Prepare for Layoffs Before you need to

First, we have a little announcement…

In the coming weeks I’ll be launching my new website. We’re still in the early innings, but we got some good things cooking. There will be stuff for everyone, including (but not limited to):

• free resume templates

• free networking templates

• free cover letter templates

• affordable e-books for job seekers (the steps I’ve taken with my candidates to place over 600 of them in 8 years)

• affordable e-books for recruiters (what I’ve done to get to my level of success booking over $3M in profit consistently)

• Live coaching - for both recruiters and job seekers

• Ability to tap into my own professional network (more exclusive here, but free for those who qualify)

More info to come in the next few weeks. But you guys heard it here first ;)

Intro

Seemingly every day we see new headline about more companies laying off their workers.

• Amazon

• Microsoft

• Salesforce

• Alphabet

• And many more…

Layoffs suck. There’s no getting around it. Hopefully it doesn’t happen to any of us. But at the same time, there’s a strong correlation with the types of companies & skillsets that seem more susceptible than others.

The last thing you want to do is pretend everything is fine, life’s good, then a week later you get hit with that calendar invite from your manager and see HR is involved.

Don’t wait until the last minute. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

Let’s start preparing together, now.

Story Time

Let’s use examples of two people. Jane and Joe. They are both software engineers that work in tech at X Tech Company. They’re equally experienced and skilled. They both have the same comp package and do very well for themselves.

Joe see’s the headlines of layoffs in tech, and ignores the warning signs at work. Some of his friends and peers in his network were laid off recently and last year. His company froze hiring, reduced budgets, reduced expenses, and started bringing people back to the office. He ignores them. Life is good, he’s going out for drinks multiple times per week. He’s going out to dinner multiple times per week. He’s going shopping multiple times per week. Recently he signed a new lease for an expensive apartment and a new car.

Jane see’s the same warning signs at her company. She see’s the headlines, and knows some people already effected by layoffs. She starts to get a bit anxious. She starts to cut back her spending (she always lived beneath her means anyways), beefs up her emergency fund, puts together her resume, and starts to reach out to her network.

Both of them end up getting laid off a week later.

Both are obviously in shock. Both take a few days to process what’s happened. But it goes without saying, Jane is in a much better spot than Joe is.

Analysis

Even though they had pretty much the same situation on paper at work, Jane took the proactive mindset and prepared accordingly once she saw the warning signs.

She figured the best case scenario, nothing happens. The worst case scenario, she’d still be upset she was laid off after working so long for X Tech Company, but at least she could sleep well night knowing she put herself in a position to get a head start on her job search.

She already updated her resume so she can apply to jobs in real time. She already tapped into her network, so she can share that resume to connections she’s being introduced to or when her connections refer her into a job. Further, she focused on living beneath her means and beefed up her emergency fund, this way she can bide her time, live with a little less stress while out of work, and ideally accept the right offer, not just the first one.

Joe on the other hand was oblivious to everything. He now has to start his resume from scratch - scrambling what to write and risking leaving out pertinent information, writing it poorly, and rushing to complete it. He hasn’t tapped into his network in a while, so it’s going to take some time catching up with them and getting any traction. He hasn’t focused on his emergency fund, so he’s super stressed and that’s taking a toll on his interviewing capability. He’s forced to accept the first offer he gets although it’s not the best fit.

Red Flags To Watch For

If you’re worried your company might be next to announce layoffs (or if they already did and might announce more), keep an eye out for these steps:

• Industry headlines: what are their competitors doing? If Meta, Salesforce, Amazon, and Microsoft announced layoffs, it was only time before Alphabet/Google started doing so

• Hiring Freezes: Did they stop hiring across the org? Even in their critical business units?

• Layoffs/Restructuring: They may have started laying off people, but you were safe from that. But keep an eye out - did they lay off recruiters (that means they’re not hiring for a while). Did they lay off poor performers or do you know of anyone pretty good that was effected? In terms of restructuring, that’s just another way of saying layoffs are inevitable.

• Expenses: are they keeping an eye out on how much you’re able to expense? Business travel, lunches, dinners, client spending, etc

• Budgets: are budgets being reigned in internally?

• Market Value: has the market value of the company dropped? If you work for a public company, this is pretty easy to figure out via share price. For private, are they bleeding money?

• Projects: New work is being assigned to other people while you are left twiddling your thumbs

• Projects: New projects & moonshots are being canceled or postponed (think all the cloud gaming from google and amazon)

• Mergers or Acquisitions: Were you acquired or merged? Can you objectively say there is duplicate work being done?

• Executives are leaving: they’re the first ones to know sensitive information

• HR / Boss: are they asking you a ton of questions about what you’re working on, what you do? That means they may be preparing on what they need to focus on if they cut you

Call To Action, Next Steps

1. Start updating your resume: Post on all relevant job boards. Start applying for jobs. Have a resume for each type of job/skillset you’re going for.

2. Update your LinkedIn: Top to bottom from headline, about me, work experience, and skills. Make it SEO friendly (similar to a resume) to make it easier for recruiters to find you.

3. Tap into your network: previous colleagues, classmates, alumni, friends/family. Have them refer you into their companies or to other people into their network

4. Accomplishments: Start jotting down your accomplishments. This will help updating your resume in real time when applying for roles; prepare for behavioral interviews and phone screens; and help with imposter syndrome

5. Interview Prep: Start practicing interviews. Behavioral questions with a friend, recorded, or in front of a mirror. For technical interviews, practice white boarding or free coding tests online.

6. Money: if your situation allows, start peeling back spending in the short term. Start beefing up your emergency fund. If your industry/skillset seems to be effected, you don’t know how long you might be without a job

7. Benefits: start looking into how long you’ll have insurance for, if you can get paid out on PTO, etc.