What to Do After a Layoff

Layoffs and furloughs are always difficult, but it’s important to take the right steps after you’re let go to get back on the right path. What you do —?and don’t do — after a layoff or furlough can dictate what happens next, says Ebony Joyce , who is known as The Career Clarity Coach, on the latest episode of Get Hired with Andrew Seaman .

Ebony looks beyond the fundamentals of job seeking to tell you about the larger steps to keep in mind after a layoff or furlough. For example, it’s important not to jump right into the process of sending resumes and applications. Take time to figure out what you want to do and where you want to do it, she says. A layoff or furlough is often a chance for people to pivot to a new industry or field.

Additionally, Ebony says to focus on excellence once you do start submitting yourself for jobs. Instead of sending out 100 lackluster applications, she says to focus on sending out fewer to make sure they are high-quality.

Be sure to listen to the episode above. You can also listen to the show wherever you get your podcast or on Apple Podcasts by clicking here .

BONUS: Ebony joined Andrew on #GetHired Live to answer your questions about what to do after a layoff or furlough. can watch a replay of the broadcast by clicking here .

Transcript: What to Do After a Layoff

Andrew Seaman: Losing a job can be emotionally and financially draining, and diving into a job search after you are let go can be overwhelming. So how do you move forward when this happens? We're talking all about it on today's episode. From LinkedIn News, this is Get Hired, a podcast for the ups and downs and the ever-changing landscape of our professional lives. I'm Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn's managing editor for Jobs and Career Development.

So many questions arise when you lose or are let go from a job. Why didn't it work out? Do I have enough savings to get by? What are the next steps in my career? For a lot of people, it can throw them into a funk and you may even feel stuck. Ebony Joyce, who is known as the Career Clarity coach, pulls from her expertise and her own experience to talk about effective strategies for finding your next role. She also breaks down the process into manageable steps that can help make the transition smoother. She joined me to chat about networking, updating your resume and cover letter, and most importantly, taking care of yourself after a layoff. Before we get to today's conversation though, I want to let you know that Ebony will join me on Monday, February 13th at noon Eastern time on Get Hired Live. To go deeper into this topic and answer your questions, you can find the RSVP link for Get Hired Live in the show notes.

Now, back to the conversation. I first wanted to know where Ebony started in her career and what led her into being a career clarity coach.

Ebony Joyce: I started my career out in aerospace and defense, and I was in that space for about five years. And then from there I decided what else is out there. I was trying to find the right fit, so I decided to just take a pause for a moment and really figure out what I wanted to do. Was it the leadership? Was it the lack of autonomy that I had in some organizations? And so I went back and really just did some reflection on all of those roles, and I wanted to really find that ideal career. I'm here because of all of the experiences that I had, and I see so many job seekers who initially would come to me for a resume and I'm like, 'it's not your resume. It really is figuring out what it is that you want to do'.

Andrew: When it comes to what you see in the space right now of job searching and career clarity, what are people sort of struggling with the most? Because we're on the other side of the darkest days of the pandemic, but people still, I think they don't know what to do with themselves.

Ebony: Yeah, I'm seeing that people are just jumping and not really taking the time to figure out what it is they want to do. And a lot of people use their experience from their past to determine their future. If this is my last employer, so I have to do this at the future employer, versus like, no, I don't have to do any of these things. I can do something completely new and tie my interests and my strengths and my talents into this new role. I can really create my own path.

Andrew: And that's why I wanted to really speak with you today about layoffs because there are obviously a growing number of layoffs. Where do you suggest people start after a layoff? Because there's so many people who probably think there's some cost principle where they say, my degree's in X, I've always worked in X, and that's what I have to keep doing because I've spent so much time there.

Ebony: Yes. It's so funny you say pause because that is the first thing, but I even want to go back a step. I want to first define what a layoff means. Layoffs are very unexpected, so it leaves us in this vulnerable state, and most of the times don't mean anything about you. It's that the business has decided to let people go. It's tens of thousands of people getting laid off. It's like, can we really explain why? So I think we first need to identify that our jobs are personal, but it's also business. So it is again, completely unexpected. It has nothing to do with you, your work performance, who you are as a person, who you are as a professional.

