Managing Your Career During Layoffs

I just signed a job offer! I’m excited to share details soon, but for now I want to pass on some lessons learned: 😢 It’s Tough. It’s still a challenging tech job market. I have an amazing network, but it still took me months to get an offer. Early on, it felt like a cruel game of musical chairs, where laid-off employees were chasing a shrinking set of job opportunities. 🫂 Never Search Alone & Find Your Community. #1 tip: check out phyl terry's “Never Search Alone” (link in comments). I wish I had discovered this earlier in my job search process! In addition to my amazing Job Search Council, I’m also blessed to have a community of laid off ex-Google PMs, set up by Rob Leathern, which has been a great source of both camaraderie and practical help. 🎯 Find Your Candidate-Market Fit. Nikhyl Singhal & Shreyas Doshi recommend managing your career like you manage a product…phyl terry brilliantly extends “Product-Market Fit” to “Candidate-Market Fit”, which is the intersection of your skills/experience/wants/needs & what the market wants/needs. ⛙ Pick A Lane. PMs used to be hired as “generalists”…but now most companies/hiring managers want specialists. Even if you “can” do everything, target your search: 1) it helps you tell a concise, compelling story / “elevator pitch” 2) it helps recruiters & hiring managers “pattern match” what they need versus what you offer and 3) it helps your network help you. 🤝 Warm Introductions Beat Cold Referrals. It used to be enough to get into the “referral system”…now, in many cases, you need someone who is willing to advocate on your behalf with the hiring manager. ✋ Don’t Be Afraid to Reach Out. If you know someone, they probably want to hear from you. If they’re busy or senior, make it easy for them to help you, but don’t be afraid to reach out. 🎢 Prepare for a Rollercoaster. I’ve imagined myself at dozens of companies, only to be rejected. It’s easy to take rejection personally, but realize that all of these processes are flawed, so dust yourself off & get back out there. 🏆 Wins Are Preceded by Close Losses. Some of the hardest rejections to process are the ones where you just barely missed it—you were the #2 candidate, etc. This advice helped me get through some of the toughest times. ❤️ Help Others. I love how Lenny Rachitsky ends each podcast asking “how can we be helpful to you?”. Not only does this make the world a better place, but I believe in karma. Even if you’re a junior person, you might have some insight or experience that might help out your peers or even those more senior to you. I hope you find this helpful & good luck to everyone searching!

Here are 5 tips that helped me rebound after layoff 2 years ago: 1) I posted about my layoff on LinkedIn, but I was very precise about what I was good at, what I was looking for, and where (location) I was open to working ("I'm a senior-level technical and non-technical recruiter, specializing in full-cycle candidate engagement and closing, who ... blah blah blah... located close to Seattle, open to remote, hybrid or onsite within 30 miles of Seattle metro!"). Not "hey everyone, I am looking for something new, if you see anything, let me know!"... that is way too general, so nobody will let you know 😂 everyone is too busy looking out for themselves. 2) I applied for roles "below" my experience level. I got a bunch of action by applying for contract, less-senior, non-senior, etc just to get conversations started and my foot in the door. In fact, originally the role I interviewed with for Reddit was contract, and they ended up being impressed with my interviews and created an FTE, senior role that mapped exactly to what I was looking for. So glad I took that first call and just kept the conversation going. You never know... 3) I applied for jobs in very high volume, and I knew my conversion rates (read on for what this means!). Since most of apps seem to go in a black hole, I looked at my conversion rates of applications to phone screens/interviews/offers and adjusted my application rate up. If it takes 500 applications to get 3 phone interviews, and 3 phone interviews to get 2 final interviews, and 2 final interviews to get to 1 offer, then in order to get 3 offers, 2 of which might be really 💩 , I need to apply to 1500 jobs. 4) I reached out to former colleagues, I reached out to my friends, I let my family know about my search (and had my resume attached to my messages). I asked for referrals to roles I found at their companies. I also tried to ask how they are doing, and what I could do for them, too... and then I (nicely!) followed up with them if I didn't hear back, or if they said they would refer me and forgot. A nice follow-up is appreciated... people get busy! 5) I worked at my job search full-time. There seem to be diminishing returns on efforts after a certain point in a search for many folks? So I made my job search my 8am-5pm full-time job, just like when I was in the office. I did take breaks, but TBH I worked to the point of near-burnout in my job search. But the effort paid off with multiple offers. *I know that the market is even tougher now, and I was lucky to be laid off before the tech market slid as much as it has. I will say, the folks who employ tactic #s 2, 3 & 5 especially seem to rebound quickly, from my experience with coaching job seekers pretty consistently since March of 2020 (for free, and no I am not selling services, sorry!).

