Home > Career > Question
Need Expert Advice?Our Gurus Can Help

MBA graduate laid off despite good performance - How to explain in interviews?

Shekhar

Shekhar Kumar  | Answer  |Ask -

Leadership, HR Expert - Answered on Apr 21, 2025

Shekhar Kumar is senior manager, talent acquisition, at the Shri Venkateshwara University in Gajraula, Uttar Pradesh. He has 18 years of expertise in the search and placement of executive leadership talent across various industries.
He has also mentored middle and senior management professionals for leadership positions and guided them in career development.
Shekhar has a bachelor's degree in business management from Magadh University, Bihar, and a master's degree in human resource management from Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu.... more
Asked by Anonymous - Apr 21, 2025Hindi
Listen
Career

I don't have a fancy MBA degree I am a BCom graduate from a tier 3 city with 20-plus years of experience who has worked in senior roles across India. I have recently been laid off from a senior management role due to organisational restructuring. I was first asked to get rid of poor performers. After they made me sack over 25 employees within a year. The following year, I was asked to take a pay cut, which I did, for the sake of protecting my team and helping them stay in the company. Last month, the HR asked me to resign with a not-so-exciting severance pay. How should I position this in future interviews without it reflecting negatively on my leadership and career opportunities?

Ans: Here’s how you can position this situation positively and professionally in interviews without damaging your image or leadership profile. Start framing your experience as one where you demonstrated resilient leadership during difficult times. Try to mention your willingness to take a pay cut as an example of your commitment to the team and the company. Avoid using emotionally charged language like “I was forced out.” Instead, be calm, neutral, and strategic. This shows maturity, professionalism, and emotional intelligence. Practice your story with confidence and calmness. Companies know that layoffs happen—what they’re evaluating is how you handled it and your attitude going forward.
Career

You may like to see similar questions and answers below

Anu

Anu Krishna  |1632 Answers  |Ask -

Relationships Expert, Mind Coach - Answered on Dec 14, 2022

Relationship
Hi, Sorry, my story is long.I'm 43 years old. My life's been on a crazy downside since the last 3 years. I lost my job a year before Covid. I worked with my last company for over 10 years. In my initial phase I developed and introduced a high-tech animated presentation that the sales team used. This gave my career a boost quickly and I got timely promotions, more responsibilities.I worked 12-18 hours on many occasions. When my boss came to know that my wife and I are going to have a baby, he even gave me an advance appraisal. From earning 3 lakhs a year, my last drawn salary was 21 lakhs a year.Things were going good until I was diagnosed with diabetes. It gave me a real scare and I started taking all the precautionary measures like timely food, timely workout and my focus on the job was only as much as it was needed. I couldn't go overboard working 12-18 hours like I used to. This didn't go down with many of my seniors and especially my boss.I remember, initially he gave me a long-term work from home opportunity. That too was going well but suddenly it was stopped as many colleagues started asking for the same and the company was not ready for this change on a large scale back then.By then the company had ventured into too many online businesses and verticals and they got me to hire 40-45 designers. Suddenly they realized that handling so many things wasn't working for them as the profit margins decreased. Now they wanted me to fire people on the basis of performance. Unwantedly I had to do that. Laying off people who were marginally falling short than others was bad.In between one of the incidents I saw my boss yell at me for no reason. He wanted the team to source a large number of images for the website. He had verbally asked me to utilize everyone on the floor to get the job done. Me being me, I wrote an e-mail officially assigning small tasks to a number of people on the floor. However there was no formal communication from the boss that gave me authority over others and to get others who were not a part of my team to get involved in that project. This was not an easy task as his perspective and other people's perspectives didn't match. The job went on slow and my boss got angry. He came to my cabin and gave me a big scare using foul language which must have been audible even outside to others. And mind you I was not at fault. This incident made me scared and doubtful of myself.I could never face my boss again. Whenever he was in office I would not come face to face with him. My interaction with him soon became zero. The appraisals were below par. The amount of work I used to get, got diverted to my juniors directly, bypassing me. And soon they asked to resign. I got 3 months compensation. But, after that, I couldn't really find another job as I feel I am not capable of handling stuff. I feel I will fail. I have tried to psyche myself into positivity but I can't.While I have noticed that as a freelancer, I have successfully handled many projects in the past 4 years and clients have been happy. It's only that I am very uncomfortable working in an office environment. That corporate culture for me is like a HORROR movie. Now the scenario is such that my projects in hand have reduced. I think I don't have the business acumen. It's becoming tougher to find new clients. I have applied to literally 1000 places but no one's taking the GAP in the jobs well. That's my guess. I'm more of a hands-on worker than a manager so I also applied for junior positions but I've had literally no luck.My wife has throughout these 4 years supported me and my freelance ventures. We have one kid who's 11 years old and can understand the situation even without us explaining it to him. When we got married, my mother-in-law was much older than my parents were, we decided to stay with her initially and it's been 14 years since we started staying here. We save on rent. Things were good when I had a well-paying job but now my wife's had to shell out a lot for the day-to-day expenses. Now, she keeps asking why I am unable to find a job. How much is she going to have to shell out? My savings have depleted, now hers too. I am ashamed of asking her to pay for stuff every month but my situation makes it compulsory. I have two loan EMIs, and our monthly expenses which we pay through credit card usually. But I don't have adequate income. Somehow, my wife thinks that the kind of lifestyle she has always led and what she has visualized is something she'll have to stick to. Even though we stay in a bungalow, the finances are not exactly alright. The colony where we live is full of crorepatis and my wife thinks that she has to maintain her lifestyle otherwise the kids outside will not be fair to our kid. They will tease him. The kids here are such that they compare a lot -- your house, my house, your car, my car etc.Of late we have been fighting a lot. She's always been stressed with my joblessness, my son's studies. She ends up scolding him too much and generally remains in a bad mood. I won't hide the fact that I have faced a lot of insults lately and some of them in front of my kid. Basically whenever my wife and I have an argument, she always ends it by mentioning the amount of money she has spent on the family and my joblessness. Add to it the fact that I am staying at her place. I can never have any further argument. It's like her Brahmastra.I used to be very patient when things were fine. Now, even I get agitated in no time. I'm one confused soul at the moment. I'm not outgoing, I'm very shy when it comes to new people. I've been watching a lot of videos about gaining self-confidence. But practical things do not really work out the way I think. My freelance venture failed. My e-commerce venture failed. Basically whatever I do, fails. It's that kind of a phase in my life when everything just goes wrong. I'm not a suicidal person and I want to spend a lot of time with my family yet. I'm just not sure now what to do. How to get my confidence back? Is there a thing called bad luck? Is this spiritual? Will things ever come back to normal?P.S. I have personally spoken to many people in my friends’ circle and clients circle and told them that I am looking for a job. Hoping that something materializes. But in the meantime, whatever I wrote above are things that I can't speak about to anyone.P.S.2 There's a pattern. My father was jobless after 40. So am I. He struggled a lot in his life and did whatever he could to give us the best. I'm trying hard too but I feel I am losing it. I don't want my child to face these kinds of things in his future. I hope this bad luck doesn't pass on.
Ans:

