Matt Hoffman and Virginia Lloyd have dealt with layoffs before, from both sides of the equation. Matt has spent almost two decades leading talent functions in both Fortune 500 companies and high-growth startups. He is currently a Partner and Head of Talent at M13, where he works closely with portfolio companies on talent acquisition and retention strategies. Virginia is a recruiting consultant and former Head of People at multiple startups, and now spends a significant portion of her time coaching recently laid-off employees and helping them find new opportunities.
Losing a job is stressful and traumatic under the best of circumstances. Right now, it feels even more so.
There’s been a major run of layoffs in recent months, and for the first time in almost a generation, jobs in the tech sector are not plentiful. In an economic environment where many companies are freezing or slowing down hiring, layoffs can be fraught with fear, tension, and uncertainty for people who now unexpectedly find themselves looking for new roles. Research has shown that losing a job is one of the most stressful life experiences a person can go through, and when you are facing one of the toughest job markets in years, finding your way back to a job you love can be even more daunting.
While overall hiring is still up relative to the beginning of 2020, it does not feel that way at all for those impacted by layoffs. Many workers are finding themselves laid off for the first time in their careers, and we have spoken to multiple people who have not updated their resumes—let alone gone on a job interview—in over a decade.
But this does not have to be a terrifying moment, and if you’ve been laid off, you’re far from alone. While there’s no single magic bullet that will relieve the stress of coping with a job loss, we can offer some important tips to help you navigate what comes next.
Regroup & prepare
Most importantly: don’t panic
Being unexpectedly laid off from a job often feels jarring and distressing. Your entire routine, economic support, and even self-worth can be significantly tied to your job. That’s normal and understandable—but don’t let that define you.
Almost everyone has been through a job loss, and if there’s one thing we can promise from our numerous experiences, it is that things will get better and you will find something else. More often than not, you’ll be better off than where you were most recently. So take a deep breath (research shows it helps), and know that while this experience may be painful, it won’t last forever.
Let go of shame
Only a short while ago, candidates felt they had to hide or explain away “gaps in their resumes.” That time is over.
Today, recruiters understand people leave jobs for all sorts of reasons, and that often it’s as much about the employer as the employee. It’s not your fault if the company over-hired! Don’t feel like you have to make excuses. Calmly explain what happened and why you’ll be even more careful to find the right fit for you the next time around.
It’s becoming normalized for people to proudly own their job searches on LinkedIn, either through the #opentowork hashtag or via a post letting their networks know that they’ve been laid off. We think both approaches are a fantastic idea. We are thrilled to see more empathy and fewer negative assumptions about only low performers being let go from high-performing companies, because that’s just not true.
Leverage your network—people want to help
You don’t have to be a social butterfly to network. We all have people in our lives that care about us, both personally and professionally. Don’t be afraid to reach out to personal connections and share your experiences with them. You may be surprised to learn who your friends and family are connected to, and who may be able to help with your search or refer you to someone that can.
One of the best things about removing shame and stigma from being let go is that it has become perfectly socially acceptable to talk about looking for new opportunities. Feel free to ask for help, while being respectful of people’s time and space.
Also consider leveraging your social network outside of LinkedIn. Platforms like Twitter, Discord, TikTok, and Reddit can offer great ways to tap into communities that are willing to share your search within their networks.
If there's a company you are excited about, and you have a connection that works there, it’s a great idea to send that person a (well-researched) message about why you are so excited about the company and ask if they’d consider putting in a warm recommendation for you. Recruiters prioritize and highly value referrals from their colleagues much more than purely inbound applications.
Job searching: Applications & interviews
Pace yourself
Set up regular times to focus on your search, but don’t burn yourself out by applying aimlessly to every job you come across. Looking for a job is a full time job in and of itself, and “panic applying” can waste a lot of valuable time—not to mention it can make you feel discouraged and more anxious about your search when you don’t hear back.
Set aside time to research industries and companies you’re interested in. Look at Glassdoor reviews, reach out to your network for recommendations on companies that fit what you’re looking for, and check to see what openings are available on their careers sites. Once you’ve narrowed down your search, do some digging to see if you know anyone that works within the organizations you’re most interested in, and reach out.
Think like a recruiter
Recruiters have limited time to look through many applications. Here are some ways to set yours apart.
Write a strong hook—the lines a recruiter will read first that will make them want to learn more about you. Including a summary at the top of your resume that provides a quick overview of your qualifications is a great place to share the things you do really well. This will also be the first thing a recruiter sees when they open your profile, so make it count!
