The Ultimate 5-Step Guide: How to Get Job Interviews and Offers After Being Laid Off

This is a special series sharing insights, tips, and actions you can implement when searching for a job — whether leaving your current one or due to a recent layoff.

Over the past decade I have navigated a career amongst large corporations like Deloitte exceeding over 415,000 professionals globally to small venture-backed startups like Clubhouse with only 19 team members.

After transitioning between 5 different employers and navigating two layoffs, I am often approached for any tips or guidance that I could share with how I landed my next role.

There are so many factors across industries and professional focus, that I felt it would be most helpful to lean into my own professional network to develop a playbook that you could adapt to your own situation.

The Loneliness of a Layoff

As I write this, I can still remember the loneliness I felt after my first layoff. I was only a few years out of college, and failed to realize how closely tied my identity was to my profession.

I felt worthless.

Stripped from the crutch of my career, I felt like I had no sense of direction. Each step I took forward was followed with a faint “Are you sure?” echoing in my head.

Years later I found myself taken back to a similar place after experiencing a second layoff. As I searched for what to do next, I realized I was still unable to find a comprehensive guide that I could lean on to provide the confidence that assured me that I was taking the right steps.

Over the past few months, I have had conversations with friends, family, and others in my professional network to identify the key steps that should give you the best shot to jumpstart your search in applying and getting multiple job offers.

Hopefully you find this guide helpful regardless if you’re just starting your career or someone that is a seasoned professional looking for your next Director role.

The Ultimate 5-Step Guide

Phase 1: Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right — Getting into the right headspace 🧠

Part 1: You are more valuable than you think 🤓
Part 2: It’s a marathon, not a sprint 👟
Part 3: Develop a routine 🗓️

Phase 2: How you do anything is how you do everything — Preparing your toolkit 🛠️

Part 4: Top 3 Tips for Making a Great Resume
Part 5: How to Make an All-Star LinkedIn Profile in 5 Steps
Part 6: How to Answer Interview Questions – Create Amazing Stories

Phase 3: Your network is your net worth — Finding job opportunities 🔎

Part 7: Top 3 Tips for How to Find Job Opportunities Faster
Part 8: The 10 Ways I Grow and Maintain My Network
Part 9: How to Get a Job Fast by Building Your Job App Machine
Part 10: Fastest Ways to Getting Job Application Noticed

Phase 4: Always be closing — How to win the interview 🏆

Part 11: How to Prepare for an Interview
Part 12: 9 Things You Should Do In An Interview

Phase 5: Keeping your job — How to prevent ever having to look again 🎁

Part 13: Prevent Being In Between Jobs

Step 1: Process Everything Before Diving Back In

When the layoff happens, it can feel like a punch to the gut.

It’s not a “you” problem.

The reality is that companies make strategic decisions that have nothing to do with your individual performance.

A layoff was a tool that executives used to course correct.

That has nothing to do with you.

The Power of Getting a Good Night’s Sleep

There will be a lot running through your mind… but one of the most important things is getting a great night’s sleep.

Why rest first?

Because everything is going to feel overwhelming. And the last thing you need is to make that feeling worse by being sleep deprived.

For your first 24 hours:

❌ Avoid any late night drinks as that will impact the quality of your sleep
❌ Do not make any life-altering decisions
❌ Avoid the urge to doom-scroll social media or the news
✅ Go outside and get some fresh air
✅ Rest, recover, and breathe

Tomorrow is going to be a new day.

You’re going to get through this.

Take Care of Yourself

That morning after can be one of the weirdest days after getting laid off.

There is no one telling you what to do.

You don’t have any meetings to attend.

There is no deadline to hit.

For me, that was the day I took my foot off the gas, and reconnected with myself.

For me — it was hiking for the first time in over 8 months.

💡 Action Steps

📔 Journal Entry (10 minutes)

Spend 10 minutes to journal about what’s going on in your mind. Use the following prompts:

What was I most grateful for during my past experience?
What is something that I compromised in the past that I don’t want to compromise in the future?
What am I most excited for in the future?

🌲 Get outside and breathe

Do something that helps you decompress — hiking, walking, sitting in the park. Don’t jump straight into job applications.

😴 Get a good night’s sleep

Tomorrow is day one of your job search. Show up rested and ready.

You are more valuable than you think. Let’s prove it together.

This article is for educational purposes and not career advice.