champchamp

Certified Savage

Acclaimed Answer

Managers: Do you actually want laid-off workers? Be honest.

Hi Savages,

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday that got me thinking about this again. My friend was recently laid off and just received an offer.

During his interview, he didn't mention he was laid-off and acted as if he was still at his previous org. He said that even though getting laid off is not as bad as getting fired, that managers and companies might still be hesitant to hire laid off workers... If you were so good, why did they lay you off though?

I agree with this sentiment and think that even though there are often special circumstances, that sharing on an interview that you were laid off might do you more harm than good.

I see "leaders" and founders talking about how much they love and want to hire laid off employees but I'm skeptic if they actually do.

I'd like to the honest opinions from sales leaders and hiring managers and what their perception is when they are in an interview with someone and they find out they have been laid off.

I know the answer is always "Depends", but I'd like to get the general feeling and how this impacts your perception of the candidate.

Laid-off, does it positively or negatively affect your perception of the candidate?

Attached poll

Positively Negatively

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

🧢 Sales Management

20

26 comments

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

9

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I picked negatively because I can’t imagine being laid off ever being viewed positively by another employer, and I think your colleague was smart not to bring it up. I believe most employers would state they’re neutral to someone being laid off, but I think an unintentional bias creeps in.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

2

Sales Rep

For the most part it’s negative, except for ones that are looking for avoid negotiating after offer or the possibility of not accepting the offer.

champchamp

Arsonist

1

Certified Savage

Good point

champchamp

Arsonist

2

Certified Savage

100% With you, I think that even if it is subconsciously, it impacts perception negatively.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

1

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I would like to say it doesn't matter, but we all know that is a lie. My biggest issue with this particular situation, isn't that they person was laid off, it's that they basically lied and played it off that they weren't, which would cause me as the hiring individual to take a hard pass and pull back on the candidate.

Again, nothing with them being laid off, it sucks and I would like to help those if they are are in fact a fit, but to lie or conceal the fact that you were and play it off as if you weren't.. the TRUE question in this situation is, would you hire the person after finding out they basically lied to you about their job status?

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

That may depend, though. In CA, there's the WARN period,. When layoffs happened at my previous employer, those affected were told not to come in anymore - but were considered employees during that period, and could state they were still employed as they looked elsewhere. It was only after the 60 days that they were given severance and considered no longer employed. If they found another role internally, they were not given severance and basically just picked up and moved on into the new role. Anyway, in that case, those employees knew they no longer had a role, but were able to legitimately state they were still employed.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

2

Bravado's Resident Asshole

That's CA though, CA has and does a bunch of weird stuff compared to the rest of the states.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This falls on the good weird end. :) Also why I was specific.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

No idea about the weird formatting. I tried to fix it, but gave up.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

3

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Yeah, not currently having a position means there is no rush. It also means, that if there are 10 other people they can take to, they will, and judge you a little harsher. It’s just the way it is.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

There’s a reason they say it’s easier to get a job when you already have a job. Someone else has validated you and/or you are the thing they can’t have - so they want you.

Even laid off, the perception doesn’t change unfortunately.

champchamp

Arsonist

0

Certified Savage

Exactly, plus, you are not desperate and that affects how you perform during the interviews IMO.

coletrain

Politicker

2

Account Executive

I’m not a manager but was a previous BDR TL and want to give my positive vote context: in many cases I agree that it depends.

Counterintuitively, I feel that it helps someone be realistic about what they can offer and grounds them in what is needed to correct the prior issues.

That has to be done though, otherwise it won’t go over as well

champchamp

Arsonist

0

Certified Savage

Great point, I like the analysis.

TennisandSales

Politicker

2

Head Of Sales

i think in the past it would be viewed as negative. but in this environment with it happening ALL THE TIME, its hard to think leaders would look down on it.

champchamp

Arsonist

1

Certified Savage

Great point, bodies hitting the floor hard.

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

1

Lead Sales

I think it will always be treated with skepticism, companies do not want to lose top talent. With that said, we all know there are a lot of shitty companies out there and even worse managers. (Look up the Peter Principal). We also see what is happening in the Tech world right now. It is not black and white, but it probably is a darker gray.

alfredthecat

Personal Narrative

1

Inside Sales Manager

I was a sales manager at a prop tech/mortgage start up and I never viewed those candidates negatively. Especially when they got laid off by high-profile companies who did large rounds of layoffs (i.e. Better.com, Redfin, Opendoor). Layoffs require companies to make very tough decisions and they're not used to purge deadweight or whatever this post is trying to suggest.

Angusmacg

Valued Contributor

1

Territory Account Mgr.

Your premise is that being laid off is a negative. Not all instances is that the case. Yes there are many people who are laid off for not hitting quotas/KPI's/targets/etc. but the real issue isn't that they were laid off it is the candidates explanation for the layoff.

For example I was laid off this year. I was at the company for 5 months. 1.5 months I was training. This gave me precisely 3.5 months to "get up to speed" not only on the territory but the customers, the products I was selling, and trying to develop a plan to sell. Anyone worth their salt I Sales knows that it takes anywhere from 1-2 years to get settled and really "fire on all cylinders".

Your supposition is that I was laid off so therefore I must not be a good salesperson. As you stated....It does really "Depend".

PGC007

Good Citizen

0

president

As a hiring manager we see great opportunities to hire talent now the market is correcting; which will include those laid off.

I_LOVE_WINE

Executive

0

Enterprise AE

I mean, I don't think it would ever be perceived as positive given the connotation but I know that there are some shit companies/managers out there who have set up great reps to fail so I also wouldn't hold it against them without getting more detail on the situation.

GDO

Politicker

0

BDM

I think it depends on the story you tell the hiring company.

fuzzy

Notable Contributor

0

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

3rd option) Neutral until interviewed. I was laid off because my batshit crazy CEO spent $5m in 5 months rather than 5 years.

BDS

0

Sales Manager.

Definitely do NOT lie about where you are employed. Most companies do background checks on sales people (because they are customer facing). Are you going to lie to them too?

I believe I signed something attesting to what I shared with the background check agency. Violating that is illegal.

Also, being laid off in 2022 is not uncommon. Spin it to what you learned at that job.

Hoopnip

Politicker

0

Commercial AE

It’s always about the story… are you in Sales? 😂 Timing, a bad territory with a shitty product , not enough resources , product fails , terrible customer success , elimination of the whole division…could be a whole slew of reasons why. Tell a good story and sell yourself and you’ll prevail . For the record , Cisco calls their employees “burden” by execs close to the top. Nobody knows what the fuck they are doing out there and everyone is just figuring out as they go. Sell the dream, don’t be a bitch.

Finn77

0

Customer Success/Account Manager

I was recently laid off from a large company after only 5 months with them. I met 117% quota in my first quarter and was at 102% quota on my final day, just a bit over a month into my second quarter. My Senior Manager was also let go, who by all accounts was beloved and had performed at exceptional levels through their long tenure with the company. The less senior and new manager kept their role with little to show for. I understand why some folks would be pessimistic towards laid off employees, but that's exactly where the "depends" comes in. Sometimes a company just needs room on the bottom line and performance is irrelevant unfortunately.

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