What do you do if you're laid off?

If laid off, don't stress. It happens a lot in all kinds of companies. Take a break and determine how much you spend each month on your family's essential expenses and loan payments. Doing this little bit of homework might reveal some surprising insights into your financial strength. It's important to do this kind of check on your finances every three months. "Don't take any decision in darkness".

If laid off, take time to process emotions but swiftly start networking, updating resume, and applying for jobs. Consider freelancing, consulting, or upskilling via courses. Seek support from professional networks, friends, and family. Financially, create a budget and explore unemployment benefits. Stay resilient, adaptable, and open to new opportunities. Example: After being laid off, John revamped his LinkedIn profile, attended industry events, and landed a contract role. He also used his downtime to learn coding, expanding his skill set for future roles.

Consider how much leeway you have in terms of finances. If it is not more than 1 year start cutting down some non critical costs. The goal is to extend that timeline to a period that you think is needed to find a new job.

Keep your online presence active. If you had online activities related to your subject area, keep them going. You will have to focus on job hunting but do not let it sidetrack you 100% and pull away from the activities you do to stay active in the community and keep yourself up to date.

I think now in 2024 this is become a pretty relevant topic to discuss amongst engineers. The best advice that I've ever gotten is to keep your online presence active as well as your portfolio engaging and up-to-date and documented incredibly well. One of the most important skill sets we have as cloud professionals is our ability to document, and be very specific with our intentions, and very clear on how things work. If you are in the situation where you are laid off this singular skill set is something that another company will value very highly. Take the extra time during the weekend to document what you're learning so if you are ever in a situation where you are laid off, you have a great representation of your capabilities.

When you decide to reach out to people for new job opportunities, be clear on your expectations in terms of the role you are looking for. Do not fall into the desparate mindset and be widely open to any opportunity. That would deminish your professional brand. Even if you need a new job as soon as possible, keep the mindset of a job picker. You are the one that will choose the job you want, not the other way around.

It is imperative to always develop your learning mindset. Continuously creating a learning habit will boost not only confident but also others perspective towards you. Whatever you learn, try to develop a knowledge base too.

Whenever I have been laid off, it has been due to an economic downturn. And though it is difficult to get an opportunity in such circumstances, what always keeps me going is that there is always something I need to learn. I see many people around me who are trying to get an opportunity as well. When I don't get a reply when I apply, I think, let the best person for the job get the job. Volunteering is something which helps me stay positive, then I think, if I had been working, I would perhaps not get the time to do much voluntary work. Either way is a win-win.

Do not sound negative and do not get into the blaming mindset. That would spin negative feelings around your online presence and hence prevent new opportunities to come your way. Life consist of days and nights, sometimes it is dark. Keeping the cycling life in mind, look forward to the next daylight.

When you get into interviews reframe the entire experience and position yourself as the interviewer for an employer. This is not easy to materialize in every position but reminding yourself that you are the one picking an employer is powerful and would change your behavior and stance in a job interview.