What to Do if You’ve Been Laid Off: Plan of Action & Next Steps

“I’ve been laid off. What should I do?”

• Proactively market yourself by informing your network and utilizing various job search channels. Don’t limit yourself to just a few options, as the source of your next opportunity could come from unexpected places. Be bold and vocal about your job search and communicate your career goals.
• Maximize your job search by actively networking and building connections within your industry. Act quickly when new opportunities arise and make sure to keep your LinkedIn profile updated with your latest contact information and resume. By staying proactive and connecting with your network, you can increase your visibility and opportunities for finding the right job for you.
• Extend your reach and expose yourself to a larger pool of job possibilities by posting your resume on job boards such as Indeed, LinkedIn, CareerBuilder, and Monster. These platforms allow your resume to be seen by many recruiters and employers.
• Connect with recruiters who specialize in your field or geographic area. Recruiters can act as your representative, expanding your reach to more job opportunities and providing an advocate to help you land a great role.

“How do I avoid being laid off?”

• Becoming a vital asset to your organization can help to reduce the risk of layoffs. By consistently delivering high-quality work and continuously improving your skills, you can demonstrate your value to your employer and make yourself an indispensable part of the team.
• Consider how your position contributes to the company’s overall success, and find ways to excel in those areas. Suppose you can demonstrate that your role is crucial to the organization’s functioning and that others cannot easily replicate your work. In that case, it can make your position less likely to be eliminated.

“I was ready to ask for a raise, but we just had a layoff. Should I wait?”

Consider waiting before taking any action. Give the situation time to develop and reassess next month to determine the current state of affairs. Monitor the financial climate of your business and make decisions accordingly, but avoid making any major changes during or immediately following layoffs.

Additional resources

• I Just Got Laid Off. Now What?
• How to Prepare For a Recession as an Employee
• How to Explain a Gap in Employment
• Search Open Jobs

Transcript

Pete Newsome 00:03
You’re listening to The Finding Career Zen Podcast. I’m Pete Newsome, and I’m joined today by Ricky Baez once again.

Pete Newsome 00:09
Ricky, how are you?

Ricky Baez 00:10
I got coffee is Friday. So a beautiful day already.

Pete Newsome 00:13
It is a beautiful day. But it’s a hot day and we’re in December, a couple of weeks out from Christmas. This is a bad time to be in Florida. Normally it’s a great time right now it just putting up Christmas lights. Sweating. Not fun.

Ricky Baez 00:31
Normally, those two things don’t go in the same sentence sweating and putting them in Christmas lights.

Pete Newsome 00:36
Now I don’t know. I don’t like it at all. I want snow on the ground.

Ricky Baez 00:40
There you go until there’s snow on the ground and you’re like, I want to go back to Florida. That’s exactly how I am.

Pete Newsome 00:45
I guess you want what you don’t have. So are the grasses. Always the snow was always whiter. I guess that is to say it is that terrible. Would that be? That’d be a dad joke. That’s bad.

Ricky Baez 00:59
The snow is always whiter when there are a lot of porta-potties.

Pete Newsome 01:05
I don’t even get that.

Ricky Baez 01:06
Yellow snow. Really? porta potties? Nobody?

Pete Newsome 01:09
Oh, I get it okay. Fair enough. Well, look, man, we’re back.

Pete Newsome 01:16
I asked you to come back on today on the finding career zen podcast because we have some questions that have come in from people who are interested in little help with their careers. And so let’s do a little q&a today. Are you up for that?

Ricky Baez 01:33
I’m ready to go. Let’s do this.

Pete Newsome 01:35
So they’re all layoff centric, unfortunately, because that is been not only in the news, it’s been happening quite a bit. And before we get into that, that’d be from a trend standpoint.

Pete Newsome 01:48
Do you think it’s you know, here we are a weekend to December, coming up at the end of the year, a lot of activity in terms of budget cycles?

Pete Newsome 01:59
And there’s just a natural closure that happens in the calendar year. And you know, sometimes companies have a fresh start in January. What do you think the trend looks like in the immediate future? Do you have a thought on that?

Ricky Baez 02:13
I mean, I hate to be pessimistic here. But I’m a realist. It’s going to continue happening.

Ricky Baez 02:18
It’s going to continue to happen to you and I have been talking about this since the beginning of the year, because there was record-breaking, like breaking Break, break-neck speed, hiring just about a year ago.

Ricky Baez 02:29
And we called it depends on who’s not coming via the way and unfortunately, there’s going to be more it started. I’m a little bit surprised, though, because first, it started with the tech industry.

Ricky Baez 02:40
And now Amazon. I know we talked about it on the past few shows Amazon at a time with this as their Christmas. They’re very lean people. And that’s a tall tale sign of what’s coming ahead, unfortunately.

Pete Newsome 02:53
Yeah, well, they hired a lot, right? So it’s so much of what we’re seeing is a result of the impact of the reaction to COVID. And every business was impacted differently.

