Got Laid off? Here's What To Do Next.

You just got laid off. Getting laid off is no reflection on you. It’s not about your strengths or skills. It’s about your company’s lack of planning for marketplace conditions. This is the time you need to be gentle with yourself.  Here are some actionable tips on what to do next. In this episode, I discuss 

• What to do in the hours and days following a layoff
• How to make sense of all that you are feeling
• Why time management is key to finding your next job
• The most impactful tips to get you through it 

Show notes: 

5 Steps to an Effective Career Identity Blueprint HERE

Top 10 Pro Tips to Help You Stand Out on LinkedIn HERE

Chapters

• 0:04 Navigating Layoffs and Career Transition
• 11:37 Connecting Through Career Coaching

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Hi, welcome to the Career Refresh podcast. I'm your host, jill Griffin. I'm a former media and marketing executive, turned career strategist and executive coach. I spent my career working my way up and through the ranks of global organizations and startups, and today I show others how to do the same. Join me each week as we discuss the strategies and actionable steps to leverage your strengths, increase your confidence and develop your career. Hey friends, it's Jill. Welcome back to the podcast.

Speaker 1: 0:51

This week I want to talk about getting laid off. There's been a lot of talk in the marketplace. There's been a lot of companies that have had sizable layoffs recently and I know it's set in fear for a lot of people. But today I want to talk specifically to you. If you've been laid off I've been there, I've been laid off more than once I will tell you I got to a point in my career where I was like it's a signing bonus or a severance package, right, but the first time I got laid off, let me tell you it stung, and that's what I want to talk about today.

Speaker 1: 1:22

So in the hours and days following the layoff, you need time and space and self-compassion, denying your feelings and getting right back into the hustle of what you need to do next is actually what's not next. I want you to pause for a second, grab a notes app, grab pen and paper whatever's best for you and we're going to take you through some thoughts and statements. So run these statements and questions through your head. We're talking about compassion. I want you to use the phrase of course. Of course I want to hide. Of course I feel disappointed. Of course I feel fearful. Of course I feel this way. Whatever it is that you feel, I want you to have compassion for it and give yourself those words, maybe even say them out loud for yourself. Of course I feel this way. It makes sense that I would. Next, I want you to acknowledge and accept how you feel. You are allowed to feel upset, feel in the blank. I'm allowed to feel sad. I'm allowed to feel angry. I'm allowed to feel grief.

Speaker 1: 2:37

We grieve because we loved and many of you may have loved aspects of your job, and I'm guessing that if you were laid off, you didn't know this was going to happen. You didn't know that you were on the list. Maybe you heard murmurings, but you didn't know that you were on the list. It may have been a shock or a surprise to you. So allow yourself to feel what you do. Don't gaslight yourself or drop into some toxic positivity stuff, telling yourself that it's really not helpful to think this way.

Speaker 1: 3:06

Right now you know what you need to allow your limbic system to do its thing, which is process the emotions. This is fight or flight, friends. Those emotions are just neurochemicals running through your body. Those chemicals will dissipate when you give your body a little attention. Where do you feel it? In your body? When you give it attention, the neural chemicals will dissipate and your prefrontal cortex, the thinking part of your brain right your forehead that area can take over and begin to problem solve again. You cannot be in the feeling of sad, angry, grief or whatever it is that you're feeling and problem solve. So allow yourself to feel it.

Speaker 1: 3:49

Next, it's the mindset. Getting laid off is no reflection on you. It's not about your strengths or your skills. It's about your companies, the former companies, lack of planning for marketplace conditions. This is the time. You need to be gentle with yourself. You may even need to remove yourself from certain situations, conversations or people. They may be friends that, like right now, they're not really the best people to be around, and it's okay, you can remove yourself. I like, put a little bubble wrap around yourself, or maybe you're the cashmere blanket type, right, give yourself some comfort. Don't hang out with anyone who wants to feed the fears. This is the time to be like bye, see ya. No, we're not going to do that to ourselves.

Speaker 1: 4:33

And then I want you to introduce new thoughts softly, so we begin to say to ourselves I am practice being the person who figures this out. What does he, she, they, what does she think? What action should I take next? And then I want you to think about time management. Right, the universe has given you the gift of time, and I know right now it does not feel like a gift. I understand that, because it didn't feel like a gift, and maybe you want to punch me right now. I understand, but creating a schedule that means from sunup to sundown you sit in front of your MacBook and you look for a job aggressively is not the way you find a job. So what I want you to do is create a schedule. One part of the day you're going to be hunting for a job and what's next and working. If you need to update the resume, we're going to get into that. And the next part of the day is I want you to find space in your day to read, explore, exercise, go to a museum, because, again, staring at your MacBook for eight hours a day is not going to help you find a job any faster than if you spend half the day or half the time looking for a job and the other half of the day in inspiration.

Speaker 1: 5:50

I was laid off and, as I mentioned before more than once, you work in tech and marketing. It's high risk, high reward, and the first time was the biggest sting. 9-11 happened only a month later and what? I don't know what provoked me. I can only say it was divine intervention, but I was in so much grief for the friends I lost for this, my city, my country. For me, moving and walking was really healing for me.

