181: Laid Off? You Must Do This First When Looking for Work

[00:00:30] But there’s a lot of people who are on the wrong end of that stick the wrong place at the wrong time. And I just want to tell you right out of the gate. Some of the most talented skilled, brilliant engineering leaders who I’ve ever worked with have been laid off. And so give yourself some grace. Give yourself forgiveness.

[00:00:51] If you’ve been through a layoff recently or any time in your career, it’s not about you. It’s not a judgment of your capability. It’s not a statement of your potential. So often it’s just the way the business is run and you happen to be on the wrong team in the wrong place at the wrong time. So give yourself some grace and let’s pull up our bootstraps and get going on what we need to do from here.

[00:01:17] I honestly believe there’s going to be a lot more layoffs before this period of our economic history passes. So buckle up and let’s get going. Now here’s what’s so, so important. Too many engineering leaders, when they experience a layoff, get a couple things wrong right out of the gate. The first thing is they pull the energy of their life down from working hard and doing great things to Total relaxation and just escaping the pain and the challenge of that situation entirely.

[00:01:56] And they let that go on for a long time. I’m a big fan of a break, creating some separation, doing some emotional healing. You might be going through a grief cycle and getting some support, even counseling or therapy or working with a coach during those early days and weeks after a layoff can be a great thing.

[00:02:18] Do some of those chores in the backyard. You haven’t had time to do read that book. That’s been unfinished on the bedside table. I think doing that is great. For a period of time, but I’ll tell you one call I had last week. This gentleman had been unemployed for six months and he kept telling himself that he needed more time to unplug from the burnout and the toxic culture of the company prior to being let go.

[00:02:47] And that story stuck with him and he stayed unemployed all the way until his severance ran out and then decided he would jump back into the job market because he thought, of course, it’ll be easy for me to find a role. I’m a. Highly sought after in demand, talented software developer. And after two months of applying for jobs every day, had not had any interviews progress past the stage of talking to the recruiter.

[00:03:17] And he was feeling extremely. Anxious and worried and scared about what was going to happen. Watching his bank account go the wrong direction every month. And again, what started out as a good thing to take a little space and time for himself ended up becoming a pattern that led to poor decision making.

[00:03:37] So the first thing I’d encourage you to do is give yourself a set time limit of What might be a relaxing vacation, so to speak, and get intentional then about putting some time every day back into your own development, into your career search, your job search, where you perform at a high level. You see the mind gets conditioned during that time being laid off.

[00:04:07] And if you’re always being lazy, if you’re always relaxing, then you’re going to lose that edge. That ability for you to perform with high energy, with high focus, with intensity. And that’s part of what makes you great at what you do as an engineering leader. So my encouragement to you is don’t go weeks and months without something in your life that keeps you at your edge.

[00:04:33] And don’t let that story that you need a long break, extend past. Your intentions and your plans. So pause and set a plan, set an intention. And even during that break, I’d encourage you to have something, whether it’s physical exercise or pursuing hobbies or learning new skills, something that requires focus and energy and growth for you.

[00:04:55] That’s mistake. Number one mistake. Number two is engineering leaders will spend an unbelievable amount of time polishing their resume. Even hiring resume writers or using outplacement services. And usually, you know, usually you get a free coaching package when you get let go, especially if you’re at a big company and you get this very vanilla coaching service where they’ll provide tips on resume.

[00:05:23] And sometimes they’ll even rewrite your resume for you. The last three or four people I’ve talked to who used that service actually spent even more time. Rewriting their resume again after getting it back from that out placement service, because frankly, they don’t understand the technical levels of the work that we do in engineering, and it was a complete waste of their time.

[00:05:48] So be careful with that. I just encourage you to recognize that not everybody knows what you know about what’s required on your resume, but here’s what I really want you to recognize. If you’re sitting there nitpicking every word of your resume. Talking with ChatGPT for hours and hours about cover letters.

[00:06:10] You’re getting lost in the minutiae of the safety of hiding behind your computer screen and doing work that doesn’t put you out there to face the rejection of the marketplace. And a lot of times there’s a fear about going back into the arena, getting back into the marketplace, especially If you’ve been employed at one place for three, five, 10, 15 years, and suddenly get laid off, and it’s been a while since you have had to compete for that next opportunity, let’s be honest, the competition is real, it’s global.

