Navigating Change: Strategies to Survive and Thrive Amidst Layoffs

Facing job insecurity or simply looking to stay ahead in your career? We've got your roadmap right here. Amidst the turmoil of layoffs from tech behemoths like IBM, Google, and Microsoft, my guest and I dissect the factors leading to this unsettling trend. We're talking economic shifts post-pandemic, the rise of AI, and changes in various sectors like film production. More importantly, we arm you with survival strategies for these unpredictable times, urging you to take charge like you're the CEO of your very own career.

Now, let's talk about making your mark. Crafting a career portfolio isn't just busy work; it's your ticket to standing out. We go beyond the basics, highlighting how to identify your passion and align it with the right companies. Personality assessments aren't just for fun—they're tools to leverage your strengths. And that elevator pitch? We'll show you how to nail it, capturing your professional essence in a snapshot. Our conversation is packed with actionable advice to help you weave through the job market with poise and purpose.

As we wrap up, we switch gears and get personal—sharing a few laughs and our preferences, from serene mountain views to a good glass of whiskey. We even let you in on our quirks, like our Netflix binges and a soft spot for cats. And yes, we've got a streak of rebellion that keeps things interesting. 

Stay tuned for our career coaching announcement, designed to guide you through layoffs with finesse. By the end of our chat, you'll not only have a suite of professional insights but also feel like you're getting advice from a friend who genuinely cares about your next career move.

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Transcript

Mary Fain Brandt: 0:01

Well, we're going to share some news with you guys about layoffs and I guess it's really not new news because since the beginning of the year, the headlines keep reading layoffs.

Mary Fain Brandt: 0:11

It started with some tech giants laying off. I think it was 17 tech companies in January. Major US companies are still slashing staff. This year from IBM, google and Microsoft Layoffs. Ending March 8th, there were at least 267 US tech sector employees laid off, and that is per crunch-based news. In 2024, at least 30,935 workers at US-based tech companies have lost their jobs this year. Laura, that's so sad to read this news, but we got to keep everyone informed, right.

Laura Bashore: 0:54

Yeah, I mean, as you said, it's upsetting, but it's also not surprising. I think the shock of it all is that the majority of these didn't come until the latter end of 2023. And so people might have thought, oh, maybe this is just the holiday. You know, unfortunately there's lots of layoffs around the holiday but really, what it looks like we're seeing is a shift and almost a rebalancing. Then the time that we will call right after COVID.

Laura Bashore: 1:27

So we know that there were a lot of changes made during COVID, but then we have to take into account that once things got back to the quote unquote norm, then we need to be thinking well, how does everything balance out? I even saw that Deloitte has put out that they are doing major job reduction. They're looking at near 500,000 across all of their international and nationwide platforms, and that's because they're doing a re-consolidation, a reorganization, so they are merging a couple of different silos together, and that's where I think we're seeing some of this come in, and those can be expected to start taking place in July. So they're hashing out details. But really what that means is what you and I are always talking about, mary, which is stay prepared Right, become the CEO of your career and take charge.

Mary Fain Brandt: 2:22

So when you said the word merger, that is another reason why layoffs happen. So you've got the and I'm going to say the end of COVID. I don't know if we technically say that, but the end of COVID, right. So during COVID there was this massive hire in the tech industry because we were working from home. They needed better security, different platforms, setting up home offices. Now that that has calmed down, right, the tech industry is seeing massive layoffs. So you've got the end of COVID, you've got mergers and I'm going to say it AI, I love AI, you were going there.

Mary Fain Brandt: 2:59

I know, because we have to be honest, you know, is AI going to take away jobs? I think it's going to change the landscape of jobs. So if you're in marketing and you don't know how to use AI, then the person who does know how to use it will probably take over your job. Now, I'm not saying that AI should replace humans I love humans more than I love AI but we do have a responsibility to be productive and efficient in our jobs, because businesses are out to make money. So AI is playing a role in some of these layoffs and will continue to as things move forward. I don't know if you saw the news and I'm probably not going to have it all right, but Tyler Perry, right, he was going to. He was going to. He had this new movie. He was going to build, like a movie, a video, not a video, a recording or video or movie.

Mary Fain Brandt: 4:01

I don't know what is it called when you produce a movie, a set or something?

Laura Bashore: 4:05

or a video production, right, so he was going to record a movie and create this video editing studio.

Mary Fain Brandt: 4:12

Well, because of AI, he stopped, because he doesn't need to do that now, because there's so many great video editing tools. So it's hitting multiple industries, not just tech.

