Help! I’ve Been Downsized

A week rarely goes by when Inside Higher Ed does not report on a college or university closure. It could be a full closure of an institution, like the College of Saint Rose, or the elimination of faculty and programs, as at West Virginia University.

To compound the problem, many institutions are engaging in silent downsizing. That was my case. My institution eliminated the entire School of Arts and Sciences, its infrastructure, and my position as dean in June without so much as a blip on anyone’s radar. I have learned firsthand from university administrators in my region that this trend is increasing.

If you are being downsized, you’ve likely experienced some variant of this scenario. Someone in your institution, either your direct supervisor or your director of human resources, informed you that you are on the list of people being downsized. They told you it was not about your performance or behavior; it was “financial exigence” or “recognition of a trend.” You were given a final date of employment. It all feels/felt surreal. Somewhere in that mix, they gave you paperwork to review. At some point in the conversation, the person’s voice trailed off into something resembling Charlie Brown’s teacher: wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.

Now what? You have bills to pay, a family to feed and life plans that now need to be scuttled or postponed. What follows is a five-step process that can help lend some sanity to your suddenly chaotic world.

First, as someone who has been there, I need to give you a cold piece of advice: no one is coming to save you. I had an advantage in that I knew this principle from my martial arts training. Many people don’t really appreciate this fact of life. The sooner you make this mindset shift, the better your transition will be.

In the same vein, some people think that an appeal to the college or university president will work in their favor. I heard after I left my institution that some students complained to the president about my downsizing. As touching and humbling as that is, here’s the reality: in most universities, only the president has the authority to dismiss a faculty or staff member. The unit manager or vice president can recommend it, but it only happens if the president signs off on it. The president is not your friend in this.

As I indicated, no one is coming to save you—not HR, not your colleagues, not the American Association of University Professors. No one. And everything you do will reflect the degree to which you have adopted this mentality. Avoid at all costs talking negatively about your institution or its leadership. I will talk about processing emotions later in this process. For now, believe you have the ability to save yourself, because you do.

The second thing you should do is to consult an attorney. If you are being granted a severance, ask the attorney to review the contract. Many people will receive a form letter notifying them that, due to financial exigence, their contract is not being renewed or their position is being eliminated. I was concerned that I would be charged a nominal fee, but my lawyer reviewed my severance contract for free. He also helped me understand fully what my obligations were in the event that I were subpoenaed in any other people’s cases against the university. In relatively few cases, your attorney may find contractual violations and may advise you about your chances of pursuing a legal case against your soon-to-be-former employer. But don’t hold out hope that your situation will fit into this category. Go back to part one of this five-step process and read it again.

The third thing you need to do is to take an honest appraisal of your skill sets. The key word is “honest.” Most of the people who find themselves downsized today from colleges or universities are not from the science disciplines; rather, they tend to be humanities and fine arts faculty and staff members. Art faculty who have photography or graphic design skills will be able to monetize those skills most readily. Faculty who taught writing courses will also find that copy-writing and copy-editing skills are in demand.

Again, though, the key word is “honest.” A colleague advised me that I should consider project management positions since I managed some large-scale projects in my position as dean. I was skeptical, and rightly so. A few exploratory conversations that I had with people hiring project managers in my region revealed that they wanted someone who had Six Sigma or Agile project management certification, which I lacked. Formally applying for those positions would have been largely a waste of my time.

That takes me to number four: be selective in your application process. I have been in higher education for 31 years. By far the biggest mistake I see many people in a downsizing situation make is applying for and taking whatever comes along.

Yes, you need to be open-minded. But more than that, you need to be realistic, honest and strategic in your search. Some opportunities will simply not be a fit for you. I worked hand in glove with my colleagues in enrollment management. But I did not apply for many enrollment management positions because I lacked experience in supervising admissions teams and in processing international students. If you were a staff member in an academic school, applying to work in a procurement office or HR office at another university may not be the best choice unless you have previous experience in procurement or HR, respectively. Your primary objective is to produce maximum value for your next employer to increase your employability in the long term. Select positions that enable you to tap your real strengths and apply for those.

Finally, give yourself the space to grieve the loss of your last position. You had wonderful colleagues. You derived a lot of joy and fulfillment in what you did. What happened to you is not fair. Downsizing is different than firing. This decision likely had nothing whatsoever to do with you as an individual. It results from one of three sources: 1) the known—presidents see a storm on the horizon, but convince themselves that it will blow over, 2) the guessed—presidents think the problem is one thing and invest resources in “fixing” it, only to discover that the real problem was a completely different thing that they ignored and, 3) the truly unknown and unforeseen—an external force like a tornado taking out a classroom building or a global pandemic.

At different points in your transition, you will go through the different stages of grief. Denial. Anger. A desire to bargain. Sadness. Feel them. But then, just as importantly, let them pass. Do not let them rule your life or your day. Go back and read the first step in this five-step process. Then read the last paragraph of this article to glimpse where you are headed.

You’ve been downsized. From where you stand right now, everything in front of you is in flux. The plans you made a month ago are now gone and everything feels chaotic. You may not even know how to feel in the present moment. Following the five-step process I outlined in this article will lend sanity to your world until you land in your next long-term role. I am happy to tell you that members of my team landed very well. One of my direct reports, whom the president had passed over for a university dean position, landed as an associate provost at a nearby institution, where her new president values her highly. Another landed a role at a prestigious university. Trust the process. You are not alone. One day, this moment won’t even matter for you. I wish you the very best.