Advice for the laid off (from someone who’s been there): 1. Give yourself 24 hours to grieve. Get angry, be sad, process your feelings. Then flip the switch and let it go. 2. Your full-time job just became Job Seeker. Get to work! Spend 8-10 hours a day becoming the best job seeker the world has seen. 3. Blind applications are a waste of time but may be necessary to maintain your unemployment benefits. Do the minimum. 4. Work on your skills and certifications. 5. Spend time with your family and friends. 6. Work out. 7. Leverage your network. Your next job will come from people you know. Reach out and ask. 8. Minimize expenses. It can take months. 9. Don’t take a job out of desperation. You will only make yourself miserable and eventually wind up unemployed again. 10. Target the job you want precisely. Allow yourself one remove from that job as a practical matter. Don’t try to fit into every open role you see. 11. Have faith. Being unemployed doesn’t mean you’re unemployable. You’re between jobs. 12. Don’t be ashamed. You weren’t laid off because of what you did or failed to do but because of factors almost completely beyond your control. You were liberated from a sinking ship, not tossed overboard from a yacht. 13. Don’t make hasty financial decisions. You will regret them later. 14. Remember that you are not your job. Your job is simply what you do to pay your bills. The loss of a job is not the loss of a person or an identity. 15. Better days WILL come. Bet on it (and yourself). We’re all pulling for you!

Layoff culture leads to blame culture, and that’s the end of effective leaders. Layoffs create value by reducing headcount, not leveraging talent to deliver more value. In the short term, layoffs are easier than leading and improving the business’s fundamentals. Companies get hooked on a layoff’s quick wins. Barriers to growth are covered up instead of being addressed. There’s a shift in incentivization. Revenue doesn’t need to grow. Profits increase due to lower costs, so investors reward C-level leaders for shrinking, not growing. Leaders are incentivized to prevent revenue loss and cut costs. Effective leaders build teams that deliver more value than a collection of individuals and develop their teams to deliver more value every year. They are quickly pushed out. In layoff culture, leaders advance based on their ability to create blame vs. value. Any action without an immediately obvious benefit opens the door to blame. Leaders act only when there’s immediate value to be gained. Short-term thinking promotes activities like putting out fires and punishes preventing them. Preventing fires is spun as unproductive work. Delivering products is spun as creating fires, not value. When all the real waste has been cut, waste must be invented. Leaders are promoted by inventing waste. Productive teams are reduced and tucked into blame-focused leaders’ teams to help fight fires. Eventually, all the value-creating teams and leaders are gone. The business only acts in response to a fire. Leaders compete for resources by demonstrating that they have the biggest fires to manage. It’s up to C-level leaders to set the tone after a layoff. They must demonstrate and reward the behaviors they want leaders to display. Leadership assessment KPIs must align with increasing the value teams deliver vs. increasing the loss they prevent. Problem discovery culture should replace blame culture. Short-term profits from layoffs should be invested in efficient growth to support a problem-solving culture. Layoffs are a solution to short-term problems (margin compression or inefficiency). Layoff cycles are the signs of a fundamental flaw in the business and operating models. #leadership #datascience #dataengineering

"Your paycheck today will clear the bank. If you come in on Monday, and I hope you will, I cannot guarantee you will be paid. Our VCs say they will give us a bridge loan, but it's not in the bank yet." I gave this message to groups of startup employees three times in my career. Only a single employee, our receptionist, resigned. She said, "I love you guys, but I can make the same somewhere else with a lot less stress." Smart woman. Both startups where I said this were out of money in the hard times after the 9/11 attacks tipped the economy into recession. Venture capitalists (VCs) went into the mode they are today, not funding new companies and instead putting their money only into drip-feeding their existing companies. VCs do not have to work within the companies they fund, so they forget the human impact of being slow to provide the money. We were legally required to tell the employees that we could not pay them. Why did everyone stay and keep working? 1) Transparency. We were clear about both not having money and expecting to get it. 2) All in it together. There was no money to pay anyone, me included. So we all took the risk together. 3) Short term trust. The next paycheck was due in two weeks, so we were asking people to trust us for a brief period. They were risking two weeks of pay, which limited the downside. In each case the money did come through and the companies continued, the one of them went through this ugly cycle twice. Ultimately each company survived, though neither ever really thrived. Today, many leaders find themselves in similar tough times. Layoffs, promotion freezes, hiring freezes, project cancellations, etc. If you are a leader in such circumstances: 1) Prepare your team ahead of time. Discuss openly with people that times are tough and that the future is uncertain, but that you are doing all you can to get them through it successfully. 2) Be transparent. Both share all you can and push to be in the know so that your team is not surprised. Trust is broken when people feel misled, and at that point they start focusing on protecting themselves (as they should), not working with you to get through the crisis. 3) Focus on critical actions that can get your team through the bad times. Grand visions may have to wait. Find any way to be "too critical to lay off today." If you are an employee: 1) Build your financial cushion any way you can. 2) Update your resume and LinkedIn; touch network contacts socially to remind them you exist. 3) Get on the most critical work to the company you can. Literally worm your way onto it, by doing extra credit side work if necessary. 4) Be understanding that your direct manager may be in the dark. In big companies, first level (and even 2nd and 3rd) are not told anything about big decisions. Want to hear more? On Friday I am moderating a free panel discussion on Leading In Tough Times. Join us: https://buff.ly/4a13H0J

