How To Effectively Mobilize A Job Search After Being Laid Off

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You've been laid-off – not fired. This can happen for many reasons, such as a buyout, restructuring, company relocation, or general budgetary downsizing. Being laid-off is a shock to the system; from the moment you hear the word "transition" to the day you walk out the door for the last time, is general numbness. Unless you have the time to find a new job before your current one ends (more on that below), it is not uncommon to start your new life in justifiable paralysis. Hopefully, this list of tips, informed by personal experience, helps you mobilize for your next big thing.

• Let the emotions happen. It is never pleasant when the hammer falls; including 900 employees laid off by a CEO on Zoom right before the holidays - talk about a shock to the system! One moment you're employed, the next you're not; the opposite happens too. You've been laid off, but your end date is far away, and you walk around with a pink slip in your back pocket. People respond to a professional "separation" differently. Relief. Anger. Fear. Anxiety. A little of each? Allow yourself to feel however you are going to feel. Try your best to conduct yourself with dignity and professionalism (no easy task under some circumstances) and, if you're part of a mass layoff, help each other out.

• Assess your current situation. At some point, you must set your emotions aside and conduct an objective assessment of the reality of your finances. Run the numbers. How much money are you owed? How much severance will you get? Get a rough idea of your financial cushion. If possible, have an employment attorney or someone familiar with employment law review your termination agreement. Make sure you understand the potential trade-offs if you sign the document. For example, if there is a non-compete clause that will play a role in how you game-plan your next step. Review existing employment agreements to make sure the company is not in breach.

• Get your references lined up. You may have to work quickly but line up as many high-level references as possible. You have two advantages. First, from a perception perspective, it matters in the market that you're laid off and not fired. People are more willing to say nice things about you when you're laid-off rather than fired. Second, you can leverage more and higher-level references. You may be able to get references you would not be able to get otherwise. Ask and you may receive. And use your LinkedIn profile to cast a wide net for your Recommendations section.

• Build your timeline – and stick to it! Layoffs are often both dramatic and traumatic. If the lead-up was a classic case of a long time coming, you may be burnt out. It is in this space you may be faced with a difficult decision. What if someone reaches out to you and wants you to slide into a new job – no loss of income, no worrying about what comes next, no risk? Think carefully about what you need. You may lose mind share in the marketplace if you take time off, but maybe you should. Only you can decide that. If you take time off, practice self-care and build in wellness time. Your mental health is a critical factor in finding a new job or launching a new business (or whatever endeavor you undertake). If you're burnt out, you're not going to stick to your timeline, which you must do because your timeline works in tandem with a financial plan to fund it.

• Optimize your resources. Build a detailed financial plan for your timeline. Many layoffs happen when there is a general downturn in the economy, which may make it more difficult to find a new job than in a healthy economy. Even if you take time off and expect to be employed well within the constraints of your financial plan, you just never know. Reduce your expenses. If that means canceling your annual trip to Bali, cancel it. Maximize revenue. If that means filing for unemployment, file for unemployment. Amortize your severance to cover your baseline expenses. Pick up extra income where you can.

• Take advantage of any outplacement services your company offers you. Outplacement services give the newly unemployed a structured way to jump-start a job search and can include help with your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profiles, references, interview skills, and generally developing your professional brand. Don't wait. Take advantage of any help your company offers during your exit, especially outplacement services.

• Build and nurture communication with current/past co-workers. It's all about who you know. Your professional network is a web of people, most of whom are willing to help you out. In turn, you should help them out. The world of online job postings is relatively new. Until the 1990s, people found out about jobs by word of mouth, and listings were in the newspaper. Word of mouth can be better than all the online job boards combined. You can get juicy and solid job leads through your professional network as well as other perks, like a referral or recommendation Likewise, referrals inside a target company can often move things forward by contacting Human Resources or the hiring manager to check on the status of your application, in a way that you can’t.

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Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching is a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email us at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or reach us via the website, www.insidercs.com.

How Picky Should I Be When Deciding Whether To Accept A Job?

iStock | Bulat Silvia

The Great Resignation is on. Workers demand more from employers, vote with their feet if they don't get what they want, and are picky about what they do next. There is no worker shortage. There are too many bad jobs. If you're a job seeker, your time is now.

You may feel like you're missing out on this shift and leaving potential opportunities unexplored. How do you get a seat on this gravy train? During economic upturns and pro-labor job markets, it's natural for restless professionals to wonder how green the grass is on the other side. If you join the ranks of professionals on the move, at some point, you will receive a job offer and face the dilemma – accept the offer or not.

Personal circumstances vary. Depending on your specific situation, whether or not to accept a job offer may be a super easy decision or one you struggle to make. Just because it's a favorable job market today does not mean it will stay that way indefinitely. That adds pressure to each decision. You don't want to squander the goldilocks timing, but you also don't want to settle. Those days are over.

Let's start with the most obvious factor. What is your financial state? If you're sitting on a nest egg, you have more options and less risk than workers who live check to check. If that egg is big enough, you may want to be part of the Great Resignation and resign from the job you no longer want. Should you? If you jump instead of quit, you have the advantage of a job search while already employed. You have more bargaining power, you can leave your nest egg intact, and financial obligations will not have an undue influence on your decisions. You may have the latitude to be picky.

