Getting Laid off
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- babaganush0
Yeah it's all fucked - Let's change the thread and drop the 'off' from the title...
- exador10
the trick right now is massive amounts of personal networking...get out there and meet brand managers, assistant brand managers...find out the local companies like UniLever, Proctor etc...anything or anyone like that....start emailing and calling those folks and invite them to lunch...get on their radar any way you can....if you can scoop up even a few small print jobs that way, you'll be in a much better position than most...
- exador10
From everything I've read, and all that I've seen happening, my guess is that print design is going to get hit hardest, primarily magazine ads, that sort of thing...
look to direct mail and smaller print jobs being fairly secure, as it's not as big an investment for companies to do...
online work, websites, any kind of digital marketing initiatives look to be somewhat stable as well...from what I've seen big companies are looking to get as big a return on their investment as they can, and with online work, it can be tracked and measured far easier and more reliably than, say, a coast-coast magazine buy.....smaller shops and individuals will be making a killing if they can hustle...large shops with CD's that earn 300k are going to be in serious trouble...seen THAT a lot lately...why would company 'X' spend what few dollars they have at Publicis, or Y&R or Satchi etc...when they can go to a much smaller shop, get work thats equal in value but without the massive overhead. i think you'll see a LOT of over paid AD's and CD's getting tossed under the bus in the next few months.... one of my best friends has been independent for about 8 years now, and his business is fucking booming right now...his work is top-notch, and his price is 'just right'...anyhow, thats what i've been noticing....
- kona0
sorry to hear that aaux.
hit up creative circle and see if they can do anything for you. i worked with them for a few months and they were great. they got me into a number of pretty big places. agency. whittman. motorola's design division. dk. good luck.
- CALLES0
by the way... i have notice how companies are very very good at laying people off on the holidays... sorry it going to be a sad one... keep your chin up and try no to end up in the gutter with a bottle of MD 20/20 on friday morning
fuckers... people work hard for this companies and they go fire you this week... the other day love doing this is the day before christmas... saw it with my own eyes once
- wordsarepictures0
The cynical side of me thinks some agencies are out to exploit employees by making them feel lucky that they have a job... Lay a few people off and watch how late everyone suddenly stays without making a fuss... I know things are crap and going to be even crapper for a year or more but you'd better believe there's places out there doing just this.
- Although having said that, if you spend all day responding to a design blog you're probably putting your head above the trench in front of those who don't :)wordsarepictures
- This is exactly what was happening at my job for a long time before the layoffs. Just as you said it.AlwaysSunny
- jbranda0
It's pretty bad, I'm usually very busy this time of year and three(3) major projects were postponed until whenever. A lot of my small clients (real estate agents, accountants) cut back on Holiday promos, personal thank yous, and such. This hurt me very bad financially .
- svenreed0
sorry to hear that mate, best of luck finding a new gig. some things, however bad they seem though, may be for the best. think positive!
post up your portfolio and cv.
im scarred also, working in retail is scary as hell right now...im the youngest at my agency, so i dont things would look too great for me should something happen.
- move0
Dang,
I almost turned down a job op to interview at VSA , like three months ago. I honestly regretted the decision, but I guess considering that they are letting people go there it was a good one. check the thread
- AlwaysSunny0
This will be my first post here, so... hi all.
I got laid off recently, after working in the same comfy ad agency job for over ten years. Worked in print, made it up to Art Director and one day, out of the blue, they told us we were all done. They outsourced a bunch of jobs to another office. My wife was a stay at home mom for a while so we decided I'd do that for a while and TRY to get some freelance gigs. I don't think I've ever been happier (even though there are no freelance jobs either) !!
- thelukeandrews0
damn dude that really sucks!! yeah I work for a tickets sales company as in in-house designer. Lately, half my entire company got the chop, including the only otehr designer, marketing mnager.. both people who'd hired ME!!!
fakkn scary, I'm still checking my body for bullet holes.
My friend who is a shiite hgot designer, a qualified senior designer, just got a job as a bicycle courier out of desperation!!
this shizz is fizzed!!!
- mistermik0
what is you do Kelpie? or have you said and i didnt read it.
- he works as a sexy drugs mule.chossy
- he needs to expand......mistermik
- depends what day! anything from bog standard e-com design to quite cool digital marketing planningy stuffkelpie
- and sexy drug muling, of coursekelpie
- (we've been a bit boring of late though and treading water, but things are changing again now, yipee)kelpie
- kelpie0
all you guys that are worried, get thinking, they are throwing money at people right now.
- chossy0
It's fascinating that video and film is still seen in such a playful light. Companies get massively excited if you suggest putting a video on their site or making a DVd for them. Just when they find out the cost they pure shite their can likesey!.
- kelpie0
To be honest, provided it was an ok sum, I'd be sorely tempted to take redundancy right now.
- Moo0
Work told us on friday that they are laying off a load of people and on friday I got an email from my boss saying that my position was save as I'm the only web designer so that made my wife a little happier BUT then yesterday I got told they had made a mistake and that I was up for the chop with the rest :( how could my boss get it so wrong i can't believe how my work is being run with people like him in charge what a joke.
*****END RANT******
- chossy0
They do everything adverts, posters, digital. Problems I am beginning to see are that people want videos and will pay very very little for them, for some reason people have far lower standards for a video than they do for most other things.
- that's probably the interweb's fault to be fair. when the means of distribution is everywhere people think production is cheap tookelpie
- ...tookelpie
- site?babaganush
- It's because the latest agency 'gimmick' is user generated content...'make our ad'. Cheap crudbabaganush
- mimeartist_com0
I'm just glad I'm not paying for an office in Carnaby Street like I was just over a year ago
- should have gone flash.. should have gone flash...mistermik
- hey?mimeartist_com
- rich manmistermik