How To Quickly Rebound From A Layoff

Losing a job is one of the most stressful events in life. Unfortunately, most people are unprepared for this life-changing news. Last year, employers laid off 321,970 people, reports Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. In the first six months of 2022, 179,506 were out of work. Ellen was HR manager in a medium-sized company. Desperate, she called and asked for career help. She had just been fired from her 12-year-old employer. Ellen was shocked, finding it difficult to accept that this had happened to her. “I’m a committed employee,” she says. “I’ve worked long hours during the pandemic and now I realize my loyalty means nothing. i feel so betrayed I got depressed. I’m 59 years old so I’m worried that my age will prevent me from finding a new job and I have to work,” she said, her voice panicking.

When the job ends like this, it takes some time to process this loss. You’re likely to experience a whole range of feelings: fear, isolation, loss of identity and loss of trust, depression, and some trepidation. Try writing down the emotions and give yourself a few days to recover. There is one mistake you must not make. Be very careful not to burn ties with your boss or former employer, no matter how angry you are. Avoid complaining on social media. A VP of Recruiting shared that she was ready to submit a job offer and visited a candidate’s LinkedIn profile. She read the latest posts he had made and some were very critical of his former employer. Because of this, he lost the high-paying job she was trying to offer him.

As a career counselor with decades of experience, I shared something with Ellen that helped put her mind at ease. If you find yourself suddenly unemployed, now is the best time to do so. Why? It’s a mecca for job seekers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks the time the unemployed stay out of work. The average duration of unemployment was 7.5 weeks between leaving a job and starting a new one. That’s remarkable considering what it was like a few years ago when it took at least five to six months to get a new job. So rethink and focus on this opportunity to get a better, higher paying job.

Your new job will likely come with a raise — and a big one at that. The biggest pay jumps almost always occur when you leave a job and take a new one. CNBC reports that the typical increase is now around 10%. Yet when you talk to recruiters trying to hire new employees, they all complain that it takes a big raise to get people to take their job offers. They report that the average worker today if they change jobs is likely to get a pay rise of between 15% and 35%. Unfortunately, the exact figures that employers are paying today are not included in the salary data available on the internet. Whether you’re a Baby Boomer, Millennial, Xer, or GenZer, hiring managers report that people at all levels start out with better salaries than they left. Unemployment does not seem to affect the salary offered.

Know your true worth

You have marketable talent that other employers would be interested in. Make a self-assessment of your achievements, the knowledge you have acquired and, most importantly, the achievements and results you have achieved in previous positions. To begin your job search, define your true value as an employee performing your type of job. You may worry that you were overpaid only to find out you were underpaid. For example, a fired Boeing engineer said he didn’t know what his skills were worth to other employers. He researched the topic and found salary surveys and detailed salary data on Payscale.com that were insightful. As a result, he landed a new position at Hewlett-Packard that paid him $20,000 more than his previous salary.

Networking is the best strategy for job hunting

Connections are key. Make sure you use LinkedIn to connect with all former managers, colleagues, suppliers, clients, friends, customers, etc. They are important sources of insider information and knowledge about job opportunities. LinkedIn has made networking easy, so you can connect and send a personal message. A great strategy is to ask a colleague for a recommendation to their employer by forwarding your resume to the hiring manager. Recommended applicants always receive increased attention. For more details, see the Forbes.com article Here Is A LinkedIn Secret Weapon To Land A Job.

One of the country’s top job search strategists, newsletter and blog writer Hannah Morgan, shared her top hiring advice.

“Uncovering the hidden job market on LinkedIn,” says Morgan. “An impressive LinkedIn profile is the place to start. Make sure recruiters find you by creating a more compelling headline instead of the default one listing your current job title. Customize your headline to spell out the type of roles you’re looking for and to indicate specific expertise. When creating your profile, use the LinkedIn About Me section to tell your story. Provide the type of information you would use in a cover letter or how you would answer this question, Tell me about yourself? Write the “About” section in the first person, which means you use “I” in this section.”

Morgan continued, “Sell yourself effectively by writing about your work experience on LinkedIn. Take credit where credit is due. State specifically how the employer benefited from it. Did you save time or money? Did you create something new? Don’t just list the job title, employer name, and dates of employment. Be sure to outline the results you’ve achieved from your work in your current and previous roles.” See How to Write an Impressive LinkedIn Work Experience Section for additional guidance.

Maintain a positive attitude and be able to describe why you are the right person for the job in an interview. Demonstrate the value you would bring with specific details about the results you have achieved in the past and how this potential employer would benefit from hiring you.