“Everyone got laid off but me” Stories of Layoffs and Career Surprises

Layoffs keep happening. Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek discusses the emotional and practical challenges of navigating layoffs and job insecurity. She shares a personal story about a friend facing layoffs in her workplace where her boss and her whole team gets let go ... except for her.

She emphasizes the importance of resilience and financial stability. Joan also highlights her own experience with multiple income streams as a strategy for future-proofing one's career and finances, encouraging listeners to take proactive steps in uncertain times.

Your AI Roadmap Book

💰 Having a financial safety net can ease the stress of job insecurity.
📈 Diversifying income streams is crucial for financial stability.
💼 Understanding your worth in the job market is essential.
💪 Resilience is built through past experiences and learning.
🚀 Taking action can help mitigate feelings of scarcity.

Learn More

YouTube! Watch the episode live @YourAIRoadmap
Connect with Joan on LinkedIn

✨📘 Buy the Bestselling Wiley Book: Your AI Roadmap: Actions to Expand Your Career, Money, and Joy. Featured in Forbes!

Who is Joan?

Ranked the #4⁠⁠ in Voice AI Influencer, ⁠⁠Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek⁠⁠ is the CEO of ⁠⁠Clarity AI⁠⁠, Founder of ⁠⁠Women in Voice⁠⁠, & Host of ⁠⁠Your AI Roadmap⁠⁠. With a decade in software & AI, she has worked at Nuance, VERSA Agency, & OneReach.ai in data & analysis, product, & digital transformation. She's an investor & technical advisor to startup & enterprise. A CES & VentureBeat speaker & Harvard Business Review published author, she has a PhD & is based in Seattle.

Disclaimer: Our links may have affiliate codes. This is an educational podcast and not intended as legal, career, or financial advice. Seek professional guidance.

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Transcript

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0:01

Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of Your AI Roadmap. I have been thinking of you all very much. I've been doing so many speaking events and podcasts, so many, so many recordings and customer work. It's been a flurry here. It is February, 2025 and wow, Q1 is hitting hard. So I wanted to share quickly with you all a story that I think is really helpful in this time. of what's all the changes going on around us, with the government and so forth. I'm gonna share a story of my friend who works in the science part of a large food corporation and they had a huge layoff at her office. Like they had huge boxes prepared on every floor and they had tons of security guards. And for like weeks up, until the layoff that was rumored, no one was getting quality work done. It was really just wild. And she told me like one day everyone was in such a panic. No one was doing good work. It was just a frenzy of unhappy depression things that people were trying to do things that didn't matter. She was like pretty sure they made the decision of who's going to get cut like months ago. Anyway, this week she found out who got cut and who didn't get cut. And her boss got cut and her team members got cut and she didn't. And there's restructuring, there's all these changes happening. And she said, Joan, I don't even know why I didn't get cut. I have ideas. Maybe it's this, maybe it's that. But like, this is a really, really hard time for me, even when I didn't get laid off. I'm still on the team and it's still hard and If you know anything about my work, you know I've been in two large-scale layoffs. And this person has already been in a layoff previously. And I remember when I first told her that I've been in a layoff, she's like, yeah, I'm really sorry about that, me too. But you know, you're gonna land on your feet. It's gonna be okay. Like, it sucks, but underlyingly, we have a longer path. We got more, more going on. And so it's not like, the end of the world, shame, guilt, You know, apocalypse happens. that there are different things to do. And this time around when there's a layoff in front of her, she's like, I've already been laid off before. I've made it happen, you know. Could happen again, let's see. But the calmness that she talked about it with me was pretty cool. And I also happen to know that she's got some stable finances, that even if she did lose her job, she's going to be OK. And I want that for you. And if you are thinking about layoffs, if you think about your job, if you think about your career, if you think about your money, I have this resource for you on the Your AI Roadmap podcast. I would mention the Your AI Roadmap book, which is all about future proofing your career, future proofing your income. The subtitle is Actions to Expand Your Career, Money and Joy. And I was just talking about my journey and the book. on this webinar at Women X AI this afternoon evening, and people could not quite believe that I have 22 income streams. If you were asking me how many are active, how many are passive, which was a great question, I don't often get, I would say maybe 20 to 30 % are passive income sources. I'd have to look at all the different ones and make a breakdown for you, but that's off the top of my head what I'd say. And really thinking about our opportunity to make more money, have lots of sources of income, that even as I'm trying to close my eighth figure deal, I have other sources of income coming in, balancing things out, help pay the mortgage, help buy treats for my dog, et cetera, keep the lights on, all that jazz. So if that topic resonates with you in any way about thinking about, even if you are in a layoff. even if you're not in the layoff but you feel that scarcity and trepidation and you want to make plans, please check out the book. The audiobook is dropping next month, but honestly, I would get the physical book because there's so many exercises that you might want to fill out in person. The book, I think, is like $25 on Amazon today. I bet it's cheaper on Kindle if you're one of those digital folks people. You can check it out at yourairoadmap.com. I'll make sure to link it in the show notes. And if you are one of those people that did just get laid off this week, my heart goes out to you. We have an episode directly about three things to do ASAP before you get laid off. If you just got laid off, that resource is really helpful. Also, it's one of the recent episodes in this podcast. I'll make sure to link it in the show notes also. All right. All my best to you all. See you on the next one of Your AI Roadmap.