[00:06:51] And right now there’s a lot of qualified leaders looking for the same role that you are looking for. And that fear in the back of your mind, that mindset. We’ll push you into these activities that feel like progress. It’s really important for your resume to be great. You gotta get prepared for those interviews and you’ll sit back and you’ll read blogs and you’ll polish your resume and you’ll work on cover letters and burn a lot of daylight, a lot of energy in that safety of tasks that don’t put you out there.

[00:07:29] And then the third mistake, which is a cousin of number two, is you only apply for jobs online. You’re using LinkedIn, all the online job platforms, you’re looking for roles every day, you know, you’ve probably even set up all the fancy notifications and alerts so that anytime a job that matches the descriptions, you’re getting those alerts every day and you’re quickly applying for those jobs online, submitting that polished resume you were working so hard on, but you’re still hiding in the safety of the fluorescent lights in your basement, clicking buttons.

[00:08:05] And doing what engineers do best, trying to solve that problem through technology. If you’ve been laid off, the most important thing for you to do first is the exact opposite of any of those actions. It’s not about sitting and updating your resume for a hundred hours. It’s not about applying for hundreds or thousands of jobs online through LinkedIn.

[00:08:37] That’s LinkedIn. One of the leaders I talked to last week, a guy named Jonathan, Jonathan had applied for over 1000 jobs on LinkedIn and only gotten a couple of responses. A handful of interviews, none of which progressed to final rounds and no offers 1, 000 applications. You know how much time and energy went into that process for him?

[00:09:05] A lot. You know how demoralizing it is to feel rejected a thousand times on LinkedIn and not get any progress. It is rough. Don’t get caught in that trap. The most important thing for you to do first is to start having real conversations with real people about your vision of what you want to do with your career next.

[00:09:32] Leveraging your network, leveraging human to human connection, every single day, priority one. Let’s talk about what that would look like. I’m going to share with you two different channels first. And for most engineering leaders, it’s the harder one to do is real conversations on the phone. I promise you that on your phone, in your Rolodex, your contacts on your cell phone right now, there are people who will gladly support you.

[00:10:10] If you ask them. But you’re not asking. And part of the reason you’re not asking is because you’re thinking about who’s in your phone contacts list. And you’re saying, Oh, uncle Billy, uncle Billy’s not even an engineer. He’s a plumber and, and aunt Sally, she’s a teacher. And my mom is retired and doesn’t hang out with any engineers.

[00:10:32] And my college buddies are all happily employed. I don’t want to bother them. And. You’re creating an excuse for every single person in your contacts list as to why they can’t help you. But remember, those people in your phone contacts list are the people who you know the best. They’re the people who love you the most.

[00:10:55] They’re the people who care about you more than anyone else. If one of the people who you care about came to you and was in a time in their life of need, And asking for support. Would you just completely reject them? Would you tell them to stop bothering you? Would you tell them that you don’t care about their problems?

[00:11:15] No, of course not. Does it mean that you would have exactly what they need? Of course not. You may not be able to help them, but if you could, wouldn’t you do it? Those people in your contacts list are the same way toward you. So get out of your own way. and pick up your phone and start dialing. You must remember, it’s not about having a contacts list full of vice presidents of engineering who are hiring right now.

[00:11:46] Aunt Sally’s neighbor might be the director of engineering in a pharmaceutical organization that’s hiring, and you’re one step away, one phone call away from getting a conversation with that director, was getting in the door. Through your network. You see the people, you know, no people, the people, you know, have resources of their own.

[00:12:11] And even if the person you call is not able to help you now, the fact that they’re now thinking about what you need, if they bump into someone tomorrow, who is hiring in the space that you’re looking for, then they can help you get connected. When you’re laid off, it’s not a time to let your ego get in the way.

[00:12:32] This is the time to go cash in on all of those relationship bank accounts that you’ve been building over your life and ask for help. It’s time to ask for help. Let’s get tactical. Here’s what that conversation will look like. You pick up the phone and you dial. Don’t. Worry about if they’re going to answer or not.