Laura Bashore: 4:26

I've seen, well, you know what I was going to say too is when you were saying that right now. It made me think about remember the whole dot com explosion in the early 2000s. It was like the bubble burst, and that's kind of what you're seeing here, where there were all these expectations on how things are going to roll out. But now that we've had some time to see the real world applications, now things are going to make their big shift and you know, we no longer dial in for our internet and it's just like the same thing. We will no longer be dialing in for AI. Things are going to be integrated, and that's why it may sound annoying or that we're beating that horse. Maybe don't use that way of phrasing it for our petal lovers, but it just means it's changed.

Mary Fain Brandt: 5:14

We have a change coming across the world. It's like when manufacturer right all those manufacturing jobs and robots and and just automation. It's. It's a natural progression and AI is making that progression fast, like fast, and it makes sense because it's a fast, adaptable form of technology.

Mary Fain Brandt: 5:35

You have to plug in fingertips, so you don't have to wait a year for an update. You know, things are just happening so fast in the world of AI, and so AI is here to stay and we have to learn how to work with it what the best practices are, and you know in your job right now, whatever type of job you have, how can you use AI, be that person that adapts and learns so that you can keep your job. That's just like one little tip here. So, laura, before we we get into you, know how to handle a layoff, because that's what this episode is about strategies and tips on how to handle the layoffs, because they are here and I'm sure there's more coming.

Mary Fain Brandt: 6:16

Unfortunately, I've been seeing a lot of posts from my colleagues on LinkedIn who were part of a layoff, and that just breaks my heart and I want to support them, so I'll share their posts, but what I what I want to share is how they're handling it. There's one gentleman that he announced he was part of a layoff from a company that had a significant layoff, and he is posting constantly on LinkedIn sharing his journey as a job seeker, you know, making sure he has defined time working on his resume, and he's doing that to encourage others and he's got a great following and he is connected with recruiters and he is getting traction on these posts. So there are ways to turn that layoff right. This, oh my gosh, this happened to me. How can I share it in a positive manner and help others? And I just wanted to share that.

Mary Fain Brandt: 7:10

So if someone's out there like, yeah, I got laid off, I don't think I should post on LinkedIn right now. Well, I'm gonna say you should. You should talk about your journey, you know, going through looking for a job. Talk about you know what you did. If that is, if you're staying in the same industry, can you share tips and trends and thoughts on that? So there is a way to.

Laura Bashore: 7:35

Know I honestly I like that because you're looking and putting forward solutions. I don't know how often people still ask this, but Depending on what level you are in your career and where you're at, you know, if you've been out of work for a few months, you will come in and the person interviewing you will ask what have you been doing in your time off work? What a great thing to post is you know what? I'm really active on LinkedIn. I use it to continue to build my network and I've been sharing my story so that it keeps me accountable, right. And then I'm also letting other people know how they can move forward, and that's kind of cool.

Laura Bashore: 8:14

It's almost like a Between, like a vlog and a diary of your resume too, right. You could just kind of throw that out there and talk about hey, here's one of the big accomplishments I had while working here and a great way to show that there's no hard feelings towards the company, because, whether or not the company is at fault or you are, people want to see that you have a positive attitude, even in that break with that company, when you come in an interview with them, because they don't ever want to turn into the poor review that you're giving that company right.

Mary Fain Brandt: 8:48

I know and I want to. I want to find him on LinkedIn. So why we're doing this? I'm actually looking him up so we can give him a shout out, because he's doing an Amazing job. I think I found him, but I'll look at that in just a moment, so you know, we're gonna share with you. Oh, I don't know. I think we have ten and ten tips, things that you Should be doing to navigate your layoff, because it's happened. I mean, except for Laura, you haven't been laid off. We've talked about this before.

Laura Bashore: 9:19

I've been laid off.

Mary Fain Brandt: 9:21

Laura hasn't been laid off, but she's helped many candidates who have been laid off, so she has that.

Laura Bashore: 9:27

Well, but I have been. I have been fired At one job. I deserved it. I think I showed that before. But yes, other than that, when I've seen writings on the, I just move on, you know. But yeah, I mean, but I have lots of strategies, you're right, and I, I will be helpful and I always take a proactive. Maybe I haven't been laid off because I'm very proactive in what I'm doing with my career. There's the positive spin.

