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The layoffs aren't stopping, haven't you heard?
In just the last three months:
-Oracle cut 21,000
-Meta cut 8,000
-Atlassian cut 1,600
-Dell cut 11,000
AND its only June!
These aren't low performers, these are people whose salaries looked too high on an excel sheet.
(I say that because how the hell can you have 21,000 low performers in a company??)
Maybe you've watched it all happen before.
Heck, you might have even been part of a layoff, or survived it; and you felt that guilty survivor bias.
And you think you're safe?
You're not.
Let me use an analogy.
When your dog dies, you grieve, you stare at the empty spot on the couch, and then what do most people do...(drum roll please 🥁)
Get a new dog...
Not because they're heartless...because they want a dog.
The dog was loved, but it was replaceable.
Same goes for your role.
You are a line item on a spreadsheet that somebody in finance stares at when revenue dips.
(it doesn't matter if you've been with a company for 1 month, 1 year, or 1 decade)
When that spreadsheet says cut, it doesn't care about your NPS scores or how many late nights you pulled; you are CUT!
They Don't Love You. They Love What You Produce.
"We're a family" is the biggest lie in corporate.
Families don't fire you over a 15-minute Zoom with an HR stranger while your "brothers and sisters" stare at their keyboards in silence.
Corporations do that every single day.
Then they hire a new CFO with a $26 million equity grant, like Oracle did.
I know a top-performing CSM got cut because their salary was too high.
"Nothing personal, just business" the VP told them.
The VP was right, of course.
It was never personal to them.
It was only personal to the CSM who gave years to a company that replaced them and had bills to pay.
I have another friend who came back from maternity leave, and two months later she was fired (she worked there for nine years)
NINE YEARS!
The company's loyalty is to their revenue, not to you.
You are a cost that must justify itself every quarter.
This is the most freeing thing you can accept.
Most CSMs ask "how can I be more valuable to my company?"
Wrong question.
The right one is "What would I do if my company disappeared tomorrow"
The Sitting Duck Survival Guide
Companies that do one round of layoffs are significantly more likely to do a second within 12 months.
If you survived one, the clock is ticking till the next one.
Step 1: Admit You're Replaceable
That low-grade anxiety you can't name is a real and tangible thing.
Human beings have survived millions of years with this gut sense that something is wrong; something is not quite right.
An "Important Update" at all-hands, or when Q3 rumours start circling, is when to make a move.
The CSMs who make the biggest leaps update their LinkedIn the day after layoffs because they refuse to get caught in that game.
Step 2: Build Your Emergency Exit Fund
If you need your next paycheque to cover rent, you have zero leverage.
You'll tolerate bad bosses, impossible workloads, and a culture that makes you want to vomit on yourself because you don't have a choice.
I know this because I too have children to provide for, a mortgage to pay, and that's why I ate a lot of shit from people and bosses that I shouldn't have.
Because I had to
Start with $500 a month into a "Layoff Fund", it's like your vacation fund, but you only tap into it when you need it.
(and you'll be a lot happier when you have it than when you don't)
Step 3: Make Your Work Visible Outside Your Company
Your company knows what you do BUT nobody else does.
When layoffs come, the only people who might value you are people who don't know you exist.
Most CSMs wait until they get laid off, then scramble to update their LinkedIn and wonder why nobody's sliding into their DMs.
Post your wins now, write about the account you saved and how you did it.
And nobody cares if you're posting on LinkedIn. The people you're scared of are too busy worrying about themselves.
(if you're genuinely nervous about coworkers, block every single employee at your company...now you have no excuse)
A CSM I coached posted once a week about her approach to executive business reviews, and 2 months later 3 companies reached out without her applying anywhere.
She built her life raft before she needed it.
The Real Choice
If you have a job right now and you don't like it, with high churn and layoffs everywhere, start hunting NOW.
Not when you're desperate, or have a bad day, or are on a PIP.
Job hunting while employed is a completely different experience.
You walk into interviews with an invisible swagger because you're not begging, you're evaluating.
Hiring managers feel that difference immediately.
Or....you can keep being a sitting duck.
Take on more work for the same pay.
Cross your fingers when the next all-hands invite lands.
Hope you'll survive another round.
Or you won't, and you'll wish you started twelve months ago when you had the time and the paycheque to do it right.
If you're ready to stop being a sitting duck and find your next CSM role on your terms, let's do it together.
I've helped 146 people land better-paying CSM jobs.
Book a free consultation call with me HERE.
Because if you could do it alone, you would have done it already.
Noah "Don't be a little birch tree" Little
