What to Do After a Layoff
Losing a job brings a handful of urgent tasks and a harder question about what comes next. These guides start with the first steps, then cover how to explain a layoff, a firing or a gap to employers without over-explaining.
If your job feels at risk but you are still in it, the guides on performance plans and reorganizations cover what to do while you still have options.
Start here
After a job loss
- What to Do After Being Laid Off: The First 30 Days
A calm, week-by-week plan for what to do after being laid off: paperwork and money first, then your story, your documents and outreach, with what not to rush.
- Losing Your Job: How to Cope and Rebuild
A first-week plan for coping with losing your job, why the grief is real, and how to know when you are ready to start applying again.
- Should You Hire a Career Coach After a Layoff?
What to do alone in the first week after a layoff, where a career coach actually saves time, and how to use severance or employer outplacement to pay for it.
- What Outplacement Actually Looks Like in 2026
What is outplacement, and is it worth using? A practical guide to modern outplacement services for HR leaders and employees facing layoffs.
Explaining it to employers
- How to Explain a Layoff in an Interview
How to explain a layoff in an interview with a short script that states the business reason, skips the apology, and handles the follow-up question.
- How to Explain Being Fired in an Interview
Wording for explaining being fired in an interview honestly and briefly, with versions for performance, fit, and conflict, plus what to put as reason for leaving.
- How to Put a Layoff on Your Resume and LinkedIn
The end date to use, whether to mention the layoff at all, and how to update LinkedIn so you look active instead of dormant.
- How to Explain a Career Gap on Your Resume
Learn exactly how to explain a career gap on your resume with honest framing, strong language, and examples that turn time off into a strength.
When your job is at risk
- What to Do If You Are Put on a Performance Improvement Plan
A performance improvement plan is a signal, not a verdict. Here is how to read it, respond to it, and quietly start a job search at the same time.
- How to Survive a Reorganization at Work
How to survive a reorg: read the real signals, position yourself with new leadership, and quietly prepare a backup plan without panicking.
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