Dear R,

Let’s bring it down simply into Health, Work and Marriage. And of course, your added element of superstitions that aren’t helping anyway.

You were absolutely right in taking care of your health and reworking your work timings.

If the boss doesn’t care about that, well then you are stuck with a boss whose appraisal on you will be based on the number of hours v/s actual output of work.

I know you cannot choose your boss, but being led by someone like this isn’t going to let you grow either. So, whether you choose to work as a freelancer or within an office, do make sure that you are surrounded by people that can fuel your growth.

If that’s not possible always, work your mind to a point of strength where you hold fort and not allow yourself to be a pawn like you did with you boss.

With your personal story, your wife did support you when she did and maybe the lifestyle is something that is used to.

Isn’t it time for the two of you to actually talk about the future. Instead of allowing life to take you over, ever thought of setting a strong goal as a family where everyone is involved in each other’s success journey?

So, she perhaps does not understand what it means to still live with her mother, what it means for her to have a husband with a steady job, what it means to you to keep your health at its peak!

When you both don’t understand what things mean to each other, you will be caught in crossfires and not support one another. So TALK and COMMUNICATE. And if all superstitions were to be believed, we could hunt all the black cats down and hold them captives OR not walk outside for fear of them crossing our paths.

It’s just your mind mapping on this low phase into today.

What happened with your father and you repeating with you and your son becomes true only when you don’t take charge of your life now and do something different. So, think and act different and more usefully.

Create a better life. All the best!

..Read more

Latest Questions
Dr Karan

Dr Karan Gupta  |74 Answers  |Ask -

International Education Counsellor - Answered on Jun 26, 2025

Dr Karan

Dr Karan Gupta  |74 Answers  |Ask -

International Education Counsellor - Answered on Jun 26, 2025

Dr Karan

Dr Karan Gupta  |74 Answers  |Ask -

International Education Counsellor - Answered on Jun 26, 2025

Career
I am a retired professional with 35+ years of experience in cement industry and power electronics and embedded systems production.I am working as a freelance consultant.I am an electronics engineering graduate with experience in electrical and instrumentation in cement plants,in addition to power electronics and also emebedded systems production.I want to develop myself in AI.please guide me how shall I proceed ? Thanks.
Ans: Here’s a simple step-by-step path you can follow to get started in AI:
1. Start with Python – Since you have a technical background, learning Python will be easy. It’s the main language used in AI. Use beginner-friendly platforms like Coursera or Udemy.
2. Learn AI Basics – Begin with the basics of machine learning (ML), which is a core part of AI. A good course is Andrew Ng’s ML course on Coursera.
3. Explore Practical Tools – Learn tools like TensorFlow or PyTorch (for ML models) and basic data handling using Pandas and NumPy.
4. Focus on Projects – Try small hands-on projects like predictive maintenance (can relate to your industry), image recognition, or control systems using AI. This will bridge your domain knowledge with AI.
5. Join AI Forums or Groups – Connect with AI communities, maybe even ones for professionals in engineering fields. You’ll learn a lot from discussion and real problems.
6. Optional: Certifications – If you want formal recognition, go for AI certifications from IBM, Google, or Microsoft.
Since you’re already a consultant, you could eventually apply AI to industrial automation, fault detection, or predictive analytics in cement and power sectors.
Go step by step—don’t rush. Even 1 hour a day will help you grow steadily.

...Read more

DISCLAIMER: The content of this post by the expert is the personal view of the rediffGURU. Investment in securities market are subject to market risks. Read all the related document carefully before investing. The securities quoted are for illustration only and are not recommendatory. Users are advised to pursue the information provided by the rediffGURU only as a source of information and as a point of reference and to rely on their own judgement when making a decision. RediffGURUS is an intermediary as per India's Information Technology Act.

Close  

You haven't logged in yet. To ask a question, Please Log in below
Login

A verification OTP will be sent to this
Mobile Number / Email

Enter OTP
A 6 digit code has been sent to

Resend OTP in120seconds

Dear User, You have not registered yet. Please register by filling the fields below to get expert answers from our Gurus
Sign up

By signing up, you agree to our
Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy

Already have an account?

Enter OTP
A 6 digit code has been sent to Mobile

Resend OTP in120seconds

x