Ernst & Young layoffs are being watched while the job rollercoaster continues to careen madly
Hot on the heels of the PwC discussion regarding people getting "packaged off", comes another eye-opening post - this courtesy of Going Concern, which discusses layoffs at Ernst & Young.
The post primarily concerns the E&Y offices in the USA, though there's a growing thread of commentary including updates concerning offices from across the globe. And it currently tails off with rumours of upcoming cuts at KPMG in January, though that timing makes absolutely no sense to me considering that's the start of "busy season" for almost everyone!
As you can imagine from my own interjection, the comment thread is a rich trove of unverified but plausible and rather civil reports: a careful readthrough reveals that it includes comments about cuts made last summer, right now, and expected in the near future. Ironically the people responding to those comments aren't naive and challenged the KPMG rumour on the spot, asking for proof which didn't feel like appearing yet.
Other anonymous commentors discussed the fate of a small US office getting shut down completely, this first being Manchester, NH. Going Concern started another article even earlier regarding this rumour, quickly asking for confirmation and details to support the initial report received by Francine - and a series poured in. Ironically the global EY homepage still lists the Manchester NH location as of right now despite the news trickling out almost a month ago, but that'll no doubt get updated at some point. Given that the office only had about 60 people - a small set got to transfer to nearby Boston - the official line will no doubt be that things were "reorganized" and "centralized" - and it may even make business sense on some level, but it's always a shame when a smaller community suffers a loss.
Job situation in weak markets: significantly less secure than the mountain goat's footing an loose rocks.
An interesting topic came up in the Going Concern discussion thread though: why do firms continue to hire when cuts are happening?
The subsequent visitors answered the question for me, by stating that it is "always going to be like that. the big four can't lose face with the
schools that they recruit from. it makes them look good. if they stop
recruiting altogether, they lose face and when the economy picks up in
the future, people will remember the firm's tactics and decide to go to
another firm instead."
The comment goes on to pick on another firm as a place to avoid - I avoid taking sides myself, because it's a known fact that any office around the world can be a tough place to work depending on the local culture based on the little universe of personalities you'll find yourself working with.
You may love working for a Big Four firm in one place, only to move to another city where you don't get the same culture or camaraderie which makes you feel disillusioned or just simply bored. That's why it's valuable to learn as much as you can about firms through your older friends already working there or through the campus recruiting events - if you find someone like me there, you can get some disarmingly honest fats about what it's like in a given office, or even in the sub-departments people get assigned to.
Ironically some comments of the other are invitations from people
working in busy regions of the country where work is plentiful and
transfers are welcome. Looking at those sorts of posts
can make you feel confused: wait you're busy, but you're laying off people at the same time?
This thought is common, but particularly among those who haven't worked very long, if at all, in AuditLand. The strange nature of these firms in a rough economy is that some departments do poorly simply because clients don't have the money or inclination to spend precious resources on added professional services.
But even while that's hammering one side of the company, other groups may be doing very well. After all - what happens in a recession? More bankruptcies. Who comes in to assist when companies crash and burn? The same firms, with their "crash and burn recovery unit" departments that specialize in restructuring failed companies.
So what can you appreciate with all this uncertainty flitting about?
It pays to be nimble. If you see demand shifting away from your field of work to another specialization, figure out if you can change paths and go where people are needed. That ability is essentially what passes for job security these days, and the better you get at it, the less you'll have to worry about layoffs and severance packages.
That last post I mentioned led to a small flood of visitors, partially courtesy of the layoff tracker page at Businessweek. If you're new here and would like to leave a comment go ahead - just click here to let yourself login and start writing about how wildly off-base this news is. Or how accurate it turns out to be - whatever's right. Upcoming posts will discuss what to do when you don't join the Big Four in the first place, and will showcase at least one epic resignation letter.