Ask HN: Laid off. Now what?
The startup I worked for has announced that it is going to shut down in May. Unfortunately, that meant 80% of us would immediately be let go. Myself included. The severance pay was really small and my health insurance will be deactivated by the end of the month. As much as I'm trying to just move on and start job hunting, I can't help but to freak out a little about the outcome since it was very unexpected. For some of you that may have experienced being laid off before, what were some of the first things you decided to do afterward? Do you have any advice or share any lessons learned?
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[ 40.7 ms ] story [ 1501 ms ] thread2. Take one day and just relax. Have the most fun you can possibly have that doesn't damage your health or take anything more than a trivial amount of money.
3. Calculate your burn rate and cut expenses.
4. Accept that you have a new job. Your new job is finding a new job.
5. Dedicate 20 hours a week to finding and applying to jobs. You can just submit your form everywhere. Spend 5 hours a week identifying companies that you like in particular. Spend 15 hours a week attempting to make actionable progress improving your interviewing ability. This might mean studying things like Cracking the Coding Interview, or doing small projects to show that you can work with technologies that some of your prospective employers want to see.
Throttle the looking for a job part from 25 to 40 hours, keeping everything the same. Do not spend more than 60 hours total doing job hunting related activities. You'll burn out and become unmotivated.
Good luck!
And don't be discouraged by a bad interview. It was good interviewing practice anyway. Keep moving forward.
Unemployment was the most intimidating part initially, but it wasn't hard; just a few pages of online paperwork every week.
If you do need a break between interviews, submitting new applications or working on your skills makes for a decent filler. Like a regular paying job, you'll get out of your application efforts what you put into them.
Then again, maybe you meant that too... :)
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Up-Side-Down-Failing-Success/dp/01431...
I had exactly, precisely the same thing happen to me. I agree with 1-5 above (and 6 in the child post).
Try (really hard) not to get depressed and find a weird way to enjoy this unforeseen break in your work life. You probably won't get any other breaks like this unless you decide to take them or get lucky.
[1] FAQ about COBRA https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-...
Losing a job allows you to enroll in ACA plans outside of the normal enrollment period, but only for a limited time, so check into that soon if you want to.
This is good advice. Don't try and turn the unemployment into a holiday because the stress is too high to really let yourself enjoy it. You don't want to spend a holiday thinking "should a spend the extra $2 on the gourmet pizza" and stuff like that.
Do you have any suggestions on how to do this?
- Second outcome => Do I want to work for a startup again in the future? No.
- Third outcome => If a startup is successful, the outcome is disproportionate between the founders and the employees. But, it if fails, we're all equally unemployed.
Do I really want to be an employee at a startup? nope.
You may also want to immediately do the math to see exactly how much money you need for things that are absolute "musts" to pay... light bill, gas bill, rent, etc., and figure out how much runway you have if you do nothing but pay the essentials. If worst comes to worst, there are always things you can just stop paying and fall behind on, and then catch up when you're back working. Hopefully it won't come to that, but better to make informed decisions than stumble around in the dark.
You'll probably also want to lower your burn rate as much as you can: cut out the daily latte at Starbucks or any other frivolous expenditures that you can do without.
Those are the first things that come to mind, given my experiences having been laid off in the past.
Something fairly traumatic just happened, don't be afraid to take time to absorb it so you can focus on the next effort.
Two immediate pieces of advice:
1. Shore up relationships with your colleagues and get their non-work contact info if you don't have it. Make this network stronger. Former colleagues can recommend you and pull you in at new companies they get hired at. They can also refer you to job openings they know about but aren't pursuing. It's one step of many, but people can get caught up in worrying and applying elsewhere, they forget about this network of colleagues right in front who can help each other. Keep in touch, check in, ask for leads and referrals if you are still looking, offer them if you have them.
2. Don't freak out. But if you are really worried, since 20% of staff are staying for now so: A laid off employee can ask management if they can stay and help for a few more weeks at reduced pay and while he/she looks for something else. I don't recommend doing that, looking for a job can be a full-time job. Never hurts to offer and ask.
I can share my own story. On one Saturday, I got a phone call from a co-worker that there are rumors of an impending massive layoff the following week. And then I got laid off on Monday. But I updated my resume on Saturday and already applied for several jobs on Sunday and started preparing for interviews. On Monday, I got laid off. And on Tuesday, I got a call scheduling for an interview. That entire week, I got two more calls for interviews. I scheduled them for the week after that as I needed at least one week to get up to speed with interview preparation. 20 days after my layoff, I had an offer. I still had interviews scheduled from bigger companies at that time, but I took the offer because I had some personal situations also to deal with at the time (My marriage was supposed to be in 3 weeks). I had a good raise in the new job, and with severance, it all ended up great with a good bonus and a raise.
My general advice is this. While I admit it is an incredibly stressful and emotional time, your emotions cannot take priority over actions.