Don’t be afraid to sell yourself. It might sound obvious, but this can be challenging to do. Ask a few trusted people what they believe your biggest strengths are. Sometimes we overlook our own value, making it hard to highlight what we do well on our own resumes.
Tailor your resume to each specific job. One way to do this is to write a summary that speaks specifically to the strengths you bring to the particular role you are applying for. It’s easy to read a job description and mentally check off all the things we know we can do, but if those experiences aren’t explicitly highlighted on your resume, it can be easy for a recruiter to overlook them.
Including language from the job description in your resume is another simple yet effective way to draw attention to how suited you are to the requirements of the job (as long as what you write is true). Many companies will use a form of AI to filter for relevant keywords in a resume even before a human sees it. Make sure your resume speaks to not just why you are great—and you are!—but why you are the right person for this specific company, and most importantly, why you can help them solve their problems.
Interview with your best foot forward
Hiring teams are most interested in understanding your prior impact and how much involvement you have had on the projects you worked on. Be sure to explain what you did specifically. It’s great to be inclusive of the rest of the team and their contributions (“we” is better than “I”), but in an interview, be sure to make it clear what your specific impact was within the context of that team. The hiring manager is interested in potentially hiring you, not the entire team you worked with.
While it’s important not to water down your impact, it’s even more important to be honest. Do not take credit for other people’s work. You may be surprised by how many recruiters and hiring managers will do backdoor references with close contacts that have worked with you previously to verify the work you claim to have done. Also, be consistent in your answers and try to offer different examples if you happen to be asked similar questions by two different interviewers. This will help demonstrate depth and versatility in your experience, as well as prevent any potential red flags if the details of one story differ between interviewers.
Another thing to remember while interviewing is that “culture fit” can be very ambiguous, but typically ties back to several behavioral traits that shine through while you’re interviewing. The best candidates tend to exhibit signs that they’re curious learners, empathetic, inclusive, self aware, and good communicators. While preparing for your interview, try to think of specific career examples that speak to these traits, and try to keep these in mind as you’re responding to tangible questions throughout the interview process.
After the interview
Communicating after an interview
It never hurts to send a personalized thank you note to each interviewer, especially if there were any points in the conversation that really stood out to you. This helps make your meeting memorable, particularly when interviewers are meeting with multiple candidates and have other work priorities to contend with. A thank you note is also a great opportunity to follow up on a discussion or add more context to something you discussed.
If your main point of contact is a recruiter, don’t be afraid to check in with them if you haven’t heard back within a few days. Sometimes people simply get busy and teams are slow to provide feedback, and it can be helpful to make your continued interest known (without being pushy). If you follow up and don’t hear back within a couple more days, try again, or try reaching out to the hiring manager directly. If you don’t get a response after two attempts, it might be worth focusing your attention on other opportunities.
Remember, you’re interviewing the team as much as they’re interviewing you, and if there’s not mutual interest and respect for each other’s time, it may be an indication that it’s not a great long-term fit for you. The interview stage is a chance for you to decide if the company is worth your investment, and it’s okay to withdraw from the process if you don’t feel like your time is valued.
Navigating an offer
Once you receive an offer, you have a lot more power than you may realize. Companies will rarely rescind an offer to someone, so don’t be afraid to discuss the details confidently.
Even with the recent pay transparency rulings requiring many companies to disclose a pay range upfront, it can be difficult to know what part of the range is fair based on your experience. A great way to approach the topic is to ask for clarification on the compensation philosophy.
Some questions that you can ask include:
By asking some of these pointed questions, you’ll get a much better understanding of whether or not the company making you an offer has really put thought into the offer they gave you. If they can’t clearly explain their compensation philosophy, you likely have room to negotiate your salary higher.
There are also other levers you can pull besides base salary. Sign on bonuses, annual bonus percentages, and some other benefits might be up for grabs. For startups or pre-IPO companies, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask about how equity is valued and understand best-case and likely-case scenarios. (The worst case is always zero, so no matter how excited the company is about the potential for equity upside, keep that in mind.)
Hang in there
Being laid off can be an intense emotional experience, but it doesn’t negate your skill and past experience or permanently block your access to future opportunities. Ultimately, a layoff will be a small moment in your decades-long career. Keeping a long-term perspective—and remembering that many, many other people have been laid off and gone on to new and better roles—can help you stay grounded and take a measured approach to finding your next opportunity.
Matt Hoffman and Virginia Lloyd have dealt with layoffs before, from both sides of the equation. Matt has spent almost two decades leading talent functions in both Fortune 500 companies and high-growth startups. He is currently a Partner and Head of Talent at M13, where he works closely with portfolio companies on talent acquisition and retention strategies. Virginia is a recruiting consultant and former Head of People at multiple startups, and now spends a significant portion of her time coaching recently laid-off employees and helping them find new opportunities.
