From Career High to Unemployed- How LinkedIn Kept Me Going

This time last year I was high on life career wise. I had met one of my financial 5-year plan goals early. I was one month into working for a company I believed in. I had a CEO who believed in me, valued my opinion and believed HR was a true business partner. The company was growing, the team was amazing, they were flexible. They paid for me to relocate to the corporate headquarters in Charlottesville, VA- which took some time because it is the craziest rental market I have ever seen. Finally, 4 months after starting with the company I moved my entire family (4yr old high functioning autistic daughter, 19-year-old daughter with extreme social anxiety) from Florida to Virginia- selling my house and everything in Florida. The first month being in the office every day was eye opening. Working remotely versus being in the office were completely different. The culture was, well, less than ideal. I couldn’t believe the things I was seeing and hearing not only from employee’s but from the senior management and executives. Despite my attempts to make the culture better at some point, even the most positive person knows when they are beaten. But I still did my job and I did it well. I still kept trying to improve things. Then came the big blow at the end of October, the CFO came into my office about 30 days after I had returned from a short medical leave of absence. “I am sorry but the company is not making money so we have to eliminate your position.” No severance, no warning, no nothing. The CEO who hired me didn’t even have the guts to lay me off himself.

That was then, this is now. I hold no ill will towards them, it was a business decision they had to make. However, it’s made it difficult for me to find employment. I have had plenty of phone screens and first interviews with companies and then I am suddenly out of the running. I have been racking my brain as to why. I haven’t been able to get feed back from the people I have interviewed with until recently. Now I know what is likely hindering me in the hiring process. When asked what happened with my last company and I state they eliminated my position (Director of Human Resources), no one understands the business logic of it. So, they think I am lying, or I was not good at my job at all. So now I must find a more creative way to explain having such a position being eliminated even though I have been telling the truth. Suggestions would be appreciated.

I know I am skilled. I am confident in my abilities, although I admit my confidence took a hit during all this and I even lost faith in myself for a while. Thank goodness for my LinkedIn family because they are what has kept me going through the countless phone screens and interviews. Since the layoff I have made many connections here on LinkedIn. I have been referred to elite positions. All because I am active on LinkedIn. While I am still going through the process, my LinkedIn connections have been priceless. I could not have gone through this journey without them. I hope to post a new position soon. It’s too bad the old company lost out on all the candidate and veteran connections I have made since I was laid off. That was their target market. I will make the best of any situation, learn from it and still come out on top eventually.