What to do when you’re laid off

Losing your job is scary, but we’re going to tell you exactly what to do when you’re laid off.

Hopefully this never happens to you, but if it does, take a step back and relax.

Getting laid off is not the end of the world and you will get back on your feet.

All it takes is following our step by step guide on what to do when you’re laid off.

March 2, 2024 by Kazu Fujimoto

Take the rest of the day you find out to relax

The first thing on what to do when you’re laid off is that you need to take a breather. This is horrible news and will take some time to process. Don’t worry about anything else, but just take time to decompress.

You will get through this if you follow the rest of the steps of what we’ve laid out for you.

The very first thing that you need to do is take a few deep breaths and just sit. Maybe you might need to cry or scream or shout. You might even feel like you need to hit something or bang your desk.

This is all 100% normal and you need time to process such shocking news.

Once you find out, go for a walk, treat yourself out to your favorite food, go marinate on the sofa.

Take as much time as you need to get through this.

Do not feel guilty about not applying to jobs right away, you’re human and need to process this.

Apply for unemployment

Once you’ve finished processing your emotions, the next step in what to do when you’re laid off is to apply for unemployment.

If you live in the US, refer to your State’s process on how to apply for unemployment.

Get all your documentation ready. We hope at this point that you really took time to process, because getting back on track to finding a job will not be easy. Finding a job will be doable, but it won’t be easy.

Make sure you have the documentation covered as this process for applying for unemployment gets pretty tedious.

Brush up your resume

This is the perfect time to brush up your resume if you haven’t already.

See our recommendation on what the best resume format is and use that as a guideline to fill yours out.

Add your recent accomplishments, skills that you’ve developed at your most recent job, and make sure to include quantitative results such as metrics on your resume.

Make sure your resume has:

• Keywords
• ATS optimized
• Clean and concise
• Quantitative results and accomplishments
• Simple format

And you will be in the Top 1% of your competition.

Make sure you don’t include unnecessary fluff such as corporate jargon in your resume.

We don’t care about these types of items on your resume because anyone can write them and anyone can claim that they have those “soft skills”.

Set a healthy routine

When you get laid off from your job, you lose a lot of the structure in your day to day life.

You may be used to working from 9-5 or 6-4.

When you lose your job, you lose that reason to get up in the morning. The sense of urgency of getting out of bed and getting ready for work just goes away. This is a very dangerous chance for you to completely mess up your schedule.

Our recommendation on setting a health routine regarding what to do when you’re laid off is to keep the same working hours.

You’re going to be spending those working hours on efforts to look for a job.

These efforts to look for a job will consist of:

• Applying to jobs
• Networking
• Filling our your resume
• Writing cover letters to supplement your job
• Interview prep
• Optimizing your LinkedIn

Your new full time job is going to be looking for a job, and as a result, you’re going to be doing the above in these hours.

We understand that it may be mentally draining to keep your schedule, but do the best you can.

Take breaks and recover

Try to be self aware when you’re figuring out what to do when you’re laid off.

During your work hours, you may find yourself exhausted and unmotivated to search for a job.

This is also normal and when you find yourself in this state, just stop what you’re doing, take a breather and go for a walk.

A walk is a great way to clear your head, especially when there’s so much running on your mind.

Also learn how to slow things down.

You might be focused on doing everything really fast when it comes to finding a job, but when you do this, life just goes away at you too fast.

Make sure you take the time to be present in your job search.

Of course, you will be going through sprints at times to get things done, but make sure you understand when it is that you need to take your foot off the gas pedal.

Reach out to friends and family

Make sure to reach out to your friends and family.

In cases like these, it’s really helpful to have a support system to back you up.

Your family and friends will help you get through alot in life, and getting laid off is no exception.

Don’t rely too much on yourself to carry all the burden, you have friends and family there to support you.

Reach out to network

Leverage your existing network as much as possible.

This can be from the restaurants you frequent all the way to the gyms you go to.

Hobbies and sports such as golf, surfing, climbing, hiking, running, and going to the gym are great ways to build upon your existing network.

Reach out to those around you and tell them that you got laid off, they might just let you know that an opening came up in one of their workplaces.

Sometimes, you find opportunities in the places and times you least expect them.

Apply to as many jobs as possible

Once you brush up your resume, apply to as many jobs as possible.

Apply to the jobs that you’re remotely qualified for, even if you don’t meet all the qualifications.

Make sure that your resume is ATS optimized and you’ll have no issues getting past the initial applicant screening.

Remember, job hunting is a numbers game.

You will need to apply to hundreds of jobs to hear back at times.

Don’t let this discourage you and understand that this is part of the process.

Keep track of your job applications using a spreadsheet

You should be keeping track of all the job applications you’ve submitted a resume to in your job search.

You should track:

• When you applied to a job
• What the website link of the job application was
• The resume that you used for the job
• Additional information such as recruiter or hiring manager

Keeping track of your specific metrics such as number of job interviews and number of job applications sent out will help you be more accountable in your job search.

This also makes it easy to track how you’ve been doing, and you can make systematic adjustments as needed based on the feedback you get.