On Moving Ahead While Navigating “Layoff Land”
Nov 4, 2022
As I continue to look into new opportunities after my own layoff over 2 months ago, my empathy is triggered for everyone who continues to be affected by the insane tech layoff waves that continue to rock too many of us these past few months.
Twitter. Stripe. Paypal. Lift. Hootsuite. Microsoft. Square Enix.
An Amazon corporate hiring freeze to “balance our hiring and investments with being thoughtful about this economy” (in the words of Amazon Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology Beth Galetti)
I will be transparent and say it out loud.
Being laid off f*ing sucks.
Yes. I said it.
Even if people look at you in awe at what a positive mindset you have given your new circumstances, it still sucker punches you in the metaphorical gut.
Hard.
Knocks you off your feet.
Financially and psychologically.
Some even medically and physically.
I know because I’ve been there. Twice.
It takes everything in you to duck any other unexpected swings that might come your way afterwards. To brush it off, reset, and keep eyes forward.
As I see post after laid off post on my LinkedIn feed sharing news as people from all walks of like make efforts to keep their head up, I remember the feelings that came with it. That is being felt by so many. But there remains in each post a sense of hope. A desire to keep pushing through in spite of it all.
There is comfort in knowing that you are not alone and will get through this.
With this not being my own first layoff, I want to share a few things I've learned as I go through my own journey re-navigating “layoff land” (and using the knock down as a way to launch even faster forward.)
1. Give Yourself Space to Grieve.
We all react differently when hit with shocking, devastating news. And when it comes to the workplace, there is usually an immediate “knee jerk” reaction of “I need to find a new job right away.” But the reality is that it is OK to sit down with your emotions, process them, and THEN jump into those waters.
Use that space to really reconnect with yourself and disconnect from the previous job and role. We spent so much time at our jobs it is so easy to feel like a piece of you is missing or has been cut away. Especially in environments where you have a really strong team connection.
So take a week or so to just focus on YOU. Talk to friends, hang out with family members, schedule an extra therapy appointment to talk to a neutral person.
Most of all: Rest.
Give yourself grace and permission to recover. Don’t feel like you have to know the next steps right away because it WILL take time to get back on your feet.
2. Revamp Your LinkedIn
There are many useful self promotion/branding tools people forget to leverage outside of the standard experience section. You can also use this as a great exercise to help you reflect on where you've been and think about where you want to go next. Don’t worry about perfection and instead be proud of how far you’ve already come.
Some suggestions:
Go through the exercise of looking at your career journey and ask "how does this represent the career journey I want to take."
Add links to projects you’ve worked on, initiatives you’ve supported, programs you’ve launched, awards you’ve received
Clean up anything you’ve learned you DON’T want to do ever again. It’s ok to keep things if they will be beneficial for you in the future and reinforce certain skills, but the idea is to sharpen your career path to lead you towards things you enjoy and have realized you excel at. (Plus I’ll tell you deleting things you hated doing definitely helps you feel better lol)
3. Network and Join Resource Groups
As a Latinx Woman, I am personally aware of just how much harder it is for those of us in underrepresented groups to get a job in certain industries and spaces.
In addition, the higher up the totem pole you go, the less it becomes about job boards and more it is about referrals and who knows you.
This is where joining discussion boards, forums and looking for groups filled with the type of professionals you want to connect with come into play.
Audit your web and social group connections to see if there are any you can immediately reach out to for mentorship or advice over a coffee chat
Attend webinars and join events where recruiters or people in roles you are looking for will be present. And if they extend an open invitation to connect - take them up on it!
If you’re in an underrepresented group, look at initiatives that focus on serving as your ally in lifting you up in the workplace and opening more doors. Find out if they have job boards. Do they have resume reviewers, offer seminars and educational programing? Is their reach local or are you looking for more global connections?
Once you discover where the people you want to be connected with are talking, connecting, and sharing information with others like you, don’t be afraid to join the conversation as the expert that you are.
You never know who is reading, watching, and sharing.
Here are some of my personal favorites as a Latinx Woman in Tech:
>Hue
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Use Your Resources
For the longest time, I didn’t want to contribute to the racial statistics associated with those who collect unemployment checks or were on WIC. But after my first layoff I realized that the truth was these temporary resources exist for a reason.
In fact, they were what helped me make it through to where I am today.
(And are what’s now helping me stretch out for a longer time frame as the job market slows down ahead of the holiday season.)
Same goes with taking the occasional odd job here and there, or working part-time.
Maybe you decide to do free pro-bono work for a friend to add something to your portfolio as you continue to connect and work on the bigger picture.
Throw the social stigmas and biases in the trash.
Remember there is no shame in doing what you need to do to get to where you want to be.
On Linkedin alone there are a wealth of resources from people and groups looking to help us get back on our feet as quickly as possible.
Don’t believe me?
Here’s some proof there is good being done all around us.
Survivors Guilt Tips
For the people who struggle with survivor’s guilt and may not know how to best support your peers, here’s some quick suggestions.
Don’t hesitate to add LinkedIn recommendations to their profiles
Offer to help with resume reviews (or to connect them with someone in your network who can)
If asked, be open sharing skills feedback or educational resources that you know can help them improve
Tag recruiters at companies with roles you think they’d be great for on their posts or add comments about an amazing skill they have to help give their post a boost
Share any jobs you see in your network with them based on what you know they’re looking for and see if they’d like an introduction. Be that extra set of eyes and ears.
These are ALL amazing ways to show support as your friends and peers try to find ways to move forward at their own pace.
Layoffs affect everyone as it forces people to redefine relationships (often unexpectedly) so don’t overthink it and ease through the survivor’s guilt with an open heart, mind and ears.
The best one? Just be present as a friend and fellow human being.
Cheers to pushing forward with more than just hope in our hearts.
