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.
The meeting took eleven minutes. Your laptop access ended before lunch, and by the afternoon you were at home on a weekday with a folder of documents and no idea what you were supposed to do next.
If you are searching for what to do after being laid off, you are probably in one of two modes. Either you are frozen, or you have already applied to fourteen jobs since yesterday out of pure adrenaline. Neither helps much. The people who come through a layoff well tend to do a small number of things in a sensible order, and they are careful about what they do not rush.
This is a plan for the first 30 days. It is career guidance. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and where those questions come up, the right move is a qualified professional.
The short version: in the first week, handle paperwork and money, and do not sign or announce anything in a hurry. In week two, work out your story and your target. In week three, rebuild your resume and LinkedIn around that target. In week four, start outreach, leading with conversations over applications.
The first 48 hours: what to do first, and what to leave alone
Your only job in the first two days is to avoid mistakes that are hard to undo.
Do:
- Gather every document you were given and put them in one folder. Note any date by which you have to respond.
- Write down the names and personal contact details of colleagues, clients and vendors you will want to reach later, if you still can and your agreements allow it.
- Save copies of things that are yours: performance reviews, thank-you notes, your own portfolio pieces. Do not take anything confidential or proprietary.
- Tell the people at home. You need them on your side and they will know something is wrong anyway.
Do not:
- Sign the severance agreement in the meeting or that evening. Read it slowly. If anything about the terms, the release or a non-compete is unclear, pay for an hour with an employment attorney. That is their job, not a career coach’s and not a search engine’s.
- Post on LinkedIn while you are still shaking.
- Send a message to your former team that you would not want your next employer to read.
- Apply to anything. You do not yet know what you are applying for.
Week one: paperwork, money and your runway number
Once the shock settles, spend the first week on logistics. It is dull, and it lowers your anxiety more than anything else you can do.
- Get answers to the practical questions. When is your last paycheck? What happens to unused vacation, bonus, equity and retirement accounts? When does health coverage end and what are your options after? Ask HR in writing so you have the answers on record. For unemployment benefits, go to your state’s official agency, since the rules differ by state. For tax questions, ask an accountant.
- Calculate your runway. Add up savings plus any severance, divide by your essential monthly spending, and you have a number of months. Be honest about it.
- Let the number set your strategy. If your runway is six months or more, you can be selective and pursue the right role. If it is two or three months, run two tracks at once: the search for the job you want, and a bridge option such as contract work, consulting for former clients, or a role a step below your level that you could land quickly.
- Set a daily structure. Pick start and stop times for search work. Four focused hours a day beats ten scattered ones, and unstructured days are where morale goes to die.
- Ask for two things before goodwill fades. A reference from your manager, and a LinkedIn recommendation. Managers who just laid people off usually feel terrible and say yes. Ask this week.
Week two: build the story before you talk to anyone important
Here is what most people get wrong. They call their best contacts on day three, sound rattled, and cannot say what they are looking for. Those calls are hard to get back.
Spend week two on two questions.
What happened, in two sentences? You need a version you can say without your voice changing. Keep it factual, keep it short, and end on what is next.
What do I want now? A layoff is a forced pause, and it is worth a few days of real thought. Do you want the same role at a similar company, the same role in a steadier industry, or a different direction? You do not need total certainty. You need a target specific enough that another person can help you hit it. “Anything in marketing” gives people nothing to work with. “Lifecycle marketing lead at a subscription software company, 100 to 1,000 employees” does.
How to tell people you were laid off
Once the story is settled, adapt it for each audience.
For your network:
“My role was eliminated when the company cut its product team by a third. I spent four years there leading customer onboarding and took time-to-launch from ten weeks to four. I’m now looking at customer success leadership roles at B2B software companies. Do you know anyone at companies like that who I should talk to?”
Notice the ask at the end. It is for an introduction, not a job. People can almost always help with the first and almost never with the second.
For interviews, when asked why you left:
“The company restructured and eliminated my team, along with about forty other roles. I’m proud of what we built there, particularly the partner program, which was my project from the start. It’s given me the chance to be deliberate about what comes next, and this role stood out because of how much it focuses on partnerships.”
Short, no bitterness, straight back to the job at hand. If your search ends up running long, our guide on how to explain a career gap covers the follow-up questions.
For LinkedIn, if you choose to post: three or four sentences. What happened, what you did there, what you are looking for, and how people can help. Thank your team by name if you like. Leave out anything about how the layoff was handled.