Pete Newsome 03:09
Some good, you know, Amazon is one. online ordering really exploded at that time. And they had to hire a lot of people to support that. So do you think it’s just things normalizing or people getting out and going back into retail stores more?

Pete Newsome 03:24
Even though Amazon’s future, needless to say, is safe. We’re never going back to retail the way it used to be, but it was shut off altogether.

Pete Newsome 03:36
And Amazon, Amazon was a beneficiary of that for a period of time. But I think you just like working in it. People don’t want to be isolated exclusively. That’s not healthy. So I think people have an opportunity to go back into stores it has to be hurting them a little bit.

Ricky Baez 03:54
That’s a good point, too, right? Because yeah, they had to really staff up for the pandemic, because you know, when that happened, they were going to be more involved in people’s lives than before.

Ricky Baez 04:04
And that not needing that much of a staff in combination with people wanting to get out.

Ricky Baez 04:09
Yeah, yeah, I really think that has a lot to do with it. Also, Pete. But nonetheless, there are still going to be some people out there who are going to be wondering what to do with the in case they get laid off.

Ricky Baez 04:22
Or if they were laid off, what are they going to do?

Pete Newsome 04:24
It’s almost like we had that question come in.

Ricky Baez 04:28
Did we? I think we did right?

Pete Newsome 04:31
So let’s start with that one. The question was I’ve been laid off. What should I do?

Ricky Baez 04:37
So that was a question?

Pete Newsome 04:38
That was a question.

Ricky Baez 04:39
Oh, got it.

Pete Newsome 04:40
That was asked via our mailbox.

Pete Newsome 04:45
And so look, if this is here’s the good news. Let’s start with that. The bad news is you’ve been laid off the good news is in the history of job openings in In the US,, this is still a good time to be a job seeker. It doesn’t feel that way.

Pete Newsome 05:06
When you read the news, it doesn’t feel that way when you see the reports of constant layoffs. But there are 10 point 3 million openings in the US right now.

Pete Newsome 05:16
And that is a historically large number. If you look at the last 15 years, the data shows that 10.3 is about twice what is the norm. And so there are a lot of jobs. So that’s number one.

Pete Newsome 05:33
Number two, your competition is not as severe as it would historically have been, as well. So there are about 6 million job seekers right now, unemployment is at 3.7%, which is really low.

Pete Newsome 05:49
So just based on that alone, there are more jobs and there are job seekers. So by default, that means it’s a, it’s a pretty good time to look for a job.

Pete Newsome 05:58
Now, unfortunately, that’s the good the bad is back to the comment about the end of the year.

Pete Newsome 06:07
You know, a lot of things slow down in terms of hiring and being in staffing for a long time, I can say that that is a painful thing for all of us involved in the business of finding new jobs for ourselves or for others, that things grind to a halt.

Pete Newsome 06:24
It’s natural to understand why mean holidays, and vacations. Just a general slowdown is mentioned that just the natural end of the cycle. So those are things that are working against you.

Pete Newsome 06:37
But there’s more good than bad. That’s my first thought on it. And then we’ll get into what steps someone should take what do you think about that?

Ricky Baez 06:47
So it’s, yes, it’s gonna continue to happen. It’s we’re in a great time right now where people have options. The question is, how, how do you take advantage of those options?

Ricky Baez 06:59
So how do you find out what options are available to you, you’re talking to somebody who’s been laid off three times in his entire career. So it’s, yeah, it hurts.

Ricky Baez 07:10
So I’ve been there before. But the best thing that you can do as an individual just holistically going forward is to always whenever you take a job, whenever you decide to join an organization, always remember you need to plan B, you’re never going to be there for the long haul.

Ricky Baez 07:29
Let me not say it that way. I don’t want to say that, your job is never guaranteed. So you always need to have a plan B.

Ricky Baez 07:35
And of course, it’s not personal, it’s going to be literally business. And that’s exactly what it is just how an organization needs to make a decision on Lake Lake, getting rid of positions and affecting people’s lives.

Ricky Baez 07:47
That’s a business decision, you have to do the same thing for your family in case that happens. So it’s going to continue to happen, you just got to be really prepared for it.

Ricky Baez 07:55
And I think we’re going to go into that here in just a bit.

Pete Newsome 07:58
Yeah, well, so I’ll give four things that that I’ve I say off and I’ve said already on this podcast, and we’ve written about it, there’s a lot that you can find on zengig.com about what specific steps that you can take in how to how to get there, but I’ll review them quickly.

Pete Newsome 08:16
The first thing is if you’ve been laid off, you are in assuming you are motivated to be employed again as soon as possible.

Pete Newsome 08:24
Now the number one thing you can do is tell everyone you know, and shout it as loudly as you can.