The next step is to conduct an objective assessment of your position in the job market. Yes, it's ripe for professionals right now, but is it ripe for you? If you want to be picky about job offers, you need job offers! There are many ways to go about this, but to get the process rolling, you may consider these questions:

1.     What type of move do you want to make – upward, lateral, or a new field altogether?

2.     How much experience do you bring to the table?

3.     What are typical compensation packages for the job you want in your area? (Payscale.com)

4.     Will additional education help you reach your goals?

5.     What can you afford to do?

Your answers to the above questions should indicate how picky you can be when considering job offers. For example, if you are a recent graduate, you will judge a job offer with a different set of criteria than someone further along in their career looking to make a lateral move. A younger worker may sacrifice overall compensation for valuable professional development, whereas an established professional may weigh factors like work-life balance with more discretion.

Next, think about and write down what you want from a new job – salary, benefits, location, title – everything. If you're feeling bold, rank them. Put any deal breakers at the top. When you get a job offer, compare the deal points to your list. Where does it fall? Where are the gaps? This practice may help you decide whether or not to accept, negotiate, or pass.

If an offer meets your initial list of expectations, weigh any mitigating circumstances. There always seems to be at least one major curveball. For example, relocation is a big one. Maybe your dream job is a 45-minute commute that impacts your child care. Or the offer is from a start-up. The work is challenging and exciting, but will the company be around in a year? These are the difficult decisions that carry inherent risks. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer.  

If a job offer makes it this far, it's time to do a deep dive into the company. Even though the job market is dynamite right now and the press goes bonkers for every story about major companies increasing worker salaries and perks, bad employers have not gone away. Start with  Glassdoor.com and continue your research from there. Note positive feedback and red flags. Build a profile of the company.

Moving jobs is a major life-altering decision. From the employer's perspective, hiring someone is a major company-altering decision. None of this is easy. Regardless of how picky you are about job offers, how you pass on one is critical. Your goal should be to keep the door open with the company, hiring manager(s), and recruiter ­– be polite and gracious. Even if you would never consider working for a particular business, you never know where the people with whom you've interacted will end up.

Be cordial, friendly, and professional. Whatever you do, do not ghost the company or send an impersonal email. If you get on the phone with the point person and have a well-thought-out and respectful discussion about your decision, your professional network and reputation will most likely improve. One day, the pendulum will swing back to employers, and it will be their turn to be picky, and if you treat everyone along the way with dignity and respect, it doesn't hurt your standing.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Uh, Oh – I Made A Mistake And Just Took A Really Bad Job. What Do I Do?

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You did it! You rolled up your sleeves, applied for a new job, and landed a sweet new gig!

On your first day, you arrive excited to tackle your news duties and start your new life. However, as the day progresses, you realize something at your new company is wrong. Very wrong, and by the time you're pulling out of the parking lot, you reach the sobering conclusion that you have made a dire mistake by accepting this job.

In the days that follow, events at work confirm your worst fears. Your sweet new gig is toxic. Deadlines are impossible. Everybody’s angry all the time. Your co-workers look at you with a mix of sympathy and sadness typically reserved for the terminally ill and, when pressed, admit they have one foot out the door. It is clear the job is not a good fit for you, and the staff's consensus is the company's toxic work environment is institutionalized and not likely to improve any time soon. What do you do?

Relationships are complex, and your job is a relationship. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers to what you should do, and there are no guarantees for the future. Only you can determine what is the best path forward. With that said, here are some factors to consider if your new job turns out to be a nightmare.

1.     Should you stay or should you go? This is your livelihood. You must be decisive because time is of the essence. If you leave a job in a few weeks or months, it will be but a minor blip on your resume. If you are in a toxic work situation and have the resources to jump, you should do it - and now is the time. In the current labor market, employees have the leverage, but the pendulum can swing the other way in an instant. Otherwise, you may spend an unhappy year becoming increasingly disengaged and risk termination, which is a more difficult professional story to tell, while risking a deep melancholy in the process.

2.     Can you stick it out until something comes up? If you do not have the resources to quit your job, you have to find a way to stick it out while searching for another position. Besides, it's really not a myth that it's easier to find a job when you're already in one – employers tend to favor candidates who are currently employed. Use your job search to help you cope with whatever daily miseries you must endure. While you remain at your toxic job, identify areas of valuable professional and personal development that can help you down the road. Do your best work. Don't slack off. Document your achievements for upcoming interviews. You cannot change the toxic environment, but you can focus on work that is potentially beneficial to you in the future.

3.     Do you have a second choice that is still an option? If you had multiple job offers during your search – or even just a positive interview experience that never came to fruition – you can revisit a company you turned down. You may get some slack and additional hurdles put in your way, but if this is an option, you should consider exploring it.

4.     Is the door still open at your previous company? If you left your last job on good terms with your employer (ALWAYS a good idea…), you may be able to return – if that is something you would want to do and they want you back. This option has risks; if you return to your old job after a brief stint at another one, you are locked in for a while, and leaving a second time would be disastrous for your professional reputation.

5.     Mount your search. When faced with difficult circumstances, there is a risk of paralysis rationalized as prudence and patience. It's easier to "see where things go" than roll up your sleeves again and plunge back into a job search (especially when the last one ended in disaster). Resist the temptation to take half measures. Start immediately. Make time every day. Your dream job is out there. Go get it.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.