What To Do IMMEDIATELY If You're Laid Off

[0:00]Hey besties, this week we gotta talk about something kinda sad. If you haven't seen the recent headlines, there have been some major layoffs recently. And a lot of smart, talented people are likely out of a job due to no fault of their own. The headlines largely focus on major banks and big tech companies, but truthfully, layoffs are happening pretty much everywhere right now. While I genuinely hope you never have to experience the stress that is typically associated with a layoff, if you did happen to get laid off or if you want to prepare in case it happens to you or someone you know in the future. Today, we're going to discuss what to do if you get laid off. Instead of panicking and swirling, these are a few simple steps to take to ensure that you have the best opportunity to find a better job soon and are taken care of in the interim. Few of you might already know, but I'm Vivian, your rich BFF, and your favorite Wall Street girly, and I hope this video is a guide that helps lessen your fears if you're laid off and don't know what to do. Please like, comment, and subscribe to learn more about being good with your money. Let's get to it. First things first, you either got called into HR's office, got a call, or maybe even received an email. But somehow the news was delivered to you that you were going to be losing your job. Before you go into fight or flight, take a few deep breaths and ground yourself. Then, the first thing you're going to do is ask HR for a layoff letter. This is a document on company letterhead explicitly stating that you lost your job because of a reason beyond your control. Maybe it was cost cutting, maybe it was a company reorg, but whatever it was, it wasn't because you were a bad employee. This document will help you with your job hunt by showing that you were a good, decent, unproblematic person, and that no other company should hesitate to scoop you up as talent. This is especially important if you haven't worked at the company laying you off for very long. And bonus points if you can actually get your manager to write you a short letter of recommendation, essentially saying, I'm devastated to be losing this person, they were great, they would make a great employee anywhere. I know it sounds tedious, but you're essentially preparing your arsenal of tangible proof points that you were a great hire. Up next, investigate a severance package. See if your company's willing to give you some money to help make ends meet while you're hunting for a new job. A good rule of thumb is to request four weeks of severance pay for each year you've worked at the company. What I will say is that some companies will be a lot more generous here than others. For example, major banks typically offer mid-level to lower end senior level investment professionals 6 to 12 months of paid severance. Tech is typically closer to the four weeks per year of employment benchmark I mentioned, and other industries may not even offer it. But, closed mouths don't get fed and the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so you won't know unless you ask. Up next, register for unemployment as soon as possible. You'll want to have money coming in while you're in between jobs. And, per usual, bureaucratic government run offices typically take a minute to process paperwork. Keep in mind your eligibility, the amount you'll receive, and the length of time you're covered to receive unemployment depends on where you live. Check with the local branch of your state's Department of Labor and the unemployment office. Fortunately for us, we live in the digital age and you can just Google this. More than likely these days, you don't have to stand waiting around in an office, you can apply online. And I know what you're thinking, now, time to jump back into job hunting. Not yet. Before job hunting, give yourself some time to grieve. When you unexpectedly lose your job, you can feel like you've lost your entire identity. You're going to feel sad. That's normal and okay. But this isn't the end of your career or the world, you have bigger and better things coming. But going into interviews with a desperate mindset may cause you to leave less than stellar first impressions. There's no reason for you to flub an interview just because you were in a bad mindset that day. Give yourself a moment. And then, when you are finally ready, you can begin your job hunt. One of the easiest things you can do is to have recruiters slide into your DMs. If you want to get a ton of interviews without that much work, you have to change your LinkedIn. When you go to your profile, you'll see a blue button that says open to. Click finding a new job and fill out the details of what type of work you're looking for. Then, this is the important part. Click choose who sees you're open. If you've recently been laid off, feel free to click all LinkedIn members, as this will let folks in your network potentially help you find a new job. But if you're still working for a company and just looking on the low, click recruiters only. Then add to profile. When I did this, I went from getting one or two LinkedIn DMs every month to getting one or two LinkedIn DMs a day offering me potential new jobs. As always, you are not just your job. You are so much more valuable than what you do from nine to five every day. But, having a plan when things go slightly off course, will help keep you on your path to financial success. If you've been recently laid off, I'm sending you all of my love and well wishes. Good luck on the job hunt. See ya, besties.