Week three: documents and a target list
Now, and only now, rewrite the resume. Doing it earlier means writing it for no one in particular.
- Resume. Rebuild the top third around the target you chose in week two. Rewrite your most recent role as results, not duties. Cut anything older than ten or fifteen years down to a line.
- LinkedIn. Update the headline to what you do and want, not “seeking new opportunities.” Add an end date to your last role when you are ready. Turn on the setting that tells recruiters you are open.
- Target list. Write down 25 to 40 companies you would like to work for, whether or not they have a posting. For each one, note anyone you know there or anyone one step removed. This list, not the job boards, is the backbone of your search.
- Stories. Draft five or six examples of your best work. You will need them for interviews and they make networking calls better too.
Week four: outreach and first conversations
By now you have a story, a target, documents and a list. Start the real search.
A useful weekly rhythm:
- Ten to fifteen outreach messages to people on or near your target list
- Five or more actual conversations
- Five to eight carefully chosen applications, each with a tailored resume, and wherever possible a contact inside the company who knows it is coming
- One hour reviewing what is working
Put most of your energy into conversations. Cold applications feel productive because they are countable, but roles are often filled by someone who was already known to the team. Start with former colleagues, who already know your work and are the people most likely to pass your name along. If reaching out feels uncomfortable, how to network when you hate networking has word-for-word messages.
A laid off checklist for the first 30 days
| When | Focus | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 2 | Avoid hasty moves | Documents gathered, nothing signed or posted in a rush |
| Week 1 | Paperwork and money | Runway number known, references requested |
| Week 2 | Story and target | You can say both in under a minute |
| Week 3 | Documents and list | Resume, LinkedIn and 25-plus target companies ready |
| Week 4 | Outreach | Five conversations held, weekly rhythm in place |
What not to rush
- The severance signature. Read it, know your deadline, get qualified advice.
- The public announcement. A post written in week two is better than one written on day one.
- Your best contacts. Save them until you know what to ask for.
- The first offer. If your runway allows, compare it against what you decided you wanted in week two. Panic acceptances are a common way to end up searching again within a year.
- A total career change. A layoff can be the right moment for one, but decide it with a clear head, not in the first raw week.
How long this takes, and when to get help
No one can promise you a timeline. It depends on your level, your field and the market you are searching in. Senior searches generally run longer because there are fewer seats and more interview rounds. Plan in months, budget for it, and judge yourself on weekly activity that you control, not on offers that you do not.
Consider getting help if you reach week four with no clear target, if you are getting conversations but no interviews, or if the layoff has knocked your confidence enough that you are avoiding the work. Career transition coaching is built for this stretch: a coach helps you settle the story, pressure-test the target and keep a steady weekly rhythm. Realign coaches include former recruiters and hiring managers, which helps when you want to know how your story sounds from the other side of the desk.
Day one of the plan
Today, do only this: put the documents in one folder, write down your response deadline, and tell someone you trust. The rest can wait until tomorrow.
When you are ready for a partner in the search, take the two-minute quiz and get matched with a coach. The first session is fully refundable within 48 hours if the fit is not right.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do first after being laid off?
Do the things that have deadlines and leave everything else. Collect your paperwork, note the date by which you must respond to any severance agreement, find out when your pay and health coverage end, and save contact details and work samples you are allowed to keep. Do not sign anything the same day. Read the agreement carefully and get qualified advice if any part is unclear. Then work out how many months your savings cover. That one number decides how selective you can be.
How soon should I start job searching after a layoff?
Take a few days to absorb it, then start the quiet groundwork in the first week: your finances, your story and your target list. Hold off on mass applications and on calls with your most valuable contacts until you can explain what happened and what you want next in a few calm sentences, which for most people is the second or third week. Starting outreach while you are still angry or vague wastes your best leads. Waiting months makes the restart harder and the gap longer.
How do I tell people I was laid off?
Briefly, factually, and with your next step attached. One sentence on what happened, one on what you did there, one on what you are looking for. For example: my role was eliminated when the company cut the product team, I spent four years there leading onboarding, and I am now looking at customer success leadership roles at software companies. Skip blame and long explanations. Layoffs are common, and people judge how you talk about it far more than the event itself.
How long does it take to find a job after a layoff?
It varies with your level, your field, your location and the market, so treat any single number with suspicion. Senior and specialized roles usually take longer because fewer of them exist and hiring processes run to several rounds. Plan in months, not weeks, and set your budget accordingly. The factors you control are how clearly you define your target, how much of your search runs through conversations instead of cold applications, and how consistently you work at it each week.