Andrew: I think that's so important because a lot of people, they do think layoffs are personal. I've talked to friends and family who we're some of the top salespeople at their companies and they found themselves laid off and they sort of say, "But I don't understand it. I was bringing in so much money". There's so many different factors, and they could be looking ahead maybe a year and saying, "we need to cut our headcount and this is the area of business that we don't need anymore". It's rarely personal.

Ebony: Yeah. My father started working in US Steel Mill back in 1971 before I was ever born, but I talked to him about this. I remember him being laid off multiple times growing up, and he said the first time he got laid off was in 1973. Layoffs are not new. He was laid off multiple times. So it's something that has been going on since the beginning of time and will continue to go on. It's not personal, it is business. So once we get there, then I think the first thing to do is pause. There's going to be this shock because it is unexpected and you're going to go through those phases. It's grief, it's just like any other loss. So I always say pause, process and then find the perspective. So this is that time to really figure out what is it that I want to do? Do I want to switch careers? Do I want to finish that degree that maybe I started a few years ago? So the first thing is to pause before you start to do anything else. And I know that can be difficult for a lot of people.

Andrew: And a lot of people, they think they need to just go directly, like you said, into that job search mode. But really there's so many things that should happen before that. I know we have people that listen from around the world, but if you live in the United States or you have a system similar to the United States, apply for unemployment if you're eligible for it. A lot of people, they're like, "oh, I'm too proud to go on unemployment". And I always tell them, "no, you've paid into this because you pay into unemployment in case you lose your job someday and then you get payments because you paid into it". It's insurance actually, that's why they literally call it unemployment insurance. And then obviously you might need to get a bridge job. I'm always conscious when we talk about job searching, there's a lot of privilege that comes into play in people being able to take time to figure out what they want to do.

There's a lot of privilege in being able to sit down and say, I'm going to take courses or something like that. And some people, they need to have a job. They don't have savings. So there's nothing wrong with taking a bridge job, which is just a job to get you to the next one. I think it's important to say a bridge job is completely understandable, and that does not exclude you from doing this work in the evenings or on weekends or something like that. You could do both. So just because you have a bridge job doesn't mean that strategizing about your job search or your career is not applicable to you.

Ebony: Yeah, because after you take a pause, the second thing you want to do is check your financial health. Let's look at our bank accounts, let's look at our monthly spending. Let's see if we have an emergency fund. And again, like you said, if you don't, then you're like, 'Hey, I need to find something immediately', whether it's a side hustle or something for that quick income. That's where I would say that bridge job, which could be a contract position or a part-time role or something in the evenings to help you kind of fill in that gap where you need to. And then I'm going to say, make your new budget, because now that your income is different, you need to figure out where is the unnecessary spending coming in. So that would be the second thing when we're talking about checking our financial health. And then in that, I also want to include our severance. So did you get a severance pay? Are you going to consider health insurance options, whether that be COBRA or some private insurance? But those are also some of the other things you want to do when you check into your financial health.

Andrew: Yeah, definitely. So once you get your budget figured out, you take that pause and you process, how do you go through the process of figuring out what's next? How do you figure out which path you need to take?

Ebony: I always say that this is the time to start putting yourself back out there. Layoffs are tough, and it can be difficult to put yourself out there because it's this embarrassment of not having a role or not having a job. And this is where conversations are very important because as you start to communicate with your network friends and family and you let them know, people can help you to narrow down your path to identify some of those things that you are interested in. So this is where those informational interviews come into play and can really be helpful. So at this point, start to get back out there, make referrals a priority. It's crucial to start to build or nurture the network you already have. Start making those phone calls starting with your immediate circle, and then from there, starting to meet new people and build new relationships.

Andrew: And also I think a lot of times people are overly concerned about being out of work or at least not being on their career trajectory for 2, 3, 4 months. But really that is not that long of a gap when it comes to a career. So if you need to take that time to do the informational interviews to really talk to people in your industry to figure out what you want to do, it's okay to take that time, right?

Ebony: Oh yeah, absolutely. I think that when people don't take the time on the front end, they end up taking the time on the back end and it cost them so much more in the long run in their careers. And then you end up somewhere that you're very unhappy because you were so in a rush to jump and not really take yourself into consideration. What is it that I need? What is it that my family need? What are my priorities? What are my values? You never know what's going to happen when you start to put yourself out there and just being open to some of those things.