Mary Fain Brandt: 9:57

There's the positive, because you have become the CEO of your career, you've managed your career so that you're writing this story, you're creating the path, and that's what that's why we do those podcasts is to help Career professionals learn how to become the CEO of their career and write your own career story. Write your own path. You know, granted, you can't always write your own paycheck, but you can determine what companies you're gonna work for, the work that you're gonna do and just have More of an active role, rather than applying, accepting the job and going to work and Doing the same thing day after day, right? So yeah, let's dive. Let's dive right in, let's dive into how to handle a layoff. I'm gonna get started with.

Mary Fain Brandt: 10:41

Number one is Gather your career info and stories. I can't tell you how many times this happened to me, my husband, my clients, my colleagues. You get laid off or you get fired and you're like what was it that I did? That was so great. What about that time that I saved the company money? What project was that on, right? So gather your career info and stories. So your past performance reviews. You should have a digital folder, a paper folder, whatever you need. You should have that while you're working. You should also save any thank you emails, thank you cards that you get right, any Documentation that can help you with your resume, your LinkedIn, your interview, because you've got to create your career story and I think that that's kind of a newer term. Like back in my day we didn't call it a career story, but now you really want to be able to verbalize what your career story is and you're going to need all that documentation To use to create that career story. Yeah, that's a good question.

Laura Bashore: 12:55

Yeah, that's absolutely right, and Thinking about Looking at a target list instead of just applying to everything. I had a client who I just had a consultation with last week and she had been putting her resume out there, but when we talked about it, half of what she had put out there she wouldn't have even been interested in getting or taking an interview for. Quit, using your time in a space that is not helpful for you. Instead, take that extra two hours that you spent on sending out another one or three resumes and put it on perfecting the ones that you are sending out. Come up with a strategy, and that starts by making a target list of maybe I usually go with the top five companies or organizations that you wanna be checking in on, right?

Mary Fain Brandt: 13:52

Yeah, I do the same exercise with my clients the top five organizations and then I also have them look for positions. The top five positions, and they don't have to be perfect We've talked about this. They also don't have to be open positions. Maybe you saw a position at a company, or your friend had this position, and you're like I would really like to do that one day. Well, maybe today is your one day to apply for that position. So, top five organizations and top five positions that are intriguing to you. I can take number three. I think this is important. If you haven't done it, you should do it, and if you have done it, maybe you need to do it again. What am I talking about? Know your strengths. You're like well, mary, I'm organized, you know I take. If I'm an executive assistant, I'm organized, I take minutes. If you're a project manager, you know I work with great tech that keeps everything organized. But I'm talking about really knowing your strengths, not just technical, but personality-wise, human-wise, right. So take some of those tests out there.

Mary Fain Brandt: 15:01

My degree is in organizational leadership my undergrad and my master's so I've taken every leadership test out there twice because you had to take them in both programs. But recently, laura, at NABO, I went to a workshop and I took the Colby assessment and that was when I had to take it and my creative thing like you know me, laura like it was an eight. It was like oh, that makes sense. And then Jen Drager, who's my accountability partner and very strategic like we. This is why we work well together, because we balance each other. So that was interesting to read it. This to take that test at this point in my life. Colby, strength Finder, umap, a disk. You know there's a bunch of them out there. Take a couple so you can really understand what your strengths are and, you know, really play up to those. What do you think about that too?

Laura Bashore: 16:01

Oh yeah, I absolutely agree. And the fact of where you're sharing. Hey, you need to do that again if you haven't done it in five years. Yes, because you are different, you're gonna have different answers. You're gonna surprise yourself, and something that you may see as a weakness, because you're only looking at the negative sides to it, could actually be a strength, because every personality type that you have or the way you approach something, has a negative and a positive to it. So when you take these types of tests, they don't just tell you oh you're, you know, you're a relator. They tell you the negative and positive so that you can figure out how to best leverage that. So great tips there. I think number four is so important and I help clients with this and business owners regularly which is to have an elevator pitch, or whatever you wanna call it. It's your 30 to 60 seconds because, let's face it, how you start out your conversation is how people are going to tune in, and if you tangent off, it will really hinder you. So get that down.

Mary Fain Brandt: 17:13

And you can be nervous, right. So if you haven't written it out and practice it, you might go on a tangent. So the elevator pitch is so important to have that nailed down. It's not your five minute pitch. I like number five. It's the eluded question that everyone dreads answering myself as well. So tell me about yourself. This doesn't mean saying, oh, I'm married, I have two cats that live in Arizona and I'm redoing my backyard. That is not the answer that recruiters or hiring managers want. You also need to have that. Tell me about yourself. Question and answer. You need to have that written down and practice it. You need to write it down and again tell your career story your early career, the career mid journey, maybe mid level management, some roles, your promotions. Maybe you got a degree or a certification. What you've been doing recently, the last five years, not 20 years ago that's a mistake. I see a lot of times talking about something you did 20 years ago and then you need to put it all together.