[00:12:55] If they don’t answer the first time, don’t leave a message. Just dial, let it go to voicemail, hang it up, and call right back a second time. I know, you’re like, oh Zach, I’m not a salesman, I don’t want to be double dialing, whatever. Look, Be an engineer for just a second. The answer rates on double dialing are much higher.

[00:13:17] I forget the number in the last study I saw. It’s like 30 percent higher answer rate if you just would call twice. So call twice for crying out loud. You’re looking for a job. This is your life and your future and your income that we’re talking about. Call twice the second time. If they don’t answer, leave a voicemail.

[00:13:32] Here’s the voicemail short. Simple. And not asking them for any help. Okay, the voicemail is this. Hey, Uncle Billy, it’s Zach. I hope you’re doing great. I thought of you today and wanted to connect. Give me a call back whenever you got ten minutes. Looking forward to catching up. Click. That’s it! Don’t call Uncle Billy and say, Hey, Uncle Billy, it’s Zach.

[00:13:57] Hey, listen, so I got laid off a month ago. I’m having a really hard time finding a job. Things are tough out there. The economy’s just no good and people in my industry are all laying off. Nobody’s hiring. Look, I’m, I’m wondering if you. You don’t know anybody who might be hiring for a senior software developer in the cloud computing space who specializes in blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:14:25] No, you don’t, you don’t, you don’t do that. Uncle Billy doesn’t understand what that is. Plus, as soon as you go past 10 seconds in a voicemail, he’s already tuning out. All you’re looking to do is get on that phone call. So your voicemail is really simple. It’s simply asking for a chance to connect. Now, when you do get on the phone, you, you connect with uncle Billy.

[00:14:47] Uncle Billy’s not an engineer. He’s not going to be hiring you, but you’re making this call. Here’s how it goes. Couple of phases to the phone call. The first is a genuine check in. How’s it going? Remember, these are people, you know, Who you like, who you love and have a relationship with. Maybe some of them, you know, better than others.

[00:15:06] They’re not all family. Some might be a network contact. You met at a conference last year that you don’t know very well. That’s fine, too. The first phase is a genuine connection. Be a human. Be curious about their life. Hey, Uncle Billy, how’s it going? It’s been a long time since we’ve chatted. Give me a quick update.

[00:15:25] What’s new? How are what’s new with you? All right, you can share a couple things about your family or the kids, maybe a hobby or a recent trip. Then there’s the moment of transition after a couple minutes of catching up and chit chat. Be proactive. Don’t go 20 minutes just catching up about life and then make this transition because now you’ve already.

[00:15:49] used up the energy and the capital of that conversation. So two minutes, five minutes, don’t let it go very long before you jump in and say, Hey, Uncle Billy, full candor. The other reason I wanted to reach out to you today is because there’s something I thought you might be able to help me with.

[00:16:11] Really important transition line. I want to share with you some psychology behind this quickly. First of all, we’re sharing, uh, we’re using this interruption and we’re letting them know that a full candor or let me be honest, there’s another reason that I reached out today. Now, uncle Billy probably already expected.

[00:16:32] That there was some other reason. You don’t just call people out of the blue for nothing. So he already was expecting it. So let’s say out loud what the other person was already thinking in the back of their mind. They may have even asked you right at the beginning of the call. Hey, so what’s up? Why are you calling?

[00:16:50] If that’s their very first question, by the way. I still begin with, well, I, I thought it was scrolling my Rolodex. I saw your name and I just wanted to catch up really quick for a couple of minutes. How are you doing? That’s genuine and sincere. If it’s not for you, if you don’t actually care about the other person, then you need to check your motives in life in general.

[00:17:11] Okay. But I always still start with that because we want to lead with some generosity and it’s generous to ask genuinely with curiosity about someone else’s life. But then we, have this transition say, Hey, full candor. There’s another reason that I wanted to reach out to you today. There’s something that I believe you might be able to help me with.

[00:17:34] The word help is a key word in that transition. There’s something that I thought you might be able to help me with. Might be able to help me. There’s a part of the human heart that deeply desires to help other people for normal, healthy humans who aren’t psychopaths. We love to help each other. I know you do.