Pete Newsome 08:31
And friends family, I even sort of put in a joke like Facebook, you know, even the people that you know, you you’re connected to on Facebook, who you don’t, you know, you went to high school with because there’s, you share 20 other connections, they don’t even remember who they are even those people because you never know where that source of, of the next opportunity that you can make you aware of is going to come from and it can come from strange places. And it will if you put that information out there for the world.

Pete Newsome 09:06
So don’t be shy about that. Don’t be hesitant at times. I know people are in it’s like it’s not the most comfortable thing to talk about fine.

Pete Newsome 09:15
But it’s about achieving the objective which is to become employed and in a great situation as quickly as possible. And by the way, I think it’s it’s an important distinction. It’s not about just getting a job. It’s about getting the job that you want.

Pete Newsome 09:31
And that means options. You want as many as you can. So cast a really wide net that’s what all the advice is and I’ll start with just that one. Tell everyone you agree with that.

Ricky Baez 09:41
Oh, absolutely. I agree with that. And you know, the number one reason why people don’t do that Pete The number one reason why people don’t tell everybody, they’re embarrassed, right?

Pete Newsome 09:52
Well, sure. Okay. I thought you were gonna come up with some, some, some trick answers.

Ricky Baez 09:59
I’m known for that. Have No, they’re embarrassed. And the reason I know that is because years ago, I surveyed as to you know, a view was put in this situation, how will you react and the number one reason people don’t do that it’s just embarrassment.

Ricky Baez 10:11
And there’s nothing to be embarrassed about nothing that out of even if you’re a private person, and this is going to hurt people who are an introvert by nature, who are not used to putting their business out there, even folks like that, more reason to do so and put something out tell me if this is the time to tell everybody your business, right?

Ricky Baez 10:33
Because this is it’s networking is one of the best ways that you can get a job the quickest way they that you can get a job, aside from just applying out right. So I agree with that. 100%.

Pete Newsome 10:44
So let’s carry that networking comment forward and say the other things that I recommend, immediately, and these can all happen within day one, right?

Pete Newsome 10:53
You find out Do not wait, do not sit on it, don’t take time to think about it, tell everyone and then do the same thing on LinkedIn.

Pete Newsome 11:01
Put that you’re hiring, and there’s a little mark, you can put on your profile to say I’m not hiring sorry, that you’re looking I think it says looking for work. Put that on there.

Pete Newsome 11:12
Recruiters live on LinkedIn, they will, they will find you that way. Connect with everyone you know, there.

Pete Newsome 11:18
And once again, if you’re casting a wide net here, so you want to if you’re not a big LinkedIn user, now’s the time, to get on it, and invite your contacts.

Pete Newsome 11:31
And you don’t have to be you don’t have to be close contacts, either. Don’t don’t feel that way. This is a business networking tool. It’s not.

Pete Newsome 11:41
It’s not Facebook, right where you should other than the high school people I mentioned that we all, we all know, everyone knows what I’m talking about with that, I think, at least if you’re our age, right that these people in here and you, you’re not sure who they were, but that you don’t have to know on LinkedIn.

Pete Newsome 12:00
If there’s an if there’s some commonality with what you do for business, if it just makes sense that you may encounter each other somewhere, going through the connection out there, it can only help in the worst case scenario is, you know, doesn’t get accepted, which isn’t a bad scenario at all.

Pete Newsome 12:13
Try, try to do that. Update your contact information, and update your resume, so to speak on LinkedIn, which you need to do anyway if you’ve been laid off. And, put that out there quickly.

Ricky Baez 12:30
Can I amend that real quick? From my perspective, charkas have a little bit different point of view in that because you’re saying as soon as possible, do not wait, put it out there.

Ricky Baez 12:39
And I agree, you should put out there that yes, I am open and we’re looking for a job right now.

Ricky Baez 12:46
But what I encourage people to do now, what I’m about to say is assume that you have a little bit of a cushion, which some people do, some people don’t financially, and that you’re going to receive an average of four weeks of severance.

Ricky Baez 12:58
So that gives you about 30 days, a cushion from one, you know, one event to the other. So assuming all that is in place, why should tell everybody to take a step back, I wouldn’t want people to start interviewing immediately, this is a great opportunity for you to take a step back, and reassess where you are in your career.

Ricky Baez 13:20
And this is a great opportunity for you to decide if you want to make a left or go right to continue where you are. Whatever you were thinking about.

Ricky Baez 13:27
Because I know there are a lot of people out there listening right now, who even before they were laid off, were thinking about starting that side hustle being a freelancer going somewhere else, but they were afraid to jump ship to disrupt, their finances.

Ricky Baez 13:42
You know, if this is your story, then guess what fate has answered that for you.

Ricky Baez 13:49
So this is your opportunity to take a step back, think about what you want to do strategize what you want your future to look like maybe take 48 hours to really think about what you want to do. It’s like I tell people all the time, never go shopping. When you’re hungry.

Ricky Baez 14:02
You’re gonna come home with a bunch of crap, you’re not gonna want to eat. Well, you are going to eat just not good for you.