Andrew: What's your advice for actually getting clear on what you want to do?

Ebony: Yeah, I'm always like the first step is to identify. Identify your skillsets, identify your gaps, identify your values. There's so much you have to identify. What do you like? If a position requires you to do presentations 90% of the time and you're like, "I do not like public speaking", that's probably not the position for you. Again, identify areas and interests that you work best in. And then once you identify, you can start to investigate because every industry is different. Right now a lot of people want to go into tech. Well, if you look at a role inside tech, you can look at that same role in a nonprofit or you can look at it in a different industry and it's completely different. So this is where investigating is very important and having conversations with people who are in those roles and who do those things that you're very interested in. And so narrowing down the industry, narrowing down the roles so that you can start to have those conversations with those individuals. And then you can say, yes, no, or maybe so.

Andrew: Like you said, informational interviews, talking to your friends and family. And I think people sometimes they forget about that step. And also your former coworkers, because those people, they have that outside perspective, and I think that can inform a lot of what you do next because they have that outside perspective of how you actually work in the moment.

Ebony: Yeah, this is where that reflection is very important. I think that even happened for me in my career. Things come easier to us than we realize. So for me, it was like, 'oh, I can do a resume'. And someone's like, 'Hey, how did you do it?' I'm like, 'oh, bada bing, bada boom, here you go'. And they're like, 'oh, wow, you made that so easy'. And I'm just like, 'oh, yeah, it's nothing', right? I didn't see that skillset in myself, and people are like, you know you can charge people to do their resume. I'm like, who wants to pay someone to do their resume? I never in a million years thought that that was a career. And so I think that the things that you're good at don't come as easy or as natural to other people. So those are skillset sets that you may want to tap into.

Andrew: We're going to take a quick break. When we get back, Ebony talks about maintaining a routine and positive mindset while searching for a new job.

Andrew: And we're back with Ebony Joyce. So we've already gone through a few important steps that you should take after a layoff, but there's more to it. Specifically, it's important to pace yourself when job searching to present your best self to potential employers. Also, don't forget to make time for you. Here's Ebony Joyce.

Ebony: I tell people, you can't apply for 100 jobs and do those in excellence. And excellence and average can't live in the same home. So if I said, 'do 10 jumping jacks'. You can do those, great. But if I told you to do 100, you're like, 'okay'. After a while, you start getting lazy, you get out of breath. As these things start to happen, it's like how many can you do in excellence? If you can only do three or four today in excellence, then you come back tomorrow and you can do three to four more. You really want to make sure you're protecting your mental health. And so some of the reasons why I say that is you can get out and volunteer. You can acquire a new skillset volunteering and being in your community, all of your work doesn't have to be paid experience.

So it's like what did you do while you were volunteering that you can now talk about as you go into your next interviews and utilize that as a skillset. But it really is creating that routine. But I know a lot of people want to get on and stay on LinkedIn and all the places and look for jobs 24/7 and start rage applying, and that's just not good for our mental health. So creating that schedule, giving yourself, that's time to say, 'I'm going to check my emails one time in the morning, one time in the afternoon, and one time in the evening'. 'I'm going to spend X amount of time on LinkedIn'. 'I'm going to spend X amount of time networking'. Really creating the schedule versus trying to go so fast and so hard so quickly that you burn yourself out. So it's always about, for me, creating a good balance in how much time do I want to spend on these particular activities.

Andrew: I think so many people can use that now because they might have that time and it is good to take time off and sort of have fun, but also when that stretches into a week, two weeks, three weeks, then sometimes you're like, 'okay, we need to shake this up a little bit'.

Ebony: Yeah, I mean, get out and meet people. Take online courses, do something with your time. If it's the time for you to pick up a new hobby, do that.

Andrew: But something that happens with a layoff is a lot of times people, they still have that trauma in their head of, 'they didn't want me at my last job, they got rid of me', and they bring that into their interviews. How do you suggest people overcome that?

