5 Ways to Use Google to Avoid Layoffs

by Susan P. Joyce


Being uninformed today is a dangerous habit.  Companies go out of business or have layoffs.  Divisions are shut down.  Products or services are discontinued.  Technology shifts business from one company or industry to another.  Manufacturing moves to a different supplier or country.
Most of those events result in the loss of jobs, or, at least, jobs shifting from one employer, industry, or country to another.
If you are employed, stay informed about what is being published on the web about your employer.  Use that information for career management and for financial self defense.  If your employer seems to be having a tough time, start thinking about moving on to another employer.  Read Job-Hunt’s Layoff Self-Defense ebook for suggestions about how to prepare to move on.
If you are unemployed, stay informed about potential employers so you can avoid pursuing employment with an employer who may stop hiring or may offer short-term employment.
Below, find 40 search queries in 5 categories of information that can be strong indicators of pending layoffs.


Business Uncertainty
Millions of business opportunities and threats happen all the time.  For example, consider the recent history of Eastman Kodak, and pity the Kodak employees who were ignoring the news and what was going on around them.
Eastman Kodak -

• 1995: ranked at 43 in the Fortune 500
• 2011: ranked at 327
• 1988: 145,000 employees; in 2009 down to fewer than 20,000 (Forbes magazine)

Obviously, the probability is high that if you were happily employed with Eastman Kodak in 1995, you are not working there today.  On the other hand, while film-based camera businesses like Kodak are shrinking or changing their business models, many other businesses are taking their places and rapidly growing.
Fortunately, it is much easier to be well-informed today than ever, with technology (aka, Google).
Using Google Search
Discover the bad news, or just speculation, about your employer so you can help address the problems, avoid moving into a group that is failing, or move out of a bad situation (the employer as a whole or one part of it).
Most Google searches are automatically “Everything” searches, but you may find the “News” searches to be more helpful.  You may also find that the “Videos” and “Images” searches may be helpful.
Select the type of search you want from the upper left side of the Google search results pages (inside the red box in the image below).

If you don’t see the ”Images,” “Videos,” and “News” options, click on the arrow beside the “More” button to find them.

Read the Google-izing Your Job Search article for useful tips on using Google search syntax, and learn the trick about using dots (periods) between elements of a phrase rather than quotation marks, as in some of the examples below.

Finding the Bad News
Try these Google searches.  Some will work better for you than others, and some may not be appropriate for your situation.  Use the search results you get to refine your search until most of what you get is best for your situation.

Note: In the search strings below, the brackets [ ] are around search terms for you to fill in with what ever is appropriate for you. 

1.  Drop in sales or revenue
Try these searches to find information about sales or revenue going down, which may lead to layoffs to reduce expenses -

• “sales drop” +[company.name] +[current year] 
• “earnings drop” +[company.name] +[current year] 
• “revenue dropping” +[company.name] +[current year]
• “negative revenue” +forecast +[company.name] +[current year]
• “negative outlook” +[company.name] +[current year] 
• “negative sales forecast” +[company.name] +[current year]
• “negative revenue forecast” +[company.name] +[current year] 

2.  Closure of a plant or office


See more search tips and complete article