Pete Newsome 14:07
Well, definitely. Yeah, I disagree with that. And here’s why. You want to get the ball in motion. So I think your point, makes sense.

Pete Newsome 14:23
And I do agree with that, that you want to have a chance to consider your next option provided you have the runway to do that. Not everyone will by the way.

Pete Newsome 14:33
And I’m a big proponent of not letting any time linger.

Pete Newsome 14:38
Get it in motion because it could take a while so the odds of you you announcing to the world on LinkedIn today that you’re looking for a new opportunity and that opportunity materializing and you need to make a decision on it all within a day or two.

Pete Newsome 14:58
That’s very unlikely.

Pete Newsome 15:00
Okay, so you’re going to have time to think. But part of what I truly believe is important in this is to, is to give yourself the most exposure, and therefore the most options to choose between.

Pete Newsome 15:15
So the more options you have, the more you can really consider what you like one thing more than another. So I don’t think letting the grass grow, is that’s not something I’d advise.

Ricky Baez 15:29
Well, I think we’re seeing the same thing you’re seeing, you’re seeing communicated immediately, which I agree with that. I’m saying big cuts.

Ricky Baez 15:38
Because once you communicate, and still disappear for 48 hours, right, let that communication materialize, let it marinate.

Ricky Baez 15:45
And then by the time you come back, you can pick and choose, all I’m saying is, don’t be too quick.

Ricky Baez 15:50
Don’t be too quick, to jump into something else. Just because your income stream was disrupted, this is a great opportunity for you to figure out exactly where you want to go.

Ricky Baez 15:59
If you’ve been teetering on it. So yeah, throw it out there as quickly as possible, and let things materialize. But strategize. Let’s play a little bit of chess here. I think we’ve seen the same thing. I don’t know if we are,

Pete Newsome 16:12
I don’t know.

Ricky Baez 16:13
Where’s it gone? Do we have a bell for that?

Pete Newsome 16:18
So but that’s okay, look, the main thing is to take take the steps and to not do it with much delay. Let’s at least say that.

Pete Newsome 16:33
And look, it’s not you by putting your information out on LinkedIn, just like a resume should be an evolving thing. It should, it shouldn’t be a static document.

Pete Newsome 16:43
As you’re having conversations and encountering new opportunities, you’ll continue to hopefully spend time improving your profile, improving your resume, and tweaking it along the way.

Pete Newsome 16:54
So it’s not just but if let’s say your LinkedIn profile hasn’t been updated in years, you find yourself suddenly on the market do not waste any time updating that.

Pete Newsome 17:06
And in, again, making recruiters aware and everyone else aware that you’re open to taking calls and want to hear about opportunities.

Pete Newsome 17:18
Because the next thing I’d recommend is posting your resume on job boards. Career Builder CareerBuilder monster indeed, LinkedIn is a job board.

Pete Newsome 17:29
I like to joke that it’s a job board that where people can post their resumes without their employer being suspicious that they’re looking for a job.

Pete Newsome 17:37
That’s actually it, which is which Yeah, which normally people try to hide what they’re doing. LinkedIn is allowed that to be out in the open but go to the other major job boards if you’re in a specific niche.

Pete Newsome 17:48
There are job boards for that too. So do not delay.

Pete Newsome 17:53
And then the last thing I would say is, again, all within the same immediate timeframe, do not delay and this is connecting with recruiters in your geography, and your industry or your niche, whatever it might be.

Pete Newsome 18:09
Right now, zengig is in the process of building this for our website. We don’t have it up yet. But we’re going to have a recruiter match system that allows people to find recruiters based on the criteria that they apply.

Pete Newsome 18:24
So work in progress there. We should already be currently, but the next place I would go in lieu of that is clearly rated. Go to clearly rated.com It’s an independent organization that ranks recruiters that ranks them but rates them based on customer and candidate feedback.

Ricky Baez 18:49
So wait a minute, there’s a Yelp for recruiters?

Pete Newsome 18:53
Effectively, yeah.

Ricky Baez 18:55
Did not know that.

Pete Newsome 18:56
Clearlyrated.com Oh, I’m gonna go it used to be called Best of staffing. That I think that was it.

Pete Newsome 19:03
There was a different it’s the best staffing award that they give, but they give companies a rating based on five stars.

Pete Newsome 19:11
We check that out. Okay. Yeah. So that’s a great place. If you don’t already have relationships with recruiters. It’s a wonderful place to start. And you can search by geography or specialty area.

Pete Newsome 19:23
Nice. Okay. So that’s my advice. That’s what to do. You’ve been laid off doing those things, and Ricky wants you to chill out for a day or two. I want you to get going right away.

Ricky Baez 19:36
Okay, can I can I Okay? I have to see why I said that.

Pete Newsome 19:40
You can’t unring that bell. You said.

Ricky Baez 19:43
No, no, no, I’m gonna ring it again.