Speaker 1: 6:20

So I walked the streets of New York City with a pen and paper and wrote down everything that I thought would be enjoyable for me to do. I wrote down cultural events, volunteering, community. I walked up and down the streets through the East Village all the way up to Union Square and walked every single street over a few weeks and again wrote down everything. Oh, interesting shop over here, quirky art over there, wrote down everything. I then went home and I made a grid. I'm a nerd, I get it, but I made a grid. And then, each day, I decided that from nine to 12, I was going to look for a job and get it. But I made a grid. And then, each day, I decided that from nine to 12, I was going to look for a job, and then, from you know, 12 to three, I was going to go do something else. Right, I split the days so that there was work, there was networking, but there was also inspiration and free time. That is that gift.

Speaker 1: 7:13

So this is again cultural events, volunteering, community service, gardens, free classes, everything you could think of. That is interest. You put it on the list. And the reason why you're doing this is because, again, when you're looking for something to do or you're feeling panicky, it really helps to have a list right in front of you to go well, what are you going to do right now? I don't know what to do right now. You know what I can go do that. I can go take a walk. I can go to that community garden. I can go to that museum. I could go wander that cute main street in that town. That's what we want to do, because there's sometimes it's about thinking and processing the emotion, and other times it's about moving and getting into action and creating some space, all right. And then, when you're ready, it's time to create a strategy. I have a free career strategy worksheet on my website. I'm going to include the links in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 8:02

But you want to get clear in your strengths. This is an understanding that your strengths and behaviors enable you to reach your goals. So when you know what they are, you have a better understanding of where you're going. So whether you take the CliftonStrengths assessment it's about 50 bucks. You can get it on the Gallup website. Whether you work with a coach like me or someone else, just write down all the activities and the areas in which you feel your strengths excel. Some thought starters can be you're a really good achiever, you're analytical, you're disciplined, you can influence others, you're optimistic or positive, you're resourceful, you're really good at strategic thinking. That's what I mean by getting clear on your strengths.

Speaker 1: 8:40

Next, I want you to look at your values. You can get a list of values by doing some search for values. But when you really understand that they're important because they are the guiding principles and help you understand the way in which you want to work. Think of them like almost like an internal GPS. And this is a really important pillar values, a really, really important pillar of your overall career satisfaction. So you want to check back in with your values and get clear in the values that you want to be present, moving forward.

Speaker 1: 9:13

Next, I want you to make a list of your skills and your victories. What patterns do you see? What when you ask yourself what am I good at? What are the common tasks that increase your energy or decrease your energy? When does time fly? When are you in the flow? And then make a list of your victories, the achievements, that time that you and the team did that thing and you had a victory. Have those at the ready. Write them down.

Speaker 1: 9:43

I want you to look at beliefs. What results matter to me? Do I want meaningful work, which is an internal job it's internal in your brain or do I want to make a difference, which is making a difference to others? Some people want both, some people want neither. You may want one of one or the other. Right. What drives you forward? How do you want to think about this? How am I leaning and learning to be how the person who dot dot dot, fill in the blanks what matters to you?

Speaker 1: 10:13

And then I wanted you to take everything from this career strategy right your strengths, your skills, your beliefs, your values and I want you to then look at are there areas that you need to update your resume or your LinkedIn profile? Because when you're beginning, you've done this work and you've allowed yourself time and space, and then you got into action. It now may be time for you to figure out what's next. So this is a great time to find a mentor, an ally, a coach that can help you through. What is it that you want to create next? And we do that, and we work with others because you know what. Sometimes it's really hard to read the label from inside the jar. I also have a free LinkedIn pro tips video and worksheet. That's on my website. I'm also going to put that link in the show notes because that also might help you in figuring out what you need to do to uplevel and get your LinkedIn profile ready.

Speaker 1: 11:02

And then, lastly, I want you to just to stay close to the people that you love. This is not the time to isolate. So many people are in the same boat as you are. They are figuring out, and I just want to let you know like first it's going to get better and then it may get hard again before it gets better again. And then one day you realize that you've made so much progress and you've built so much resilience and you find out that you're at a different level of satisfaction than you were before. You will be employed again. If you want to be Just in the meantime, be super, super gentle with yourself.

Speaker 1: 11:37

All right, my friends, as always, if you have any questions or any comments, email me at hello at jillgriffincoachingcom. And I appreciate you so much. I'm thinking of all of you and I'll see you next time. You and I'll see you next time. Hey, thanks for listening to the career refresh podcast. If you are enjoying this and you want more information, go to my website, jillgriffincoachingcom. There you can find information on how to work with me one-on-one or my group programs, or even bring me into your workplace. I'll put the link to my website in the show notes. But hey, listen before you go. Do me a favor, rate and review this podcast, because it definitely helps me get the word out to people everywhere so that they can also thrive in the workplace. All right, friends, I appreciate you. I'll see you soon.