The New York Nexus Cafe 

back to work for the compnay that laid you off? What was it like?

I'm asking because the company that laid me off last November e-mailed me this morning saying that they wanted to speak to me about a position. The job title is, to me, a step down from where I was. There are Pros/Cons to going back. I'm going to meet with them next week to see what they have.

I do have 2 other decent possibilities that I'm working on. Any thoughts?

While I can't speak to a layoff experience, I have gone back to work for a place from where used to work then resigned.

I recommend that you:

1. Bargain hard. Stress the company-specific experience you have since knowing the relationships, culture, and procedures is a big leg-up on the competition.

2. See if you can re-establish pension vesting where you left off. Same for a 401k. If you can resume contributions immediately, that's a big plus.

3. Stall as much as you can (without making it obvious) to see what happens with the other jobs.

4. (maybe) if they offer you a job (and you accept) and later one of the other positions comes through, you can always...well...quit the current place and go work for the other place. Just make sure if doesn't matter if you burn bridges or that the respective bosses aren't golfin' buddies. It's a SMALL world. But this sort of thing happens all the time.

But by all means, look out for no. one.

Thank you so much for the advice. I printed it out to think about before I go in on Tuesday. Yep, I know about the stalling technique. They gave me a choice of Mon. or Tuesday and I'm still working on a couple other companies.

The President of the company is one of my professional references and has become a mentor via e-mail since I was laid off. I totally respect her and her career. This is why I would hate to accept a position that I'm not totally into, just to resign for a better offer. My Industry is a small community. We bump into each other quite a bit, so I don't want to burn bridges. Someone just said to me, "It's just business" which is exactly what I was told when I was laid off.

Thanks for your input. Anyone else?