Ricky Baez 19:45
I’m gonna ring it again. Here’s why. Here’s when the first time I was laid off. It was a new experience for me to the mistake that I did the first time I was laid off from ice.

Ricky Baez 19:56
Yeah, I started applying all different ways all different leases, just to keep my income stream, my revenue stream.

Ricky Baez 20:06
And I really wasn’t taking a look at whether that was going to be happy there or not now, albeit that was at a time when I didn’t have the resources or the capabilities to take my time.

Ricky Baez 20:16
So that’s why I put a caveat on there. But when the second time I was laid off from Darden Restaurants, I took a couple of days and I went to St. Augustine just completely shut everything off, went to St. Augustine, and mentally reset.

Ricky Baez 20:29
I personally, that helped me immensely.

Ricky Baez 20:33
It, helped me focus on where I wanted to look next. But that’s only possible if you get some kind of a severance package or B, you have some kind of a cushion for about 30 days to help you do that.

Ricky Baez 20:47
So the takeaway from this piece there, Pete, focus on making sure you have a cushion, a safety cushion, always have a resume, and always have your 32nd elevator pitch ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Pete Newsome 21:03
Well, yeah, no. Okay, so notice it, I think maybe this is relevant, I did not recommend applying immediately anywhere.

Pete Newsome 21:13
As one of the first things you should do, I’m not saying you shouldn’t apply. I’m saying that is not one of the more effective things to do.

Pete Newsome 21:21
So I would agree with your point, they just made stopping and applying everywhere. Or doing that immediately. Hmm, okay, that’s not gonna give you the best.

Pete Newsome 21:32
So that so I’ll go one step further and say, don’t do that until you’ve done these other things.

Pete Newsome 21:38
Because it’s, it isn’t going to be nearly as effective as putting the message out there and being found sending your resume as one of however many, you know, from a few to hundreds or more for a single job application is a low success rate, venture.

Pete Newsome 21:59
That’s why I recommend working with recruiters, too, because recruiters will represent you in a way you can’t represent yourself, they’ll be more aggressive on your behalf, and they will.

Pete Newsome 22:11
They’ll do things you as an individual can’t do. It’s just the way it goes in, not to mention they’ll be exposed to jobs that aren’t otherwise public. So that’s its own conversation. But we can talk more about that one later.

Ricky Baez 22:25
It just hit me that recruiters are like real estate agents. It just hit me right now. I don’t know why I’m making that connection. Right?

Ricky Baez 22:31
When you said that they’re going to fight because you’re right. Right. It’s it is in their best interest in your best interest as well for that as the recruiter to connect you with with with your career, your end job where you’re going to be happy.

Pete Newsome 22:47
Quickly on that. Recruiters will be given jobs that won’t be otherwise public like I said, so you’ll expose yourself to a bigger part of the market.

Pete Newsome 22:58
And specifically, we’re talking about third-party recruiters here not internal corporate recruiters, they will find you as well by being posted on by your information being posted on job boards or on LinkedIn.

Pete Newsome 23:11
But the third-party recruiters will keep that opportunity somewhat private. Because they don’t want the world to know, they don’t want their competition to know what they’re working on.

Pete Newsome 23:23
So you have to somehow be engaged with them to find out the opportunity.

Pete Newsome 23:28
And I’m not recommending contacting just one recruiter even the biggest recruiters only see a very small piece of the overall market, even the billion-dollar firms.

Pete Newsome 23:41
So connecting with all the good ones in your area is all part of this effort of casting as wide a net as possible so that I couldn’t, you know, there’s no better advice I could give them than that.

Pete Newsome 23:53
Just I would agree to cover all the bases.

Ricky Baez 23:55
I would agree with that.

Pete Newsome 23:56
Okay.

Ricky Baez 23:57
Excellent. Alright. Look, we came to an agreement there and that’s good.

Pete Newsome 24:01
Alright. We’re progressing. Alright, so the next question is about someone who wants to who’s How do I avoid being laid off? That’s, that’s the question.

Ricky Baez 24:19
How do you avoid I think that’s the second most asked question right behind the meaning of life, right? So let’s, how do I avoid being laid off? Okay, here we go.

Ricky Baez 24:33
So you cannot avoid with 100% Certainty being laid off, but you could definitely make it more difficult for you to be laid off. You here’s kind of Mr. cliche answer. Alright.

Ricky Baez 24:45
I don’t know if you’re ready for this. Pete. You have to become invaluable. You have to be the one person that this that one thing that if you’re not there, everybody scrambles over, right?

Ricky Baez 24:55
For example, for example, if you’re the only one that knows how to handle I don’t know, let’s say, workers comp, right?

Ricky Baez 25:03
You’re the only one and you’re amazing at it and you’re out for one pig and everybody’s scrambling, chances are you’re not gonna get laid off, or you’re gonna be lower on the list of jobs that are going to be chopped.

