as a last resort instead of a quick financial fix.
And then there’s mergers and acquisitions. Meetup (where I’m a Customer Success Manager) was acquired in late January and with it has come a reorganization which of course includes many layoffs. I’m staying on board while operations are transitioning to Europe, but I’ve had to say goodbye to most of my colleagues.
Seeing all of those green “open to work” banners on LinkedIn has become overwhelming (though, I’m sure, not as overwhelming for me as it is for the people behind the avatars encircled by the banners). I’ll eventually be joining their ranks, and while I’m not excited about being on the job market again, I am excited about the possibilities out there.
I’ve forged a career as a bit of a generalist because I’ve led with curiosity (and an aversion to boredom). While I started my career in reproductive health thanks to a passion for the subject, I never felt like I was only ever going to be a reproductive health educator or advocate. My knowledge, experiences, skills, and network have catapulted me to all sorts of roles in public health, healthcare, and social impact. I’m sure the same will be true for my next role.
A few years ago, I finally watched the entire Veronica Mars series (I promise this connects). It originally aired at a time I didn’t watch TV, but it kept coming up in conversation because my dad is a private investigator and I briefly worked under his license (a post for another day). I had finally made it to the rebooted fourth season and noticed something interesting in the credits of one episode: “Written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.”
Um, what?
I did some Googling, and came across this fun article that explains how the six-time NBA Most Valuable Player came to write an episode of a rebooted teen noir mystery drama television show.
It reminded me of some other Hollywood trivia I know for some reason, which is that M. Night Shyamalan (of The Sixth Sense and other twisty thrillers fame) polished the script of 1999’s teen rom-com, She’s All That. (The “some reason” I know that is that I was deeply obsessed with Freddie Prinze, Jr. for some time after this movie came out.)
MY POINT, if you’ve made it this far through this stream-of-consciousness post, is that even if you’re really good at something (playing basketball, writing thrillers, educating others on the proper use of a condom or how birth control works), it’s important to try out other things, too! Don’t pigeonhole yourself! Especially you’re like me and are curious enough to want to keep learning, but not so curious about one subject that you feel the need to study it deeply and become an expert in it.
Whether you’ve been laid off or are about to be, maybe Abdul-Jabbar and Shyamalan can be inspirations in the pursuit of breadth.