Marketplace - looking to chat with those in the 5,000

Not a typical Cutting Room Floor post - just a quick way to pass on a request from the American Public Media program Marketplace to get in contact with folks who have been through a Microsoft layoff:

The public radio show Marketplace is looking for people who can give us insight into what happens after a layoff. Use this link to talk to the show: http://tinyurl.com/d2nzqd

Getting laid off can be an isolating experience in which work-based connections and relationships break down. But some companies, like IBM, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft, are making efforts to stay in touch with laid-off employees through online social networks and other means.

If you've been laid off, have you kept up relationships with your former employer, or your coworkers? Did you burn bridges, or leave on good terms? And if you are staying in touch via a "corporate alumni community," what's that like? Do you feel it's for your benefit...or the employer's, so they can find you when it's time to start rehiring?

How have you maintained work connections post-layoff? Talk to Marketplace: http://tinyurl.com/d2nzqd

Thank you,

Joellen Easton

Analyst, Public Insight Journalism

Blogger, The Trading Floor (http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/tradingfloor/)

Marketplace | American Public Media

jeaston@marketplace.org