[ta-run]

> 1. Have you ever been laid off from a job for reasons that were not related to your performance?

Yes. Only once, and it happened in March as a part of a cost cutting exercise.

I was working at the company - a product startup - for 2.5 years.

> 2. Did this affect your job search / career afterwards?

No. I went back to my previous employer where I worked for 6 years, they were gracious enough to welcome me back.

The only thing that bothers me at times is the pay differential - I had to take a paycut moving back to my older org.

> 3. Do you feel that being laid off from a job prevented you from recovering due to social stigma around being under / unemployed?

To an extent, yes. The initial days were the hardest as I thought I was untouchable as an employee - I've been a top performer for a majority of my career - so being laid off was definitely a shock.

It took a few weeks to get over it but it was fine as soon as I had a job in hand.