Losing a job is stressful and traumatic under the best of circumstances. Right now, it feels even more so.
There’s been a major run of layoffs in recent months, and for the first time in almost a generation, jobs in the tech sector are not plentiful. In an economic environment where many companies are freezing or slowing down hiring, layoffs can be fraught with fear, tension, and uncertainty for people who now unexpectedly find themselves looking for new roles. Research has shown that losing a job is one of the most stressful life experiences a person can go through, and when you are facing one of the toughest job markets in years, finding your way back to a job you love can be even more daunting.
While overall hiring is still up relative to the beginning of 2020, it does not feel that way at all for those impacted by layoffs. Many workers are finding themselves laid off for the first time in their careers, and we have spoken to multiple people who have not updated their resumes—let alone gone on a job interview—in over a decade.
But this does not have to be a terrifying moment, and if you’ve been laid off, you’re far from alone. While there’s no single magic bullet that will relieve the stress of coping with a job loss, we can offer some important tips to help you navigate what comes next.
Regroup & prepare
Most importantly: don’t panic
Being unexpectedly laid off from a job often feels jarring and distressing. Your entire routine, economic support, and even self-worth can be significantly tied to your job. That’s normal and understandable—but don’t let that define you.
Almost everyone has been through a job loss, and if there’s one thing we can promise from our numerous experiences, it is that things will get better and you will find something else. More often than not, you’ll be better off than where you were most recently. So take a deep breath (research shows it helps), and know that while this experience may be painful, it won’t last forever.
Let go of shame
Only a short while ago, candidates felt they had to hide or explain away “gaps in their resumes.” That time is over.
Today, recruiters understand people leave jobs for all sorts of reasons, and that often it’s as much about the employer as the employee. It’s not your fault if the company over-hired! Don’t feel like you have to make excuses. Calmly explain what happened and why you’ll be even more careful to find the right fit for you the next time around.
It’s becoming normalized for people to proudly own their job searches on LinkedIn, either through the #opentowork hashtag or via a post letting their networks know that they’ve been laid off. We think both approaches are a fantastic idea. We are thrilled to see more empathy and fewer negative assumptions about only low performers being let go from high-performing companies, because that’s just not true.
Leverage your network—people want to help
You don’t have to be a social butterfly to network. We all have people in our lives that care about us, both personally and professionally. Don’t be afraid to reach out to personal connections and share your experiences with them. You may be surprised to learn who your friends and family are connected to, and who may be able to help with your search or refer you to someone that can.
One of the best things about removing shame and stigma from being let go is that it has become perfectly socially acceptable to talk about looking for new opportunities. Feel free to ask for help, while being respectful of people’s time and space.
Also consider leveraging your social network outside of LinkedIn. Platforms like Twitter, Discord, TikTok, and Reddit can offer great ways to tap into communities that are willing to share your search within their networks.
If there's a company you are excited about, and you have a connection that works there, it’s a great idea to send that person a (well-researched) message about why you are so excited about the company and ask if they’d consider putting in a warm recommendation for you. Recruiters prioritize and highly value referrals from their colleagues much more than purely inbound applications.
Job searching: Applications & interviews
Pace yourself
Set up regular times to focus on your search, but don’t burn yourself out by applying aimlessly to every job you come across. Looking for a job is a full time job in and of itself, and “panic applying” can waste a lot of valuable time—not to mention it can make you feel discouraged and more anxious about your search when you don’t hear back.
Set aside time to research industries and companies you’re interested in. Look at Glassdoor reviews, reach out to your network for recommendations on companies that fit what you’re looking for, and check to see what openings are available on their careers sites. Once you’ve narrowed down your search, do some digging to see if you know anyone that works within the organizations you’re most interested in, and reach out.
Think like a recruiter
Recruiters have limited time to look through many applications. Here are some ways to set yours apart.
Write a strong hook—the lines a recruiter will read first that will make them want to learn more about you. Including a summary at the top of your resume that provides a quick overview of your qualifications is a great place to share the things you do really well. This will also be the first thing a recruiter sees when they open your profile, so make it count!
Don’t be afraid to sell yourself. It might sound obvious, but this can be challenging to do. Ask a few trusted people what they believe your biggest strengths are. Sometimes we overlook our own value, making it hard to highlight what we do well on our own resumes.
