No matter who you are, if you work for an employer, experiencing a layoff event is a possibility in your career. You, dear friend, are not alone. The resources on this page exist to help those who have been impacted by a layoff event, those who have lost colleagues in a layoff, and leaders who have had to execute layoffs. We’ve curated the advice and the practical resources from stories of technologists like you and combined it with expert advice from HR, recruiting, and coaching professionals who are seeing these impacts in the tech industry. Our hope is that you can find something here that is encouraging to process these events and continue to progress in your own career.
If one thing on this page helps you, consider sharing it with someone else who needs help.
What else would you like to know related to layoffs? Send us an e-mail with ideas for related topics or guests we should be interviewing on this topic – nerdjourneypodcast@gmail.com.
Start Here – Processing and Practical Tips
- Learn about the psychological transition of layoffs from business psychologist, podcaster, and coach Leanne Elliott. The focus on layoffs begins at 22:37 if you’re running short on time. Listen from the beginning for the full context on Leanne’s background.
- The Psychological Transition of Layoffs with Leanne Elliott (1/2)
- Leanne and her husband Al are the co-hosts of the Truth, Lies, and Workplace Culture Podcast. They offer free 30 minute coaching sessions to anyone who has been impacted by a layoff event, You can e-mail Al or Leanne here to book a coaching call, and please tell them Nick and John from Nerd Journey sent you their way.
- Gain perspective from HR professionals Liz Bronson and Kat Nelson Troyer, the hosts of the RealJobTalk podcast. We had focused conversations with Kat and Liz on layoffs in tech and the current job market with advice for those impacted by layoffs, those who remain at a company, leaders who have to execute layoffs, and leaders who make the decisions that layoffs are necessary. The shows notes for the episodes below have links to helpful RealJobTalk episodes as well.
- Reduction in Force: Navigating Layoff Trends in Tech with Real Job Talk (1/2)
- Layoffs and Job Market Impacts: Experience with RIFs Preferred with Real Job Talk (2/2)
- Download and work through the Must Have List, a free resource created by Kat and Liz. It’s the first link on this page with a list of questions that can help you determine what is next. Feel free to use the contact form on the RealJobTalk site to reach Kat and Liz directly.
- Consider whether you are close to burnout or in the midst of burnout. We spoke to burnout expert, coach, keynote speaker, and podcaster Cait Donovan to determine whether layoffs are a cause of burnout. In this episode, Cait shares practical tips those impacted by a layoff can take to help process the event. Check out the show notes for links to episodes of Cait’s podcast to dive deeper on specific topics.
- Chronic Stress: Connecting the Dots between Layoffs and Burnout with Cait Donovan
- Listen to this episode on our website or read the show notes – the show notes from this episode contain links to other burnout stories from guests.
- Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts
- Listen to this episode on Spotify
- Cait is the host of FRIED: The Burnout Podcast and is on a mission to end burnout culture.
- Chronic Stress: Connecting the Dots between Layoffs and Burnout with Cait Donovan
- Listen to an entrepreneur’s take on layoffs, and discover your most valuable knowledge. Technologist, entrepreneur, and career coach Erik Gross shared a perspective on layoffs from 3 different angles and his framework for discovering your most valuable knowledge.
- Ownership through Failures: An Entrepreneur’s Take on Difficult Decisions with Erik Gross (2/3)
- Monetize Yourself: Leveraging Your Most Valuable Knowledge with Erik Gross (3/3)
- Download Erik’s Most Valuable Knowledge Workbook for free here
- Erik also does paid career coaching. If you want to work with Erik directly, use the link at the bottom of this page to express interest.
- Get back to the basics – revising your resume (and LinkedIn profile), searching for jobs, and the interview process. Our Nerd Journey career foundations series contains practical tips for all of these steps.
- Revisiting the Foundations of Resumes
- Revisiting the Foundations of the Job Search
- Revisiting the Foundations of Job Interviews, Part 1
- Revisiting the Foundations of Job Interviews, Part 2
- Think about how you address being laid off in discussions with recruiters and hiring managers. Leah White, a recruiter in the tech industry, shares her perspective on how to address layoffs or reductions in force in an interview process. We talk about documenting accomplishments, job change motivations, and how to interact with recruiters as well starting at 17:48.
- Advocacy Lost and Found with Leah White (2/2)
- Start developing your career narrative, and keep iterating on it. Jason Belk shares tips for building a public profile, how we can develop and iterate upon a narrative to use in job interviews, and discusses how seeing layoffs at his company changed the way he approached his career.
- Draft Your Narrative: Writing and Building a Technical Portfolio with Jason Belk (2/2)
Listen to The Stories of Others Through Layoffs and Beyond
- Our very own John White shares his story of being laid off from Google as part of a reduction in force and the story of how he searched for and found a new role.
- John Got Fired
- John Got Hired
- A Closer Look at John’s Recent Interview Process
- Listen to Louise Bunyan’s story of being laid off, starting a business, developing a passion for job candidates, LinkedIn tips we can all use.
- Horseback Lessons, Keywords, and Business Growth with Louise Bunyan (2/3)
- Secrets of a LinkedIn Expert with Louise Bunyan (3/3)
- Marni Coffey shares the story of being laid off as a people leader, what she did to process the event, and how she found her next job.
- Life after Layoff: A Leader’s Sense of Duty and A Series of Good Conversations with Marni Coffey (3/3)
- Brad Christian was laid off from a startup after having been a manager at a previous company. Listen to the story of that experience and how a family member helped him decide how to pursue his next role. In this discussion Brad shares some great tips on how to make bets for focusing our education as technologists.
- Back to Basics: Technology Bets and Industry Relationships with Brad Christian (2/2)
- Jason Langer survived multiple waves of layoffs at his company before being hit. Listen to how he handled processing the event and determining what was next. Start at the beginning or at 10:56 for all the context.
- Explaining Hard Concepts in Simple Terms with Jason Langer (1/2)
- Shailvi Wakhlu was given a choice between being laid off or taking a job in a different area. Listen to her story of making the decision to take a different job and changing the trajectory of her career.
- A Collection of Ambiguous Experiments with Shailvi Wakhlu (1/2)
- Andy Syrewicze went through a period of unemployment while contracting for a manufacturing company. Listen to his story of how it happened.
- The Ever-Expanding Blast Radius with Andy Syrewicze (1/3)
- Mike Burkhart found out his position had been eliminated. Listen to the steps he took to revise his resume, find a new job, examine the culture of companies before joining them.
- Your Position Has Been Eliminated with Mike Burkhart (1/2)
- Your Position Has Been Eliminated with Mike Burkhart (2/2)
- Jon Hildebrand was unexpectedly laid off and shares his story of finding that next role.
- Jon Hildebrand and Recovering From a Layoff