Career Confidence

29Fired? Welcome to the Club.

At one time in every professional's life, the likelihood of getting fired is pretty good. It is said that 40% of people are fired from at least one job in their lifetime, and I think that number is an underestimate. Most people, when faced with the prospect of “getting fired” or “resigning,” will choose to resign, so the statistics are markedly lower.

During the Covid pandemic, 18 million people in the United States were laid off, and in 2022, 15.4 million people lost their jobs. That is a lot of people looking for new jobs, moving between jobs, deciding to never go back to work, starting businesses, and entering the gig economy.

From major corporations to small businesses, no one was immune to the job losses during the pandemic, and some industries like hospitality, restaurants, amusement parks, movies and movie theaters, and casinos were gutted. As the pandemic passed, and the economy began to return, the next phase of layoffs occurred in 2022 and 2023, hitting the tech, banking, finance, and retail sectors.

The reason I am sharing this is to show you that layoffs do not discriminate. They can happen to any person, any company, any sector, and any industry at any time. So, based on these numbers, and my assumptions, there is at least a 50% chance of you getting laid off in your career.

How should you handle it? Well, it's not like those TikTok videos where people tell their bosses off and quit their jobs, which are highly amusing, but definitely ...