Laid off at 48, this high-powered Massachusetts mom took a $17-an-hour garden center job: 'Saved my life'

After months without finding another full-time role, Friday was facing increasing financial pressure. Her unemployment benefits had ended and she was nearing the end of her severance, prompting her to look for another source of income. She took a part-time job at a local garden center while continuing her search for marketing and communications roles.

She first shared her experience in a viral LinkedIn post before writing about it for CNBC Make It.

“I spent nearly nine hours outside multiple days a week, in all types of weather, doing physical labor and helping customers with questions about flowers, herbs and vegetables,” Friday wrote. “I was exhausted after a shift in ways I never was in my previous roles, and I loved every minute.”

AI is making a tough market even harder

Friday’s lengthy search for another full-time role is playing out against a changing job market. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, 53% of Americans say they’re concerned AI could affect their job or the job of someone in their household.

AI is increasingly being cited as a reason for job cuts. U.S. employers announced 60,620 job cuts in March, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, with AI cited as the reason for about one in four layoffs.

Like many laid-off workers, Friday wasn’t only dealing with the loss of a paycheck. She spent months applying for jobs and, as she put it, “networking like a boss,” without knowing when the next opportunity would come.

“I was devastated when I got laid off from my dream job last year,” she wrote. “The organization’s leadership had talked about employees as if we were one big global family, and I’d believed it. When I lost my job, I didn’t know who I was anymore.”

That sense of loss can go well beyond a paycheck. For many people, work becomes wrapped up in their routines, relationships and sense of identity, making the sudden loss of a job an adjustment.

But Friday found something unexpected in the garden-centre job. The role wasn’t enough to replace her previous income, but its value went beyond simply helping her make ends meet.

“I knew the job would never cover all my expenses, and that I would need to rely on savings to stay afloat,” Friday wrote. “Yet, somehow, it felt like that $17 per hour saved my life.”

A lower-paying job can buy you more time

A lower-paying job may not solve the financial problem entirely, but it can help buy time while the search for something more permanent continues.

Friday is far from the only worker piecing together part-time employment while looking for full-time work. In August, 4.4 million people were working part-time for economic reasons, including those who wanted full-time jobs but couldn’t find them.

If you find yourself in a similar position, the decision comes down to more than the hourly wage. Consider what the job would bring in after taxes and work-related expenses, whether the schedule leaves enough time for applications and interviews, and how much longer that income could stretch your savings.

Unemployment benefits are another consideration. Some people may still qualify for partial benefits while working part-time, but eligibility and how earnings affect payments vary by state.

For Friday, the garden centre offered something months of job searching couldn’t: a reason to get outside, move her body and get out of her own head.

“Being at the garden center fed my soul and reset my mind,” Friday wrote.

That kind of reset can be especially valuable for workers already feeling burned out. An American Psychological Association survey found 67% of U.S. workers reported experiencing at least one symptom associated with workplace burnout in 2024.

Sometimes, being forced off the path you expected can create space to rethink what you actually need from work, even if the circumstances that put you there are far from ideal.