Ricky Baez 25:17
Remember, when a company and you talk, and this is somebody who’s been laid off and somebody who’s orchestrated and put together layoff packages?

Ricky Baez 25:25
So when an organization says we have to cut 20%, we always look for different different areas where we can cut with doesn’t affect people, if people are affected, that’s because we have no other choice, none whatsoever. Right?

Ricky Baez 25:42
So and we also take a look at what can the organization do without four quarters. What can the organization do without for half a year?

Ricky Baez 25:51
So that’s what I’m saying, you have to become invaluable to the organization, not because they like you, although sometimes that does happen.

Ricky Baez 25:59
But if they cannot do without your position in the organization, chances are you’re not going to be on the chopping block. So you got to find out what that is in your organization and be great at it.

Pete Newsome 26:09
Right, I don’t have a whole lot to add to that because I agree with you 100% be indispensable and needed. Right, you said you know, you don’t, it’s not about being liked.

Pete Newsome 26:21
Sure, that usually goes hand in hand, but be necessary to the organization. You can’t avoid layoffs happening at times, depending on the role, your end, and the situation, you can’t avoid being laid off and that’s that is a given.

Pete Newsome 26:39
But the layoffs I’ve been a part of, and when these decisions are being made, there the number it’s numbers based this department, this organization has to cut so many people, you know, there’s 100, you have to cut 20, there’s 100, you have to cut at it, whatever it is.

Pete Newsome 27:01
So to be as valuable as possible for whatever organization you are part of is the best way to mitigate the risk of being laid off.

Pete Newsome 27:11
That’s right, it would be it’s impossible for me not to think of our quiet quitting conversations right now.

Pete Newsome 27:18
It’s because we’ve we, we talked about that, prior to this wave of layoffs happening and saying to not you do not want to operate that way.

Pete Newsome 27:28
Because if the time comes when there is going to be any kind of downsizing, you will be at the top of the list.

Pete Newsome 27:35
And it’s better to leave and to be in a situation that you want to do your best and, and thrive within and you’re happy to be there. Right?

Pete Newsome 27:46
That’s the goal.

Pete Newsome 27:49
So for those of you who are not at risk of being laid off, who aren’t, but are in that quiet quitting mode right now, consider it right consider maybe if your company was facing a layoff right now, and 50% of the team was going to be impacted.

Pete Newsome 28:10
Consider whether you’re part of that list, you know which side of the list you’re on. And, then you know, always proceed accordingly.

Pete Newsome 28:20
I mean, that’s, that’s what it is, we all have to make these decisions. But what we would encourage everyone to do is to find an organizational job.

Pete Newsome 28:31
That’s more than just a job, your settle your you settle on, find one that you really, really want to do that’s a goal.

Ricky Baez 28:40
Sometimes people don’t understand that concept as far as being so valuable for an organization that you don’t make it to that layoff list.

Ricky Baez 28:49
So one example that I use with all of my students over in class, is to picture yourself as the head of the household that makes it just you know, for the sake of argument that makes $1,000 a month, and every month, there’s some kind of bills that are due.

Ricky Baez 29:02
And your budget is airtight, right, you get x amount for food and X amount for entertainment, and there’s no room in that budget to budge. Next thing you know, your hours get cut.

Ricky Baez 29:11
So now you’re 25% less money. So what are you going to cut? Are you going to cut your food, your monthly food bill? Are you going to cut Hulu? Are you going to cut this c plus?

Ricky Baez 29:22
Are you going to cut Netflix, right? There are some things that are more valuable to their family than others. There’s no other rhyme or reason behind it other than the value it provides the same thing happens at work.

Ricky Baez 29:33
Are you in a position that can easily be replaced or can easily be done by somebody else? If the answer is yes, chances are you’re going to be on that list.

Ricky Baez 29:44
I was gonna say the more obscure and the more.

Ricky Baez 29:48
I don’t want to see obscure the job is but the more you differentiate yourself from your skill level and the higher level for that job, the less likely you will be on that list or at the very least at the very bottom of that list, which means that everything else has to be considered before they talk to you.

Pete Newsome 30:05
Yeah, I think there’s a practical consideration to this too is that sometimes that is not possible to be necessary for the organization as a whole, right?

Pete Newsome 30:17
If you’re in, I don’t want to necessarily have less specific positions. But if you are in a position where, you know, there’s, there are other people who could do the same role.

Pete Newsome 30:27
Just be just make it roll all together can be eliminated, just make sure that you’re going to be the last one to go. I mean, that’s and show up every day with that in mind.

Pete Newsome 30:39
And again, if if you don’t think the job that you’re in is worth putting forth that kind of effort, then don’t wait for someone to tap you on the shoulder when you’re not expecting it.

Pete Newsome 30:52
And you don’t want that to happen. Be proactive, and start spending time looking. While you do have more time. Why you do have that runway? Wait loudly.

Pete Newsome 31:05
Look, quit immediately.

