• Posted on Feb 28, 2025

If there’s smoke, there’s a fire. If you’re a federal employee or in the DEIA space, you should have started looking for a new gig months ago. Have you noticed that they are coming for the lowest hanging fruit first? It’s just a matter of time.

The good news is many of these firings might later be found to be illegal. The bad news is, by the time they are – if they are – you already would have experienced the bulk of your emotional and financial suffering. You may never actually “be whole” again, even on the back end.

This reminds me of  a young on our team years ago who was on a PIP (performance improvement plan). He told me his supervisor said the PIP was an opportunity for him to improve himself and that he should work harder.

I told him that the PIP was a formality required before they could fire him. I advised him to start looking for another job.

90 days later, he found out the hard way that I was right. Unfortunately for him, not only was he absolutely shocked out of his mind to be terminated, he was woefully unprepared financially. He was personally hurt because of the betrayal he felt being told the PIP was supposed to “help” him, when it did nothing of the sort. He was fooled into working harder for his employer instead of putting that energy into himself and job prospects.

Instead of using the time he was on the PIP to get his resume together and apply to new jobs while currently employed, he instead worked harder for an employer who already knew they planned to fire him. Now, he would have to endure looking for a job without the leverage of being employed, which made his job search much more difficult. To add insult to injury, it’s usually more difficult to find a job after being fired instead of because deciding to leave on your own accord.

Morale of the story is that this is not a time to bury your head in the sand. This is also not  a time to focus on your “Dream job”. Everybody and their cousin are out of work or about to be.

Prioritize securing a job that will help you stay afloat until the smoke clears. Then, you can begin to apply for roles that you would prefer without the stress of not having anything at all.

Having so many high-quality unemployed people is great for the corporations. They will be able to get job seekers to say Yes to worse employment opportunities than candidates otherwise would have accepted under normal circumstances. These mass firings of mostly the middle class serve many strategic purposes for those in power. It simultaneously shrinks the middle class by pushing them into poverty while giving corporations leverage to get highly qualified employees at sale prices. Those in poverty are less of a threat to the powers that be than the middle class. The more folks they can push out of the middle class and into the working poor, the better. Those in power know exactly what they’re doing and its working.

There may not be much of a choice now, unless you’re planning to work for yourself. However, don’t get comfortable being taken advantage of. Do what you must do now, but don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. When all is clear, make your move and find a new employer that is closer to what aligns with your goals.

Stay strong and be smart. Prepare for the worst-case scenario and as soon as you see smoke, act accordingly.

💜I am on a mission to advance social justice in the workplace! I do this through:

(1) Empowering jobseekers and college students with career wellness and

(2) Helping communities flourish!

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