As someone who has experienced the benefits of LinkedIn firsthand after a mass layoff, here are my 7 tips for how this platform can help you land your next job: ✅ 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝: Your LinkedIn profile is your personal brand, so make sure it's top-notch. Have a good profile picture and a catchy headline. According to a survey by LinkedIn, 70% of employers say they check candidates' social media profiles. ✅𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞: Your LinkedIn profile is your digital resume, so it's crucial to make it stand out and showcase your skills and experience in your About and featured sections. You can add documents, videos, links, and posts. As many as you want to showcase. According to LinkedIn, members with at least five skills listed on their profile receive up to 17 times more profile views than those with fewer than five skills. ✅𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤: Connect with people in your industry, whether it's through groups, events, or one-on-one outreach. Building relationships is key to finding job opportunities, and LinkedIn makes it easy to connect with professionals from all over the world. Just don't end up in Linkedin jail by sending too many at once ;) ✅𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞: Position yourself as an expert in your field by sharing your knowledge and insights. Write articles, post videos, and engage with others on the platform through comments. Post at least 3 times a week. This will help establish your credibility and increase your visibility to potential employers. ✅𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝: To make the most of LinkedIn, you need to be active & engaged on the platform. This means regularly sharing content, commenting on others' posts, & responding to messages and connection requests. A survey by Jobvite found that 55% of recruiters consider a candidate's engagement with content on LinkedIn to be a positive indicator of their interest in a job. By sharing relevant content, commenting on posts, & engaging with others, you can demonstrate your passion for your industry and your willingness to contribute to the conversation. ✅𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧: LinkedIn allows you to follow companies and stay up-to-date on their latest news and job openings. This is a great way to learn more about the companies you're interested in and stay on top of their hiring needs. Engage with their postings. ✅𝐁𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞: Don't wait for job opportunities to come to you - be proactive and reach out to companies and recruiters. Use LinkedIn's job search function to find positions that match your skills and experience and apply directly through the platform. And most importantly, JUST SHOW UP. What other #Linkedin advice can you add to my list? ⬇ #layoffs #layoffs23 #jobseekersupport

If you are in the job market right now or will be graduating soon, I hope my job search experience will be helpful. Layoffs were at a 10 month high in January 2024. Landing a job in this market is going to be one of the hardest tasks that many of you will ever take on. Having walked on this road, I want you to focus on these 4 things: 1. Having the right skills: Most job postings I see today ask for 'X' amount of experience. In addition, most of the laid off workforce has worked for a good number of years at most of the top companies. What is the first thing that we can do in such a landscape, focus on our own skills and build our competitive advantage. Try testing your skills with free HackerRank and LeetCode practice problems and get certifications in the tools that are required for your target job. Although this may sound as if it doesn't matter, these factors amount to a lot throughout your interview process. 2. Leveraging your network:  Networking isn't about handing out your resume at a career fair, it is truly about building relationships. Attending seminars, meetups and engaging in meaningful conversations on LinkedIn with someone who is willing to help is what actually works. 3. Resume, Cover Letter and LinkedIn Profile: Before someone actually interviews you, these 3 things are usually the only tools that tell your story for you. For your resume, there are 100's of free tools that score your resume against the job description you are applying for. This helps you rank better in the ATS that many companies use and gets your foot in the door. For cover letters, make sure your story is conveyed with clarity and take occasional feedbacks from friends and professors. Lastly, search people on LinkedIn who are already working at your dream role and compare your LinkedIn profile with theirs. See what sets them apart and inculcate the same changes in your own profile. 4. Cracking the interviews:  Not a single interview will be the same and each one will be a learning experience. If you are struggling with lack of confidence, develop a sales pitch and record yourself delivering the pitch alone first. Listen to this pitch and try to be better the next time. Eventually you will realize your areas of improvement and repeat this till you perfect yourself to your limit. This technique will reduce stress during the actual interview and help boost your confidence. These 4 techniques helped me land my current job and I hope it does the same for you. 2023 was one of the toughest times to be in the job market and many people helped me during that process. I hope by writing this post I can return their favor and provide value to anyone who is in need of it. If there is anything I help with apart from these techniques, whether it be the tools I used, my interview experiences, even providing referrals, than do reach out in DM or in the comments below, I will be happy to help. All the best in your job search!

