Things Change, But It's All Right

I've debated back and forth about how to tell you that I've been laid off from my job at LandAmerica. So, there you have it, I just came out with it, just like that.

LandAmerica is a world-wide title insurance company, and I was the Human Resources Business Partner for the Midwest Region. I joined the company about 19 months ago, coincidentally just about the time the housing market began its nosedive.

Last year at the beginning of summer, LandAm's stock was over $120 a share. As I write this, it's at $4.95 per share. I'm not a dumb person. I could see what was happening. Randy and I talked many times about whether I should be looking for a new job. Each time, I came back to the same thing. I LOVED THAT JOB. I knew I was taking a risk by staying, but I also knew that if I left unnecessarily, I would regret it forever. It was the perfect job for me, spending my days doing all of the things I loved about HR. I sat at the table with my regional leaders, and my voice was heard along with everyone else's. They valued my opinions, and together we did great things.

But, last week our financial group presented the 3rd quarter "earnings" report to our CEO, and everything began to unravel. I don't know what that report contains, but it must be pretty bad. That was Tuesday. By Thursday, I began hearing that a significant number of employees were going to be released the following Monday.

On Friday afternoon, my boss called me to tell me that my position was among those being eliminated. There were six of us on our team, and three were being let go. Given my short tenure with the company, there was nothing she could do to keep me. It was a very emotional call and just the beginning of a very emotional weekend.

Randy came home early to sit with me and tell me it was going to be all right. He was my rock, and I don't know what I would have done without him. We made our plans of things we could cut back on immediately, things that we could cut back on if things got even worse, and other steps we could take to either save money or bring money in. That made both of us feel better. A plan really helps.

Along the way, I've learned that over 100 people from our corporate office were let go on Monday, 23 of them in Human Resources alone. I don't know exactly how many people were at HQ to begin with, but I'm estimating it was less than 200.

I slowly began to tell people. It's not that I'm ashamed. I'm not. There's no shame in being one of the hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs in this economy. It's more that I mourn the job I had, and I know how much I'm going to miss those people. It was really hard for me to talk about at first, but it's getting easier with each day.

I'll share with you answers to some of the common questions I'm hearing....

Will you go back to Sparrow?
No.

Wasn't it a sign that they had you work from home? Couldn't you see they were pushing you out?
Actually, the opposite was true. With LandAm, they encourage people to work from home whenever possible. They try to keep costs down by not paying for offices of those who can be at home, and use their offices for those who actually do the title work.

Will you get called back to LandAm?
I would like to think so, but this is a permanent layoff. At this point, I don't know if the company will make it. If somehow they get through this, and business picks up again, I wouldn't be surprised to have one of them call me about a job. My leadership team knows what I brought to the table, and I've heard over and over again from them that if things change, they would bring me back in a heartbeat. I believe that.

Do you get a severance?
Just one week.

Can I buy your scrapbooking supplies?
HA. This isn't really a question, but the answer is no....... we're not at the point of having to sell things off yet, so don't get too anxious.

Have you found a new job yet?
Actually, I've applied for a number of jobs already, and I have a couple of headhunters working for me. But, this all takes time.

Don't you blame George Bush for this mess? Isn't it his fault you were laid off?
Goodness no. He's no more to blame than the man on the moon. Look, I have about a thousand issues with President Bush, but this isn't one of them. I've been through a plant closing at Wyeth and a plant purchase/downsizing at Horizon Technology Group, both in the 1990's. George Bush was in Texas then, and the same thing happened to me as now. So, no, the President isn't to blame. Life happens.


I'm surrounded by good, positive people who are supporting me through this. I've never been a single day without a job in my adult life. I graduated from college on a Friday, packed up, moved, and started work on a Monday. Since then, I've always had a job to go to before the last one ended. This is all new for me. I'm really just trying to stay positive and look at this as a sabbatical. I never thought I'd ever have time at home like this, so I'm going to make the most of it. I've got a lot of things I want to do around the house, but I also want to read books, watch movies, and scrapbook. So, that's what I will do, along with, of course, looking for a new job. Hopefully by the start of next year I will have landed someplace great and can head into the next adventure.