A Corporate Outplacement
Consultant Gets Downsized!

Variously described as outplaced, rifted, separated, let go, re-structured, streamlined, right-sized, notified, severed, let go and downsized, my position as a Corporate Outplacement Consultant was eliminated when our international career transition company re-aligned. Having assessed/counseled/coached hundreds of unemployed corporate executives for the past fifteen years, coordinated countless company downsizings, and managed a multi-state team of consultants who delivered career transition services throughout North America; I too was downsized, and entered the ranks of the corporate unemployed!

Initially, I took job loss in stride, and continued to present myself as the same unaffected Outplacement professional who once glibly spoke with newly outplaced clients about Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ five stages of the grief cycle. My flight of health lasted only about a day before I started to develop more neurotic tics than a hooch dancer in a hurricane. What people say is absolutely true; losing a job is never a big deal until it happens to you!

As in Charles Dickens’ holiday classic A Christmas Carol, each spirit of the grief cycle paid me a visit. I experienced denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and only recently, came to acceptance.

Denial, the first stage of my grief cycle, was subconscious and automatic. Feelings of isolation, shock, and numbness were accompanied by the free-floating thought, “No, this can’t be happening to me, I’m a Corporate Outplacement Consultant who counsels the unemployed. I’m not a client!”

When denial broke, I immediately was confronted by the spirit of Anger. To my surprise, I leaked anger toward former colleagues who survived the re-alignment. Adding insult to injury, I wrongfully accused one dear friend, and colleague of being insensitive to my job loss, only to discover shortly afterward, she risked losing her position by pleading before the company’s leadership team the case for my retention.

Logically, I knew my position was eliminated along with scores of other employees’ jobs. It was strictly a business decision, completely devoid of mean-spiritedness, or ill-will. My emotions, however, were not so easily convinced.

Subconsciously, I felt certain that a mistake had been made, a bargain would be struck, and I’d be rescued by an eleventh hour reprieve. In fiction, Ebeneezer Scrooge’s bargaining redeemed him because Charles Dickens knew that his redemption would be uplifting to the reader. By contrast, and like most of the downsized corporate clients I’ve counseled, Bargaining turned my disappointment into reactive Depression.

Fortunately for me, this bout with reactive depression was brief. Supportive friends and family along with a devout faith, quickly restored my sense of control, ego-strength, and approval. I knew that my career was important, but periodically had to remind myself that it was equally important to lower my evocative potential, and promote at least the appearance of well-being for the sake of my family, friends, and pending job search.

Accepting job loss, the final phase of the grief cycle, takes time, but it’s the emotional place where I, and other job candidates must be before embarking on a career transition campaign. We’re all different, and variously should be sensitive to each individual’s capacity for accepting job loss. Having said this, I’d like to share a few tips that I’ve learned as both a Corporate Outplacement Consultant, and newly minted job candidate.

A Few Tips I’ve Learned

Published by Dr. Cara in the Oct. 21st 2005 Issue of The Birmingham Business Journal