[00:18:02] I do. The amazing leaders in our coaching community at the Oasis of Courage do. I haven’t met a single one who doesn’t love to give back and help each other and our community and the people they work with and people in their neighborhoods and communities. When we offer that chance for someone to help, It triggers that part of their, their heart.

[00:18:24] They’re going to say, yes, I’ve done so many of these calls. I have hundreds of clients who have made these types of calls when they’ve been laid off and no one has ever been rejected in that moment. It doesn’t mean that the person will be able to help you, but every time they’re going to say, sure. Yeah.

[00:18:45] What’s up? Yeah. Fire away. Uh, what is it? Tell me about it. They’re going to respond with that openness. And that’s what we want to do. And right there is where you can now shortly, concisely let them know the situation and what you’re looking for help with. And I do encourage you to just be brief, be concise.

[00:19:05] Well, Uncle Billy, I came across some hard times at work. My company had a layoff and I was affected by it. I’m looking for work right now in my field, and now lay out your ask for help. Most of these calls that ask is going to be another connection. Like, do you know anybody who is a leader in engineering or who works at certain companies or who might be hiring or would just have insight for me on great opportunities to work in my space?

[00:19:41] it’s going to be an ask like that. Sometimes you’ll have people in your Rolodex, maybe a former manager, somebody you used to work for, or a former colleague or former mentor. Those contacts, you can be more direct. I’m wondering if there are any openings or any opportunities within your organization that might be a great fit.

[00:20:02] For my vision of where I want to take my career next. You decide what that ask is going to be and lay it out simply, boldly, confidently, and give them a chance to support you. Like I said, they may have no opportunities or no connections for you right now, but by putting that ask for help out there and putting your vision in front of them.

[00:20:27] You’ve given them a chance and you’ve created energy and a certain power that comes with communicating that vision and having the courage to put it out there. Making these calls is one of the most important things you can do immediately and first when laid off. And I highly encourage you. Here’s the way to do it.

[00:20:49] You open up your Rolodex, you open up the contacts in your phone and you just start dialing from top to bottom. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. If you already have 10 or 20 people who you know are higher priority, great, call them first. But when you tap out and people haven’t been answering, then just start going through the list and you dial until someone answers or until you’re out of time.

[00:21:14] So block an hour. This is your career and life we’re talking about. Okay. Block two hours, block four hours, block the time and don’t stop dialing until someone answers. You just keep going down the list, call, leave the voicemail, call, leave the voicemail, call, leave the voicemail for every single person.

[00:21:37] Now I know you’re like, Zach, Zach, that sounds crazy. That sounds crazy. Well, let me just give you a quick anecdote. Chris, an engineering manager I work with, when Chris was laid off, he was really skeptical about this process. Did not want to do it. Loads of resistance to doing it, and we were in a coaching conversation.

[00:22:00] I said, Chris, what’s the worst that can happen? Just run the test, be an engineer, go make the calls. Chris took five blocks of 30 minutes for one week to make these check in phone calls. He had three different opportunities come into his world in one week. As a result of that, after months of crickets, just by applying online, he had no idea that the people in his network were so ready to support him.

[00:22:41] And afterwards came back in our next session and said, all right, glad I ran the test. There’s no guarantee, but I can guarantee you this. When you reach out to real people who love you and want to help you, you’re better off than if you don’t. On top of that. You can always go apply for another job online.

[00:23:01] So go start making these calls. Now, really quick, I mentioned two channels. The phone is the best. The phone is the best. Have real conversations. But LinkedIn is also good. And it’s not applying for jobs on LinkedIn. It’s sending messages, DMs directly to your first degree network and connecting with new people.

[00:23:27] who may be able to support you in the journey. I absolutely encourage you and challenge you if you’re laid off to not just be clicking that apply button, but to go find the people And directly message them. And it’s a very similar flow. It’s just happening in chat to say, Hey, how are you doing? Some checking in and then being honest and upfront.

[00:23:51] I’ve been impacted by layoff. I’m looking for opportunities. I was wondering if you might be able to help me. Here’s the kinds of things I’m looking for. Here’s the kinds of people I’d love to talk to. Does anything come to mind for you? Have you seen any opportunities? Get out there and go have direct message conversations.