Tailor your resume to each specific job. One way to do this is to write a summary that speaks specifically to the strengths you bring to the particular role you are applying for. It’s easy to read a job description and mentally check off all the things we know we can do, but if those experiences aren’t explicitly highlighted on your resume, it can be easy for a recruiter to overlook them.
Including language from the job description in your resume is another simple yet effective way to draw attention to how suited you are to the requirements of the job (as long as what you write is true). Many companies will use a form of AI to filter for relevant keywords in a resume even before a human sees it. Make sure your resume speaks to not just why you are great—and you are!—but why you are the right person for this specific company, and most importantly, why you can help them solve their problems.
Interview with your best foot forward
Hiring teams are most interested in understanding your prior impact and how much involvement you have had on the projects you worked on. Be sure to explain what you did specifically. It’s great to be inclusive of the rest of the team and their contributions (“we” is better than “I”), but in an interview, be sure to make it clear what your specific impact was within the context of that team. The hiring manager is interested in potentially hiring you, not the entire team you worked with.
While it’s important not to water down your impact, it’s even more important to be honest. Do not take credit for other people’s work. You may be surprised by how many recruiters and hiring managers will do backdoor references with close contacts that have worked with you previously to verify the work you claim to have done. Also, be consistent in your answers and try to offer different examples if you happen to be asked similar questions by two different interviewers. This will help demonstrate depth and versatility in your experience, as well as prevent any potential red flags if the details of one story differ between interviewers.
Another thing to remember while interviewing is that “culture fit” can be very ambiguous, but typically ties back to several behavioral traits that shine through while you’re interviewing. The best candidates tend to exhibit signs that they’re curious learners, empathetic, inclusive, self aware, and good communicators. While preparing for your interview, try to think of specific career examples that speak to these traits, and try to keep these in mind as you’re responding to tangible questions throughout the interview process.
After the interview
Communicating after an interview
It never hurts to send a personalized thank you note to each interviewer, especially if there were any points in the conversation that really stood out to you. This helps make your meeting memorable, particularly when interviewers are meeting with multiple candidates and have other work priorities to contend with. A thank you note is also a great opportunity to follow up on a discussion or add more context to something you discussed.
If your main point of contact is a recruiter, don’t be afraid to check in with them if you haven’t heard back within a few days. Sometimes people simply get busy and teams are slow to provide feedback, and it can be helpful to make your continued interest known (without being pushy). If you follow up and don’t hear back within a couple more days, try again, or try reaching out to the hiring manager directly. If you don’t get a response after two attempts, it might be worth focusing your attention on other opportunities.
Remember, you’re interviewing the team as much as they’re interviewing you, and if there’s not mutual interest and respect for each other’s time, it may be an indication that it’s not a great long-term fit for you. The interview stage is a chance for you to decide if the company is worth your investment, and it’s okay to withdraw from the process if you don’t feel like your time is valued.
Navigating an offer
Once you receive an offer, you have a lot more power than you may realize. Companies will rarely rescind an offer to someone, so don’t be afraid to discuss the details confidently.
Even with the recent pay transparency rulings requiring many companies to disclose a pay range upfront, it can be difficult to know what part of the range is fair based on your experience. A great way to approach the topic is to ask for clarification on the compensation philosophy.
Some questions that you can ask include:
By asking some of these pointed questions, you’ll get a much better understanding of whether or not the company making you an offer has really put thought into the offer they gave you. If they can’t clearly explain their compensation philosophy, you likely have room to negotiate your salary higher.
There are also other levers you can pull besides base salary. Sign on bonuses, annual bonus percentages, and some other benefits might be up for grabs. For startups or pre-IPO companies, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask about how equity is valued and understand best-case and likely-case scenarios. (The worst case is always zero, so no matter how excited the company is about the potential for equity upside, keep that in mind.)
Hang in there
Being laid off can be an intense emotional experience, but it doesn’t negate your skill and past experience or permanently block your access to future opportunities. Ultimately, a layoff will be a small moment in your decades-long career. Keeping a long-term perspective—and remembering that many, many other people have been laid off and gone on to new and better roles—can help you stay grounded and take a measured approach to finding your next opportunity.
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The views expressed here are those of the individual M13 personnel quoted and are not the views of M13 Holdings Company, LLC (“M13”) or its affiliates.This content is for general informational purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal, business, investment, tax or other advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters and should not act or refrain from acting on the basis of this content.This content is not directed to any investors or potential investors, is not an offer or solicitation and may not be used or relied upon in connection with any offer or solicitation with respect to any current or future M13 investment partnership.Past performance is not indicative of future results. Unless otherwise noted, this content is intended to be current only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others.Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in funds managed by M13, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by M13 is available at m13.co/portfolio.