Been laid off a few times. I wish I traveled the first couple of times.
There are too many people in the Bay Area making 6 figures salary and living paycheck to paycheck (exorbitant rent + car lease + student debt payments + weekends in Tahoe + nice brunches + buying the newest phone quickly adds up...)
I think everyone can agree that learning how to properly budget finances should be something we all should learn.
You can easily feed four people per week for the same amount.
Update your LinkedIn!
1) COBRA for health insurance.
2) if you dont have ongoing health issues, don't worry too much about medical expenses. theyre negotiable and not as impactful in the past.
3) relax and treat it like a vacation
4) negotiate with landlord about reducing rent or subletting or breaking lease
5) interview, be happy and positive, see what you can land!
Regardless, right now, you may be ok in the following regard, in the short term. But with the ACA on the chopping block, one thing that has been recommended already by... "those in the know" is to make sure you maintain continuity of coverage.
One of the things the ACA has eliminated is exclusion for prior conditions. But that may not survive. And should it not, resulting limitations can apply even if you end up getting insurance through another employer. You might get insurance, but with limitations. In the past, before the ACA, demonstrating continuity of coverage helped avoid such limitations. If/when the ACA dies, this is likely to be pertinent and important, once again.
Ending the ACA means the end of much more than just the marketplace insurance plans and tax rebates. The health care insurance situation in the U.S. is likely to get a whole lot worse, again, even for those who never participated in an ACA health insurance plan.
I don't know, so I'm asking. If I were the OP, I'd double-check this point with respect to their state's laws and regulations as well as Federal law and regulation. (Sounds complicated, but probably has a final, simple answer that the local experts know.)
First, work on your stress level. Health coverage needs to be addressed soon. Look up COBRA and the grace period, that should give you some peace of mind. Look at your bank account. Hopefully you have some savings.
Next, keep in mind that it's easier to find a job when you already have one, than if you are unemployed. So activate your network. Did your startup have competitors or partners? They may be interested in your experience. Ping you college friends. Where are they now?
Take a moment and feel really good about the work you did, even if the company didn't succeed. Celebrate that you probably contributed a lot to making a small startup survive for as long as it did. Acknowledge that was in some part due to you, and then write down the things you felt most proud of.
Keep that paper with you every time you interview, so you are reminded that you did good work, and have a positive story about why you will bring a lot of value to your next role
Activate your networks and develop them if you don't have one
And do these only six hous per day
The weather was pretty good for my mental health, as was the change of scenery. Also the cost of living there is very low.
- If you can't strike that deal, then treat getting a job as a job. It's very tempting to sleep in until 10 AM every morning when you no longer have an office you have to be at. Resist that temptation. Get out of bed, put on some decent professional-looking clothes, and get to work. This can't be emphasized enough. Finding a job is a job.
- And because it's a job, give yourself an outlet for getting away from it. Leave time for recreation. Take care of yourself. Put in your work and then have some fun.
- Along the it's-a-job lines, learn everything you can about doing this job well. Selling yourself is a skill. Learn as much as you can about resume-writing, interviewing, etc.
- Slash that burn rate. Having two months' normal expenses in the bank means nothing if your next paycheck is five months away.
- Recruiters get a bad rap sometimes, but the big-name national recruiters (TekSystems, Robert Half, a few others) can be very helpful.
- Do what you can to enhance that CV. If you're a programmer, look for open-source programs you can contribute to. If you're a netadmin or systems guy, get certified. Find a non-profit that will let you do XYZ, even if for little or no money. Surely there's a church or community group that could use a sprucing up of its website, or have its Windows workstations updated, or who have piles of Excel spreadsheets just crying out to be properly databaseized. Every little resume bit helps.
- Network, network, network.
- Let everyone in that network know you're looking. Some people get bashful or feel embarrassed that they lost their job. Don't fall into that. Remember that you have nothing to be ashamed of. And obviously someone was willing to hire your before. Someone else will again.
- I'm assuming you're young and still establishing yourself. If not then freely ignore, but:
- In terms of career planning it can be better to target the biggest companies you can. Rise through the ranks in a 5,000-employee enterprise and you'll find that when the time comes startups and small firms will fall all over themselves trying to get you as a VP or even director. Conversely, you might wind up limiting yourself long term if you work exclusively for small firms, since large enterprises tend to want people with large-enterprise experience. YMMV, depends on your personality & career goals.
- Resist the temptation to use this as a vacation. If you can establish yourself as a top person in your field, someone who will always be in demand, there will be plenty of time to take mid-career sabbaticals, even lengthy ones. Until you've found a way to differentiate yourself from the crowd, though, probably best to keep your nose to the grindstone.
- Good luck!
I had more than a decade of steady work, so the experience that my job was guaranteed was humbling.
Overall, I'm thankful for the loss I had. It wasn't an easy ride, but most of the good ones aren't.