Thread regarding IBM layoffs

You are a young woman or man and I am sure you will find a job soon! Dont try to aim to join such behemoths anymore; join small companies, be nimble, remember it is now the Gig economy! Only old geezers and bureaucrats work for these useless companies like iBM!

No matter what strategy or advice you decide to apply, you'll need to be surrounded by people who can offer you quick and targeted feedback and challenge you. A suggestion I have for that, before you leave, is to tap into the coaching network (Coaching Community of Practice and Blue Core Coaching) for support beyond your final day. Inside of that community there are Summit alums who would be happy to support a fellow summit as a coach through this difficult time. Make an ask for coaching - find a willing volunteer coach (and there are many) and ask them to please coach you for the next several months. They will work with you to find the right schedule/frequency, etc. With a coach's support, you'll accelerate the learning curve that we all go through in first time situations. Lastly, I promise that you'll overcome this challenge, I have NO doubt. For what it's worth, I'm with you in this lay off, so I know first hand what this feels like. And I just had a session with my coach yesterday to begin mapping out my next steps. So I am not suggesting anything I am not already doing for myself. I'll leave you with a quote from Les Brown, "When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up."

If you are a VERY recent college grad, go back to the Univ and use their services again. Most will allow interviewing for a yr after you graduate..maybe more.

Ignore the comments about IBM training and those stupid badges that mo–ns post on linkedin. They are worthless and an embarrassment. Instead apply your experience you now have from IBM and use it to your advantage to differentiate your skills over other candidates for your next job application.

Get on Blind and Fishbowl ASAP. Networking is huge via those apps. Turn on LinkedIn Premium too.

Be glad you got the punch in the face while you are young. Now your eyes are wide open and on the lookout for entities that only want to take take take. Now you have learned loyalty is in the same bucket as the fictional unicorn. Companies like IBM have been dying for years they just buy other ideas then run them into the ground. Your task going forward is determining what skills are portable to life 2.0. A good read how to recover from the ash is Me, Inc. by Gene Simmons ( the guy from Kiss) Your job is recognize opportunity that crosses your path and to execute which is the tough part. No job is beneath you and many important things are to be learned getting your hands dirty. Don't be afraid of taking a risk once you have fear in your system it is a terminal disease. Don't worry about what other people think since they are too busy in their narcissistic world to even look your way. Get out of IT nobody wants Americans or Europeans. FInd something else take chances and fail alot since that is the only way to find success. That old school you can never fail was a bunch of bull just used to keep people in their place and keep threats out of the way. Good luck getting out of IBM will be the best thing that ever happened to you when you look back

This is one point on a very long career line. To be selected for the Summit program, you had to be top knotch. The only thing that changed is that you have received some training, made some contacts and earned a little money. You are still top knotch. The qualities that got you into this program will help you get your next job.

Now I'll sound like the old fart that I am...I graduated from a prestigious private college during a time when finding a job was rather difficult. I had no idea what I wanted to do other than I wanted to be done with school for a while. I ended up flipping burgers for nearly a year. There's no shame in taking a throw-away job in a difficult job market.

Continue to educate yourself and take advantage of IBMs badges, etc. while you can.

You'll get through this. Good luck and be well!

Upskill via online classes and apply what you do know theough volunteering with a non-profit or a hobby project that still displays your skills. Then find another job where you can continue to learn and grow, even if it's low paying.

Find a different career or move to India :) Seriously. I'm 50 years old and worked for almost every tech company there is and currently at IBM. I was spared this round but many I work with were not. IBM is in its last stages it reminds me of when I worked for SUN. I have seen dying companies all do the same thing get rid of their American / European employees and move operations to India then within a few years go out of business or pieced out to different corporations. Don't have loyalty to any of these companies they don't care about you. Always be looking. But really get out of IT really not worth the stress.

Take advantage of "Your Learning" courses relevant to your specialty - it is one of IBM's great training tools, still here.

Take advantage of "Your Learning" courses relevant to your knowledge - it is one of IBM's great training tools, still here.

@sgp+155Xul48 From what I hear, the summit program will continue on. But you may want to look for a new job. A bunch of summits were cut once they were out of the program.

Are they also laying off current employees that are in the summit program?

Tell other all current and future Summits to RUN. IBM doesn't deserve any good talent seeing this is how they treated you and tenured employees.

You are joining the workforce in a very tough time, but there also is opportunity out there.

You are entry level, so you are not going to be expected to be senior. What you can do is share your knowledge of what you do know and what you learned in school.

Also, join LinkedIn, there are people looking for candidates like you.

Speak with those that provided the training and ask if they would be a personal reference for you.