Recently, I shared a piece concerning Job Abandonment and its potential consequences when trying to find a new position, how burning the bridge with your employer from both ends may come to, well, burn you in the end.

(To update you on the individuals of focus for that piece: one was officially laid off and the other who walked out has been terminated, but also has not been found).

This year, we have begun to see something that seemed unprecedented just a decade ago: rounds upon rounds of layoffs from big tech companies like Meta, Salesforce, Zoom, Amazon and Microsoft, with executives partly blaming their own lack of pandemic preparedness for the losses. My own brother-in-law, an IT and cybersecurity worker for a small D.C. startup, recently shared with us that his company laid off about a third of their entire workforce–over 100 people.

These layoffs take me back to the days of the Great Recession (during which I earned my B.A.), where layoffs took over the headlines, hiring froze across the country, and newly graduated professionals couldn’t find full-time jobs in their fields.

Take any situation–whether you’re looking to move up, move on, or trying to find a new line of work–and remember to always give 100% to whatever it is you are doing now and for the team you are working with and, by doing so, continue to build and nurture that reputation and those connections. This is why networking is so important.

Throughout my adult life, the economy has seemingly chosen the inconsistent, unpredictable weather of the DC/MD/NOVA region as its spirit animal, where anything can happen.

Throughout my own career, it has been the connections I have built that have helped keep me active and employed: when the newspaper let me go from my staff job, the sports editor kept me as his main freelancer for another year because he liked my work; when the shed construction company laid me off at Christmas after buying the engagement ring, my colleagues with parks and recreation welcomed me back; when my last employer forced me out right before the lockdown mandates, my old marketing director reached out and had me do some meaningful work for him.

Even today, there’s a little bit of fear and influence from Imposter Syndrome that holds my heart by the throat at the prospect of leaving for a new position and then suddenly becoming another number in another round of layoffs. However, I have confidence because I know what networking can do. The network and relationships I have developed with my current team and colleagues from my previous employment history are not only due to my personality but also due to my work ethic, results, and dedication to a common goal.

If you want to learn about networking events near you, I recommend searching Eventbrite or checking in with your area’s chamber of commerce. You may make a friend, build a partnership, find a career or even start an enterprise.

But the only to find out is to go out and do it.