Ricky Baez 31:06
Immediately. Give it two weeks.

Pete Newsome 31:11
Sorry, yes. But yeah, if you’re going to quit, quit, and then you know, do your best job the best job you possibly can. At the last minute, you walk out the door.

Pete Newsome 31:22
I’ll try to say this quickly because you mentioned something that I think is also being in staffing for so long. What I would look for in, new business opportunities, if we would get approached at times.

Pete Newsome 31:38
And we still do today by companies saying hey, we would like to engage your services, we’d like to help you fill this position.

Pete Newsome 31:45
And we want to know what’s happened up until then. Right? Great that your new organization asking you to work with us. But I want to know why.

Pete Newsome 31:55
And if the why could be anything from Hey, we’re growing, and we don’t have the internal resources to keep up. That’s a great reason.

Pete Newsome 32:04
The third party we were using before for staffing, wasn’t doing a good enough job.

Pete Newsome 32:10
That’s a reason we love to hear, of course, the one that I never want to hear is we have this position been open for a long time, and we haven’t been able to fill it for doesn’t matter what comes next.

Pete Newsome 32:26
Because I’m no longer really paying attention.

Pete Newsome 32:28
But because it’s irrelevant, because of position has it you’ve been able to function allowing a position to stay open for a long period of time, it tells me that position is not very important to you.

Pete Newsome 32:43
Right, and I can’t You’re not compelled. And that’s how I was taught.

Pete Newsome 32:48
It’s or evolved to think of selling a good sales situation is when you have, you can identify what happens if no action is taken and what and there’s a negative impact.

Pete Newsome 33:00
So if an organization is able to let a job stay open for that period of time, for a long period of time, the weeks even right, then you have you go.

Pete Newsome 33:12
That’s probably not so, so important. So maybe this is a little off-topic, but it was on my mind. If you’re in a position where you were you think, hey, if I go away, cook, is there a negative impact?

Pete Newsome 33:28
And the answer is no. Well, then that’s probably one way you can avoid being laid off. Right? Like you can do the best but if they can still function without you.

Pete Newsome 33:37
I mean, think of Twitter and that’s kind of a running joke about to say that right now where all these positions they cut in yet the app still functions fine for me.

Ricky Baez 33:47
Still going strong laid off 2700 payrolls. 2700, and I feel bad for those people.

Pete Newsome 33:55
I thought it was more than that. What was it more than that?

Ricky Baez 33:59
Last I read It was 2700. If it’s more steel. Wow. Because I don’t think they had that many people, right?

Pete Newsome 34:07
We don’t know. Let’s find out.

Ricky Baez 34:09
Let’s find out. Let’s find out.

Pete Newsome 34:10
Well, you look it up.

Ricky Baez 34:14
Alright, let me go to AOL. You’ve got mail.

Pete Newsome 34:18
So let’s get up here real quick. So look, I don’t want I think we’ve talked enough about about about this. Ricky, is there anything else you wanted to add?

Ricky Baez 34:30
No, just you know, from overall, for this perspective P. The only thing I want to add is, you know, there are various people who were laid off.

Ricky Baez 34:40
There are people, who are looking into what’s next for them. And all I’m saying is, folks, just get ready. Just get ready.

Ricky Baez 34:50
And how you get ready is by MPT I say this every week in our Tuesday morning meetings, build those relationships.

Ricky Baez 35:00
Proactively on LinkedIn, I say it every single week. I know every employee is like, here’s Ricky talking about building relationships.

Ricky Baez 35:09
And this is the reason why when you build those relationships proactively on LinkedIn, the easier your job search is going to be later on.

Ricky Baez 35:17
Because if you do it right, if you do it right, if you put in the legwork, when you don’t need a job when you do need a job, the lead words are really going to be done.

Ricky Baez 35:25
Because when a position comes up to a recruiter, that you’ve been working on that relationship that he or she thinks about you first you’ve done a great job and they’re going to pick up the phone and give you a call and tap you on the shoulder before it’s the other way around.

Ricky Baez 35:39
So for those of us that are still out, there still grinding and making sure that we do what you need to for that organization a make ourselves invaluable.

Ricky Baez 35:49
That way you’re less likely to be on that list and start strategically and proactively working on your network that way case you’re on that list, your job search will be just that much easier later on.

Pete Newsome 36:01
Great advice.

Pete Newsome 36:02
No doubt. It looks like 7500 were laid off. That’s what I’m 75 Wow. So giant, giant number. Okay, so we’re gonna go with one more question.

Pete Newsome 36:13
And we’ll wrap up for today. And this one I don’t even think it should be necessary to say to ask out loud but I’m going to anyway.

Ricky Baez 36:23
No A1 sauce for steaks, we talked about already man.

Pete Newsome 36:33
So apparently someone who had listened to it and was talking about asking for a raise or read one of the blog articles we have on zengig about that.