Mary Fain Brandt: 18:24

Have you managed any projects, any teams, global teams? Did you manage finances, mergers? You need to create your career story. Tell me about yourself in parentheses and you guys, if you're not watching on YouTube, I have my hands up in parentheses. That means tell me about your career self, not about the first world self.

Laura Bashore: 18:48

And I'll give you an extra tip, which is normally I have my client timeless. This should not take more than two minutes and 30 seconds If it goes beyond that.

Mary Fain Brandt: 18:58

Two minutes and 30 seconds. Take that, that's right.

Laura Bashore: 19:01

That's right. Well, you know why? Because that 30 seconds is your elevator pitch. So, depending on? Because if you're in an interview, they're not gonna say give me your elevator pitch, they're gonna say tell me about yourself. So you have 30 seconds, is that quick elevator pitch? And then you lead in with the tell me about yourself?

Laura Bashore: 19:21

Because I have been the interviewer where I was doing a mock interview with a client and I shared this a long time ago in the past episode, maybe even when we were doing LinkedIn lives or LinkedIn audios. But I always timed my clients on this. And so I said tell me about yourself. And this was the first question. Okay, 11 minutes later, this may have stopped only me about himself 11 minutes later. And so from that point on, I made sure that everyone knew two minutes and 30 seconds. Let's fit this in here. And what was even more surprising, mary, is that this gentleman had no idea he went on that long. At the end of our mock interview, I said I always go with their feedback. First I said what did you think went well? What did you handle well? Oh, I think I really handled that Tell me about yourself question and I was like, oh my God. So lessons learned.

Mary Fain Brandt: 20:23

Lessons learned. You want to take the next one, Laura.

Laura Bashore: 20:28

Yeah. So explaining your leadership style. This is really important because if you tell me that you're a servant leader, first off, I love servant leadership, it's amazing. Okay, great, get that out of the way. But if you just tell me you're a servant leader and then have no way to explain to me how you do that or how you approach that, please don't throw me catchphrases and think that that's describing your leadership. It's not.

Mary Fain Brandt: 20:58

It's a style. Servant leadership is a style, because I studied servant leadership, but that's not how you explain your leadership style, right?

Laura Bashore: 21:08

Exactly. It's just like when you're doing a resume. You just throw all the keywords on there because you used an ATS system, but you have no idea what that means, so you just threw them on there and it's quite obvious. Don't do that, because explaining your leadership style is going to ensure that you get put in the right place as well. So understand what that is.

Mary Fain Brandt: 21:29

I love it. So this is really important. You guys, number seven interview prep, brush up by practicing. If it's been a while, definitely need to brush up on practicing. I have a couple of tips and, laura, I know you're the expert on this, so I'll pass it over to you. My two tips are find a couple of job descriptions and write up the skills that you have that match. You don't have to match 100 percent. You can actually use chat to BT to help you create your bulleted list. My second tip is use the storytelling framework to display your skill set at use.

Mary Fain Brandt: 22:06

So storytelling is your car, which is your challenge, your action or your result. Or you might have heard it called the star or the SOAR method. Basically, all it is is like hey, this is what was going on. It was a challenge, a problem or an issue. Here's the action that I took I fixed it. I introduced a new position, I revamped our financials, I created a new project tool and this is the result it's all fixed. We saved $10,000. The customer was happy and they renew. That's what it is in a nutshell. But so many people don't do that, laura, and I'm always surprised, because that helps with your interview, your LinkedIn and your resume.

Laura Bashore: 22:54

Yes, and the other part is to have different stories. Don't use the same example, because I see that time and time again too, they're like oh, like I was mentioned, if all you can do is tell me one incident and then use it for all of your examples, you didn't put a lot of work into this, you didn't put a lot of prep and also I'm thinking well, you're very one-dimensional. There's one thing that happened in your life and that's what you're going to go with.

Mary Fain Brandt: 23:21

This is my one story and it's on the billboard TV everywhere. This is the one story I have that shows you why you should hire me. I think when you said it needs to be more than one story, when I'm working with clients, I'll tell them, like you need to have your leadership story, your management story, the different areas, maybe it's project management, your leadership story. I'm trying to think of other things.

Laura Bashore: 23:49

So what I'll see, mary, is that I will have someone come into an interview and they'll have those different stories, but it's all the same incident. What, and I'm like, what are you doing? Oh, no, no, no, no.