[00:24:12] Conversions happen in conversations. If you want to convert an opportunity, close an opportunity, land a new job, it happens in conversations. In one of our previous episodes of this podcast, a senior recruiter who’s been doing this in his own business for over a decade at the highest levels told us that 85 percent of job placements come through your network.

[00:24:42] At the director and above level 85%. And if you’re a manager, maybe it’s lower, but even if it’s 50 We’re still talking about half the job market will never even pass through a recruiter or an online job application. So if you’re limiting yourself to online applications and leveraging the technology to try to find your next role, you’re leaving at least half of these roles on the table that you’ll never even know about your network is the way to get it.

[00:25:14] Get out there and go have conversations. If you feel stuck on this. I think back to Eric, when Eric and I worked together, just struggling with interviews, struggling with confidence, sometimes making a phone call to somebody you haven’t talked to in a while can be the scariest thing imaginable. And I get that.

[00:25:37] If you’re struggling with that, then we need to do that work together. We need to help you clear that mindset, get out of that self doubt, have the courage and the confidence to go and do actions like this. The smartest people on the planet can still be absolutely in the clutches of fear. And if that’s you, let’s tackle that.

[00:25:55] It will not only help you land your new job faster, but it will help you when you land that job to become a better person. an even better leader and accelerate your growth in the future. And here’s the bottom line. How do you become that irreplaceable leader who never finds themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time again?

[00:26:18] That’s what we want. These skills and tools and everything that we talk about in the blueprint, mindset, purpose, priority, productivity, people, building a playbook to build your career, putting all these systems and tools in place through powerful coaching is going to support you not just in finding an opportunity faster, but also in now building on that opportunity for the long run.

[00:26:45] In an even better way, accelerating your career, get out there, go have courageous conversations, share this episode with anybody, you know, who’s been affected by a layoff, make sure that they understand that it’s not just about polishing the resume. It’s not just about writing cover letters. It’s not about sitting in the safety of your own computer screen and applying for jobs online.

[00:27:09] We must get out there and engage our network in a serious way. Conversations is where conversions happen. So share this episode with them so they can get out of their head and into the real world where this type of success is created in a time like this with the competition, especially in the safety of that online application side.

[00:27:33] To stand out from the noise is incredibly difficult. It doesn’t matter how good your resume is. It is difficult, but to stand out from the noise in a conversation. Now that is not so let’s get after it. Let’s do this. And if you need support. Getting all this put together, connecting it to all the other systems and tools, getting prepped for your interviews, building bulletproof confidence, then jump in.

[00:27:59] Let’s have a conversation. If you didn’t know, we offer a free career growth audit for anybody who wants support or wants to be considered for joining our programs. I’d love for you to grab one of those times. There’s a link in the show notes. If you’re not able to jump in the show notes, you can also text us.

[00:28:15] We can send you the link that way. If you want to text, it’s really simple. You text the word lifestyle. To a short code phone number. It’s five, five, four, four, four. If you text the word lifestyle to five, five, four, four, four, we’ll ask you your name, we’ll send you a link so you can book a time for that 15 minute conversation.

[00:28:36] We’re just going to unpack together what’s going on, what’s holding you back. Where do you feel stuck? What are the big barriers? And if you’ve been laid off, what are the things we need to focus on short term to land that opportunity? Are you clear? And what opportunity you’re looking for is your vision aligned.

[00:28:53] sometimes the problem with layoffs is we just want to take any job we can find. The truth is that’s not a great strategy. You still need a really tight target for what you want next. So we’ll work through all those details and understand how can we support you in not just landing a role but crushing it at that next level.

[00:29:13] Get out of your comfort zone. Go have some conversations, share this with anybody, you know, who’s been affected by layoffs. Our love, our support is with you. I know it’s tough to be in that place, but don’t downshift and just rest and relax thinking that you’re going to quickly jump back in and score that opportunity.

[00:29:30] That assumption may not be true. Let’s get to work. Let’s get after it. You need support. Text lifestyle to five, five, four, four, four. Click that link in the show notes, book a call. We’ll talk soon. Cheers.