As a recruiter I do have a great deal of sympathy for the droves of professionals being caught up in the current nationwide trend of mass layoffs. As someone who has been laid off from a job once before, I also have empathy for anyone who finds themselves caught up in a layoff situation.

However, no matter how much downsizing is happening in the market, I still proceed cautiously with a candidate who states that he or she has been laid off. . . . I can't help it, but the little "red flag" pops up in my brain, and I go into "interrogation" mode. (In the most non-chalant, conversational, under-the-radar way.) When the market bears mass layoffs, I have witnessed too many candidates try to "hide" their performance-based termination behind the gray area of the layoff hysteria. Some candidates may conveniently disguise their firing as a layoff, and most recruiters and hiring managers don't think to ask a few simple follow-up questions to quickly discern the actual circumstances of a candidate's departure from their former employer.

Layoffs due to downsizing or financial issues typically happen in groups, and in rounds, or phases. Therefore, when a candidate states that their reason for leaving (RFL) was a layoff, my next question to them is: How many people were laid off that day with you? And how many rounds of layoffs have there been at that company? If a candidate can't tell me how many people (approximately) were laid off with them that day, or if they were, in fact, the ONLY person laid off that day, I remain skeptical, and proceed with caution until I can verify the layoff. Unless the company is extremely small, (less than 10-15 employees, for example) a single, or sole termination may not have been as a result of a layoff, but for non-performance or some other professional issue - it may have been a plain old FIRING, in other words! And that changes the hire-ability of the candidate considerably.

You may be wondering: Why do I ask the candidate how many rounds of layoffs have transpired at their former employer? Because the best employees are typically NOT the first to go, even in a mass layoff. So even if this candidate was truly laid off, I am going to be more comfortable with them as a successful candidate if they survived a few rounds of layoffs before getting the pink slip. As a hiring manager for several corporations, I have seen how termination decisions are made. Even in a layoff, management will try to find ways to justify keeping their best people as long as possible.

Of course, I will verify my findings through referencing and background checking. But at least when the interview is over, I'll already have a more realistic idea of the candidate's situation, by asking some common-sense, detailed questions.