I know this is how you feel but I don't think you get it.
"You can be the smartest person in the world and get fired." Are you kidding. The smartest persons in the world don't work for someone else, other people work for them. They can't be fired the own the place, they do the firing.
I avoided lay-offs for almost three decades before my number came up. 29 and a half years with the same company. I was high enough in the rankings that I dodged the bullet 5 times. The last time I was a manager and was responsible for ranking those people below me while the VP's above me ranked the managers. I was the only senior manager laid-off but that was mostly because I did not look for a job elsewhere in the company this time. I basically volunteered to be laid-off, I even told my director that if he had to let one of us go he should choose me. I told him that of all the managers working for him I was the only one who would not suffer if laid-off. I was vested in our pension, had a nice 401K, my wife had died and I would get 26 weeks of severance and 400 hours of unused vacation. I would get a 6 digit lump sum. Because of the timing (Obama's great recession) I would get I think it was a year of unemployment even if I did not look for a job. Unemployment was not enough to even cover my medical insurance under Cobra but I had the money so I kept the insurance.
I know I was lucky. I actually went back to work even though I did not need to because one of my coworkers was starting a company that would employ a bunch of our friends. A decade later this company now has 50+ employees. I like to think I was a big part of making that happen.
Do not fall into survivors guilt. There is no guilt if your success does not come at the expense of someone more deserving. Di you stab someone in the back? Did you take credit for their work?
When I was laid-off my customers and co-workers could not believe it. I had made them all look good, they felt guilty. They were worried about how they would do without my help. They knew their jobs just got harder.
I also survived Katrina without much guilt. That was a little harder as so many people lost so much. I helped some of them between helping myself. I did have some hardship, evacuated for weeks, had extensive damage to my house. In the end, I got paid time off from work, a new roof, mattress, linens and carpets for no money out of pocket. I covered my deductible with my own labor.
During the lay-offs that I was retained I help my co-workers find jobs and in turn they help us find business opportunities.
Their were a few people who tugged at my heart. Friends and co-workers who got their jobs because of connections but no real credentials so when they were laid-off could only find jobs that paid a lot less than they were making.
I also feel bad for those people who graduate or enter the job market during a recession. I feel for them but I don't feel guilty. I graduated in December 1980 right in the middle of a recession. I wonder what my starting salary might have been if I graduated two years earlier or 4 years later.
TEK
