Fast Company's Layoff Survival Guide

Welcome to?Fast?Company?Daily, our daily newsletter on?LinkedIn. Today, we're taking a deep dive into the recent layoffs and how you can survive in any situation.

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The Layoff Survival Guide

You’ve likely read (and been inundated with) all the headlines about company layoffs. But the reasoning behind them may be a bit more obscure.

We're diving into the how and why behind the seemingly endless slew of layoffs in this special edition of?Fast Company's?daily LinkedIn newsletter.

Fast Company?columnist and the author of The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki recently shined a light on what appears to be the?magic number of pink slips ?for some companies (looking at you tech giants).

“The fact that tech companies are cutting back is not surprising. The industry embarked on a hiring spree during the pandemic, and the slowdown in the digital advertising market and anxiety about a possible recession, coupled with the big hit to tech companies’ stock prices last year, has made “efficiency” a new preoccupation of tech CEOs.

But what is interesting, and perplexing, is the fact that so many of these CEOs have decided that when it comes to layoffs,?about 6% of the workforce is a magic number. ”

If you are among those who remain with your employer, a sense of survivor’s guilt is a real thing. Not to mention feeling kind of?fed up with full-time work . There are a few?ways to cope , and there are certainly a variety of thoughtful?ways to talk to those who’ve been let go .

Taking proactive steps to “cushion” your career doesn’t hurt either.

You can find out how,?here .

Finally, no survival guide would be complete without tips, tactics, and real talk about how to take that crucial next step:

• If you do get laid off, remember?it's not your fault.
• These are the?top skills that will get you hired ?this year.
• Go write a?standout resume ?and send out these?super important emails .
• Get ready to?ace the most common interview questions ?and take care not to?sabotage your likeability ?when you’re talking to a hiring manager.
• Then, brush up on?building your resilience ?so you can weather anything else that comes your way.

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