Holding Hands Through Layoff Season

As a keystone of our coverage, the editorial team here at TheLadders reviews every piece of e-mail that comes into the company’s customer-support department.

While our colleagues in customer support are tirelessly identifying fixes for job seekers’ specific needs, we’re looking for the big stories: broader issues that lots of our readers are facing and the creative ways that they’ve found to address them.

This week, Debra Donston-Miller takes on a scenario we read about time and again: two-income families that suddenly become no-income families when both partners find themselves unemployed. It’s a scary prospect, and (like any other challenge in a successful marriage) it requires a lot of coordination and communication to navigate.

Indeed, reading about the Gosse and Hudgins families reminded me of the importance of that “for better or for worse” clause in many marriage vows. A layoff is scary; two simultaneous layoffs are even more alarming; but handling the situation together can strengthen a marriage and shorten the period of uncertainty.