Early in my career, I faced a moment many of us dread: A sudden, unexpected company reorganization. It seemed like overnight ➟ my role ➟ my team ➟ my daily tasks were all up in the air. I remember the anxiety. The flurry of rumors. The uncertainty. They clouded my thoughts about the future. But it was in this chaos that I found clarity. I realized that change, though daunting, also brings opportunities for growth. I wrote an article on this for Harvard Business Review. Here are 5 actions you can take when your professional life is unpredictable: 1. Embrace the Uncertainty Use periods of change as a catalyst for introspection. Reflect on what truly matters to you and your future. 2. Define Your Identity Think about who you need to be... Not just what you need to do. 3. Focus on the Process Establish and commit to positive career behaviors. It gives you a sense of control and leads to results. Examples: • Contribute in each team meeting • Expand your network every week  • Offer a strategic idea to leadership monthly • Take on a stretch opportunity once a quarter • Thank a coworker for something helpful every day 4. Cultivate Learning Agility Be ready to adapt. Stay curious. Embrace new ideas. This mindset isn't just to survive; it helps you thrive. 5. Ask for and Act on Feedback Regularly seek feedback. Take time to reflect on it. It's crucial to know where you're growing. And where you need to improve. Change can be scary. But it's also a chance to reset. To pivot. You may discover new paths you hadn't noticed before. Remember... It's not the strongest or most intelligent who survive. It's those who can best manage change. Lean into the uncertainty. Use it as a stepping stone. Build a career that's not just successful, but also aligned with who you truly are. Find this valuable? Repost ♻️ to share with others.  Thank you! P.S. What keeps you going when things get uncertain?

Betty Wong Ortiz felt the disorientation and pain of layoffs ... five times. She writes in Business Insider the first time hit hard. She didn't believe it would happen again. Then it did, over and over. But now she doesn't fear layoffs. Ortiz says being let go helped her separate work from her identity. Layoffs taught her how to pivot. They also showed her the value of a quality network when it is time to find a gig. She even realized layoffs aren't personal. Ortiz hopes her stories, and those of others, help people in a similar situation cope better. She says it's OK to be upset but try to cast aside guilt or shame. 👉 How have you rebounded from career setbacks? Share below. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e3-CJZAE Summary ✍: Todd Dybas

✨Recently laid off? Check out this inspiring story from my client. Job seekers navigating career transitions should consider two key strategies: Recommendations and Networking (I know, there is much more to the story; read on!). 🔻 First, update your LinkedIn profile, including exchanging recommendations with colleagues, managers, and external partners like vendors or customers. This effort yields significant benefits: • Recruiters value social proof from recommendations showcasing your leadership and communication skills. • It offers a prime networking opportunity—if approached strategically. H͟e͟r͟e͟’s͟ ͟a͟ ͟c͟a͟s͟e͟ ͟i͟n͟ ͟p͟o͟i͟n͟t͟:͟ I just finished a call with a client who had been preparing for a career change for about a year. Unexpectedly, she was laid off as part of a broader company downsizing. Fortunately, she was well-prepared and remained calm. She resumed an earlier task of requesting Zoom meetings and testimonials from her network. To her contacts’ surprise, they learned of her recent layoff. Now, she’s exploring several opportunities. Remarkably, one conversation revealed 𝗧𝗪𝗢 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 (unwritten and unposted) job roles tailored to her expertise at an exciting company overseas. C͟o͟n͟s͟i͟d͟e͟r͟ ͟t͟h͟i͟s͟:͟ 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁—𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱—𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲. My client's proactive discussions have already positioned her for five potential jobs, some of which are still being defined. Next steps? We’re preparing to utilize my “write and pitch your own job description” technique when these companies express interest in crafting a role that leverages her skills to meet their needs. Isn’t that amazing? ✨ For more ideas about what to do to prepare for a layoff, here is a link to the Forbes Coaches Council article: 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲: 𝟭𝟮 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: https://lnkd.in/gpGf8jXs #jobs #careers #management