Layoff selfie: Why I decided to snap a picture with the man who helped downsize me

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This story was adapted from a LinkedIn post written by Jamil Badran and republished,along with the photo, with permission from both him and Grant Larson, a senior consultant with Right Management.

I always thought of professional downsizers as ghosts.

These are the people who haunt corporate headquarters during a downturn, travelling from office to office, seemingly appearing out of thin air.

Their job is to assist employers who suddenly decide they have too many employees.

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I always imagined these people as carrying a huge, negative energy field around them. People in black suits. People no one wishes to see, ever.

I was lucky that these people avoided my office for more than 10 years, but in my heart I believed somehow, one day, they would come and pay me a visit.

And I promised myself that, once they finally did, I would take a selfie with them.

6th sense

For a year, most of my friends lost their jobs, one by one. My sixth sense told me that my moment was coming soon.

All facts, numbers and circumstances made it clear that it would take a miracle in the oil and gas industry to avoid that magic visit.

And then, it came.

My manager delivered the news, and the mood was tense for a few seconds, but we very quickly shook hands and I thanked him for the past five years.

I told him I fully accepted management's decision in this difficult time for the industry.

The ghost arrives

Then, my manager asked when I was ready to meet the stranger who would guide me out of this life I had known for so longand onto the next.

"Immediately," I replied.

So, the ghost entered and we shook hands and started talking.

The mood was soft and easy.

I found this man I had never met before to be a genuinely nice person. He was warm, caring and empathetic with employees who just hadbeen told their services are no longer needed.

I always remembered the faces of the main characters in the movie Up In The Air cold, emotionless, and neutral as they carried out what was depicted as the grim work of a professional downsizer.

My experience was nothing like that. It was a friendly chat about how things would proceed from here, now that I was no longer employed at the company.

Before he left, I asked my man my ghost if I could take a selfie with him, so we could remember this moment.

He agreed.He was, after all, just doing his job to the best of his ability, and he did it very well.

It's nothing personal

No matter how we feel in the moment of being laid off, we must accept that it happened and try to move on.

The future, it has been said, is what it is and could not be otherwise. The journey might be difficult and the coming storm may be strong, but always there is light at the end of the tunnel as long as we still possess the most valuable asset we have that we are still healthy.

Many people who are laid off don't accept management's decision to let them go. From the employee's perspective, it often seems like the wrong choice, or at least not fair.

Some consider the layoff as personal slight. "Why are you doing this to me?" they might think. "How dare you? How could you?"

But the reality is managers hire us because it's their job, and people like my ghost help lay us off because it's their job, too.

It's nothing personal.You would do the same if you were in Grant's shoes.

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