Pete Newsome 36:41
And then said it’s a question as I was ready to go ask for a raise. We just had a layoff should I wait? Yeah. Yes.

Pete Newsome 36:51
Yes.

Ricky Baez 36:52
Wait, oh, no. You know what? Perfect timing. Perfect time and actually walk into your boss’s office in the middle of your boss lane.

Ricky Baez 37:00
Somebody off, just walk in and say excuse me, Margaret. Hey, can I get a raise in front of Mark? Okay, so just kidding.

Pete Newsome 37:07
Clearly not. And so I don’t maybe it was, I don’t know, if it was a serious question, we’ll take it as serious because someone asked, and if they really need to know that it came in just a couple of days ago.

Pete Newsome 37:21
So I wanted to bring it up today. While we could. Please don’t do it at that moment. Get let it simmer a little bit. Wait until it had if you had a recent layoff, check back in January, and see how things are going.

Ricky Baez 37:37
Unless you’re looking for a fast past version of gaming on that list you didn’t come on. Because as soon as you go in and ask for a raise while they’re doing layoffs, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be added to that list.

Pete Newsome 37:51
Yeah, it’s just that’s bad. You really have to you have to read the room, you have to know the situation that you’re in when you’re going to do something like that.

Pete Newsome 38:00
So there, there are a lot of times when it’s appropriate, and you should do it. In one of the pieces of advice, I know that we’ve given when it comes to when to ask for a layoff.

Pete Newsome 38:18
First, try to understand how your company handles those things in general and understand what the history is. And is there a normal timeframe that those raises are given? And did I say that the wrong way?

Ricky Baez 38:33
When you went to ask for a layoff?

Pete Newsome 38:34
I did say what?

Pete Newsome 38:36
So let me repeat, when it’s time to ask for a raise. Just look at the history of the organization, if you can, and understand what it was, is there a normal timeframe? Is it companies that do that?

Pete Newsome 38:52
Sometimes once a year, is there a systematic way that it’s done, and then try to time it where it makes sense along with whatever you can just be armed with information to help you determine when the best timing is so sorry for making a mess of that statement?

Ricky Baez 39:12
No, no, no, it’s okay. Because it that’s important for people to know Pete It’s it. It really is not the room, read the room, not the room.

Ricky Baez 39:21
If they’re laying off, that means they don’t have anymore but any more money in the budget, actually they have to cut whatever they currently planned for in that year-end budget, and this reason for that layoff.

Ricky Baez 39:31
And what he said is 100% true.

Ricky Baez 39:33
Get to know your company and get to know its tempo as far as when it gives out raises.

Ricky Baez 39:38
The best time to ask for a raise should not be during the downturn of the fiscal calendar of the organization. Right? To be honest, the best time to ask for a raise.

Ricky Baez 39:50
It’s right before their Christmas season when they need valuable people even more whatever Christmas season that is right.

Ricky Baez 39:56
And I use that in air quotes right because that’s where most retail stores To really get their best bang for their buck, for example, I used to work at Sears Home Improvements in the home improvement business.

Ricky Baez 40:07
From November until February it was dead. It was dead because who’s gonna replace a roof during Christmas? Nobody.

Ricky Baez 40:15
So it’s, we always plan ahead of that and nobody asked for a raise, you want to know when they started asking for a raise in spring? Right, right when it was getting, you know, really big.

Ricky Baez 40:25
So you have to know the financial tempo for your business and act and act accordingly and ask accordingly, but never ever, ever. Right, during, or right after a layoff.

Ricky Baez 40:36
I almost saw it right before but that would imply that you know, is coming.

Pete Newsome 40:40
I think I think we’ve addressed that as thoroughly as we need to.

Ricky Baez 40:45
I know we need five more hours. Pete This is great stuff. That’s okay. Well, thanks, Spanish.

Pete Newsome 40:51
So we’re gonna go back. We’re going to go back to our Friday morning.

Pete Newsome 40:56
You have coffee and you have lots of sun and heat out it. Yes. in sunny Florida today. So December. That’s right. In December. So maybe like Christmas. We’ll have two weeks. Three weeks, three weeks left. Maybe we’ll get lucky this year.

Ricky Baez 41:13
Yeah, maybe we’ll get lucky. If this away. Chris was in Florida, the next show was going to be what’s happening to the world? Because right oh my god.

Pete Newsome 41:21
Right. Well, you never know these days. Nothing. I wouldn’t rule it out. Well, awesome. Well, thank you so much. Appreciate your insight.

Pete Newsome 41:29
As always, if you’ve been listening this far, thank you as well. We would love for you to ask questions. If you have them. We like answering them.

Pete Newsome 41:38
When whenever we can help and check out zengig.com for answers on pretty much every topic related to career advice. We’d love feedback on that, too. So let us know how we’re doing and of course, rate us five stars. We love that too.

Ricky Baez 41:56
Let us know. Thank you very much for listening. Have a good one.