Ebony: So I always tell people that 20% of the job search is strategy, the other 80% is mindset. Doesn't matter if you got laid off or whatever it is, because people really have a difficult time seeing themselves in the way that other people see them. It's the way you articulate your value. We deal with workplace PTSD, we have toxic work environments, and we have workplace baggage. And so when we go into another role, it's just like any other relationship. If you've ever been in a relationship, you have baggage. And so you're bringing that to your next employer, how do you want to handle that? We have those mindset blocks that we have to get over before we can really truly go into the workplace. I mean, go into those interviews, yeah, there are some insecurities that when people ask you some of those interview questions that bring up those things. So it's like you really have to deal with the mindset before you can go back into that job search. That's why you have to take that pause and take those moments and those times for yourself before you go back in because you don't want to carry that with you.

Andrew: Yeah, I couldn't agree more because there are so many situations when people ask me, how do you overcome ageism? How do you overcome this? And a lot of times it sounds almost patronizing in a way, but it's basically own it because you're going to have to tell your story. And the more you own your positive attributes and see your strengths even if you think that they might be perceived as weaknesses, that is often how you really sell yourself in an interview.

Ebony: Yes. I love all of that. It's so important that you say that because like you mentioned, bring it with you. I bring the fact that I'm a woman with me. I bring the fact that I'm a person of color into the interview with me. You have to bring those things with you because those influence who you are as a person and can bring the organization so much value. So regardless of what you think that is, how do you turn what you may consider or what you may even think other people consider a weakness. How do you turn it into a strength? How can you use what you do have as a value to the organization?

Andrew: Yeah, I completely agree. And something I also wanted to ask you about was the sense of community, because I think that's also something that comes with the idea of being laid off. People, they tie so much of their personality or their identity to their job that if you're not happy in your job, you don't want to really tell people because it's like, oh, there's this big part of you that is flawed in some way, or you are laid off and you don't want to ask for help because you got this. And I think you're doing yourself a disservice when you don't actually bring people into your job search or your career because it's a much more lonely process and really I think it's better to build a community around you, right?

Ebony: Yeah. I think that we believe that our careers are supposed to be done in silos. So I really hope that as a society, we are starting to realize that it does take a community. It takes a village, like we say with kids, right? It takes the same thing throughout your career. So no one has done their career alone. I know that we may like to think that we have, but that's just not something that we should do. Start to utilize your community a little more.

Andrew: And sometimes when people ask me after they're laid off what my suggestion is to them, I always tell them, reach out to your colleagues who were also laid off. Because you have a built-in sort of support system there where all of you need a little bit of help right now. Maybe someone gets a job at a new company, but they also have four other positions that need to be filled.

Ebony: I agree with that completely. I tell people you can't apply for 100 jobs and do those in excellence. And excellence in average can't live in the same home. So if I said, do you know 10 jumping jacks. You could do those, great. But if I told you to do 100, you're like, okay. After a while, you start getting lazy. You get out of breath, these things start to happen. It's like, how many can you do in excellence? If you can only do three or four today in excellence, then you come back tomorrow, you can do three to four more.

Andrew: Well, thank you so much, Ebony.

Ebony: Thank you so much. Always happy to be here.

Andrew: That was Ebony Joyce, known as the Career Clarity Coach. Remember, it's up to you to put our advice into practice. Still, you always have a community backing you up and cheering you on. Connect with me and the Get Hired community on LinkedIn to continue this conversation. In fact, join Ebony and me on Get Hired Live on Monday, February 13th at noon Eastern Time with your questions. You can find the RSVP link in today's show notes. Also, if you liked this episode, leave us a rating on Apple podcast. It helps people like you find the show. And of course, we'll continue this conversation next week right here, wherever you like to listen. Also, if you liked this episode, leave us a rating on Apple podcast. It helps people like you find the show. And of course, we'll continue this conversation right here next week, wherever you like to listen. Get Hired is a production of LinkedIn News. This episode was produced by Alexis Ramdau. Assaf Gidron engineered our show. Joe DiGiorgi mixed our show. Dave Pond is head of news production. Courtney Coupe is head of original programming for LinkedIn. Dan Roth is the editor-in-chief of LinkedIn. And I am Andrew Seaman. Until next time, stay well and best of luck.