As the job market cools and talks of a recession resurface, so does the talk of layoffs. Behind losing a loved one, either from death or breakup/divorce, losing your job usually falls next on the list of major life stressors. Having gone through the experience twice, I figured why not write a post about the warning signs and what to do, or not do if you get laid off.
Signs Layoff's are incoming
1) There’s been a lot of layoff’s in your industry
Right now is a good time to take a look across the industry that your in and take a health check. For example, If you’re in travel, and most of your competitors have been laying off employee’s, it’s safe to assume your company could also be at risk.
2) Your current company is having financial issues
This one is a bit of a no brainer, but if your company is having money problems, it’s more than likely conversations about layoffs are happening with management. Or say the company has imposed a hiring freeze. These are big indicators to start thinking about what to do next.
3) Changes in key management
When the people who are leading the company and steering the ship are jumping off, that’s reason to take notice. Just like all of these, it’s not a guarantee, but when the people with the most insight into how things are really going at the company are leaving, it’s certainly a sign of change. It’s also not uncommon for new leaders to clean house when forging a new direction, or at least save the company some money while they think up a new one.
4) No new projects or lack of formal direction
When major projects are put on pause for an undetermined amount of time, or there is talk of a big changes that have yet to be unveiled, this could signal a layoff. Generally speaking, most companies don’t want to have unfinished work hanging out there if you’re about to downsize, or try to get big projects across the finish line with a reduced team.
5) Changes to benefits, especially PTO/401k
This can be really subtle things like stopping employee meals, trips or happy hours, which don’t always mean lay offs are coming. But, If your company announces they are making changes to things like PTO or 401k, this is a big sign. I’ve seen this personally where the company decided to adopt an unlimited PTO policy, and made it mandatory for engineers to take their accrued PTO before start of the new year. Then shortly thereafter, layoffs took place. While it was sold as a benefit increase, in reality, it allowed the company to have to pay out less for severance.
6) They tell you directly, Layoff’s are coming
This one is less common, but it does happen. I’ve certainly heard of it during Covid, and also at companies where a merger was just finalized.
Steps to take before you get laid off
1) Get on a budget
If there’s a chance your paycheck could be disappearing, sitting down and actually putting expenses into a spreadsheet or a doc is really valuable for making every dollar last. This is a great time to check on subscriptions you may have and decide if they’re truly needed. The big thing here is looking at how much you need on monthly basis to get by. This will also really help for the next step.
2) Pay off debt and start saving for an emergency fund
Once you have and idea of what you need every month, you can start making decisions around money. Do you have enough in savings to last you a few months? Do you need to pay some debt? I’m personally a big fan of the Dave Ramsey’s baby steps and building up an emergency fund. The baby steps are located [here].(https://www.ramseysolutions.com/budgeting/how-to-win-with-money-in-7-easy-baby-steps) I can’t stress enough how important it is to have an emergency fund of any kind, regardless of you getting laid off.
3) Asses your value in your industry
When I first got laid off during the pandemic in 2020, the job I was at had a tech stack that was old and outdated. I knew that those skills were not really going to be useful at many other companies and so if I wanted to continue in software, I was going to need to learn some widely used technologies. This applies to any industry. Taking some time to research where your skills stack up for your job will be crucial for getting a new one.
4) Get your resume in order
As terrible as it is going through and making all the various edits and revisions to your resume, it’s crucial. And to be honest, I’d consider updating your resume every 6 months, no matter what. If you haven’t done this in a while, going over all the requirements so your resume is ATS compliant is also pretty important. Depending on where you’re applying, and the prevalence of AI, if your resume isn’t compliant (formatted correctly, or even using the wrong font) you could find yourself in position where your resume is never being seen. This can also be a great time to look at changing your formatting or design to become more eye catching.
5) Network and make connections
Speaking of making sure your resume is seen, What’s the best way to standout in a stack of resumes? Have someone make an introduction. Taking the time to get in contact with people who have connections or are at companies that are hiring will help tremendously. In fact, my first two software gigs came from a friend of a friend putting me in touch with a lead or hiring manager.
6) Start working on interview prep
In the past I’ve relied heavily on https://www.techinterviewhandbook.org/ for this step. They have great insights on technical and behavioral questions that can come up in interviews. Improving your understanding of leetcode or hackerrank problems will also be crucial. Be sure not to neglect the basic, ‘why do you wanna work here? what’s your biggest weakness?’ answers. Really knocking these out of the park can make people really remember you.
7) Highlight portfolio projects or content you’ve created
Right now, it’s pretty hard to stand out, but having a bunch of cool projects associated to your name in github can really help. In fact, I was once looked over for a position because the candidate I was up against had a more impressive github than mine.
Steps to take after being laid off
1) Ride the emotional rollercoaster, and take the time you need
If layoffs come to your company and sadly you are one of the people let go, your going to go through a lot of emotions. If you’re not familiar with the stages of of grief, sadly, you will be. There’s no shame in it, and really everyone processes things so differently, so you need to do you. Be sure to have a good group of friends or family around you to help support you. It’s tough. I was first laid off during the pandemic from a job I was less than crazy about. At first, it felt like a vacation. I was actually pretty relieved to have a lot of my stress from the job gone. However, soon after it changed and other feelings starting coming up. I’d get sad for not having the same purpose and meaning in my life, and then other days I’d be mad. Then I’d start having thoughts like, “Why was I let go over this person?”, which leads me to my next point.
2) Realize it might have had nothing to do with you or your performance as an employee
Depending on your company and their situation, it truly might be just down to them needing to cut X amount of dollars from the budget. There’s a lot of factors involved when companies have to reduce their headcount, and in a lot of cases, it’s just numbers on a spreadsheet. Don’t take it personally, and don’t let it become something that holds you back.
3) Look at the ways you can improve
This is a great time to be honest with yourself and realize where you could improve for your next position. It’s important to be honest and constructive with the focus of working towards something better.
4) Create a plan
After taking the time you need, sit down and create a plan for finding something new. In my case, I had to take a temporary position to cover some expenses while I got my resume sorted and figured out my plan of attack. This included creating a schedule where I could practice interview questions and applying for jobs. The goal was to be the most efficient with what time I had, so I could feel both prepared and not stressed when it came time to interview.
What NOT to do
1) Jumping right into the job search
As counterintuitive as it seems, this can be bad. As I mentioned above, you’ve suffered a loss. Even if you didn’t like your job, it’s a lot to process. Take the time you need to wind down, recover, and then start looking. While jumping right back into work does seem appealing, it can be backfire. I’ve seen many friends take jobs or roles they hate just because it felt like the right thing to do in that moment. Once again, you’re dealing with a lot and when referencing the various stages of grief, you’re probably not in the best frame of mind to be making those decisions.
2) Focussing on the negative
In short, you are an extension of your thoughts. If you’re only looking at the negative side of things, that’s all your gonna find in your life. Trust me, I get it, being laid off really sucks! But if your mind is in this place, it’s not going to get better.
3) Badmouthing your previous employer
If you care about your job at all, you’ve probably made some sacrifices. Some long nights, early mornings, passing up time with your friends or families in order to get a project across the finish line. And then to have it end with a video call from HR and your manager (if that), can really feel like a slap in the face. Much like the last bullet point, how you think of things, and how you present yourself to the outside world, especially on social media, can really impact how you move forward. Nowadays the world has never been smaller, and you’d be surprised who knows who, or hears what from someone else. Don’t let a bad experience poison your future prospects.
4) Hiding the layoff from the Family
I can’t stress enough how bad of an idea this is. Don’t do it. You need love and support. This is by far one of the the worst things you can do, except for maybe the next one…
5) Neglecting your health (mental and physical)
Stress, depression and anxiety will really put you through the wringer. Getting proper sleep, exercise, time in the sun, and hydration is crucial. It’s easy to fall into a trap where you just work on getting back to work, and you don’t take care of yourself. As I said above, taking some time to decompress, maybe binge some netflix on the couch while you process things is totally fine. Hell, I encourage that if you need that. Just be careful to not make that the norm when it comes time to get back on that horse. But ultimately, your mind will be it’s best, when you’re feeling your best. No, you don’t need to run a marathon, or start bench pressing 300 lbs, but just like scheduling in time to do interview prep and apply for jobs, make sure to add in time for exercise. And if you’re struggling, It’s a lot easier to feel better about yourself and keep doubt or other things at bay when your accomplishing something even as simple as a 5k run/walk or some time in the gym.
To close this out, there’s not one way to bounce back or respond from being laid off. Hopefully you are able to read this and avoid it all together. And if you have been laid off recently. I truly do extend my condolences. It sucks, period. You will bounce back and find something better.
Did I miss one? Or get something wrong? Let me know in the comments.
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