Mary Fain Brandt: 24:02

You should have different stories.

Laura Bashore: 24:05

Yeah, and different incidents and where that happened. Right Quit using the same names, the same people, the same right, and it should not.

Mary Fain Brandt: 24:13

It probably isn't all at the same company, like if you've had multiple jobs, like in this position, blah blah, blah, blah. And as a leader over here at this company, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right, oh my gosh.

Laura Bashore: 24:26

Yeah, and if it is that you've been with one organization for 20 plus years, then you should definitely have more than one incident that you can use. I would think so yeah, because I mean, I listen for it. You're not pulling anything over me. I heard you say Jack when we asked this earlier, and now you're using Jack again. We need the different stories.

Mary Fain Brandt: 24:48

Jack is just made up. Well, tip number eight is resume in order. You probably haven't dusted that resume off or updated it, if it's been a while since you've been interviewing or if this all came by a surprise. Our tip is to look at your resume every six months. But let's say you haven't.

Mary Fain Brandt: 25:09

You probably need to look it over, update it. Is it aimed at the industry that you're targeting? Also, please don't have a three page resume. You don't need stuff on there. I don't know what the rule of thumb is, but 20 years it's irrelevant at this point, unless if you were at a company for 20 years. It still doesn't need to be a three page resume, right? Laura?

Laura Bashore: 25:33

Yeah, that's right. And if you do have relevant information, then create a relevant information section and stop putting numbers with it Like it's very easy. Use your critical thinking. This is your main document to get you in front of somebody, so put some time into it. And if you don't understand how to do that, get with somebody who can help you. The last thing I'll say is if you haven't done a resume in 20 years, 10 years, five years, ok, if you haven't done one in that amount of time, then you also don't just throw it into chat GPT. You'll have no idea what gets spat back out to you. It's more intricate than that. Use tools, don't let tools use you. Ok, oh, I like that. Go back to the job descriptions that you mentioned, mary. That's how you're going to find out what's missing from your resume and what's not. Look at the job you're interested in, a well-built-out job description. Look at it with your resume If you were interviewing yourself, what's missing and what's a highlight, and start from there. I love it OK.

Mary Fain Brandt: 26:51

Tip number nine this is something Laura and I both love and I'm going to say I think we do it well is networking. Now is not the time for you to be shy. Don't let your pride get in the way. Don't be shy. You got laid off.

Mary Fain Brandt: 27:07

You didn't burn down the family house right, so now is the time that you need to, hopefully, you need to be having those conversations and you need to tell people, and you need to tell a lot of people. You're not those saying, hey, laura, I just got laid off. Do you have a job for me? You're not going to ask for a job, you're simply informing your network. Hey, I'm looking for my next career move. Our company did some downsizing. Unfortunately. I was one of the people in the department that got laid off, so I'm looking if there's any introductions you can make. But you have to ask. If people don't know that you got laid off, how can they refer you? How can they help you? I think a lot of times our pride gets in the way. I think it's becoming more open. Yeah, and I.

Laura Bashore: 27:53

I agree. I agree with that and I think too, if you are somebody who's well respected in your network, don't think oh, nobody's even talked to me about possibilities I must not have the right network. You're not informing your network what's happening. Because you are respected, they don't think that you need their help in this area. So if you are open to new opportunities, let your network know. You'd be surprised.

Mary Fain Brandt: 28:23

Yeah, number 10,. One of my favorite is LinkedIn update. So I'm going to I'm going to take a few of the basic ones. We can just talk about this. So is your LinkedIn updated, just like your resume? Is your LinkedIn?

Mary Fain Brandt: 28:40

updated Probably not so many career professionals. They get a job and they just leave it and it's dusty, it doesn't. There's no branding. I don't know what to do. You haven't updated. So I hope to God that you at least have a custom banner, because if you don't have a custom banner on LinkedIn, your people are like are they even active on here?

Laura Bashore: 28:59

What do they exactly? Yeah?

Mary Fain Brandt: 29:02

I hate that. Like you put no effort in on LinkedIn, so what else are you not putting effort into a good headshot? Please make sure it's current. How can we age? Sometimes we don't want to update our picture, but you need to. You need to look like you do online, as you are in person. So when you do have that interview with a recruiter, they're not like, oh well, she looks 20 years older than what she looked like on LinkedIn. What else is she hiding, right?

Laura Bashore: 29:33

Well, and what's funny is that actually you're making the age stand out more, because the first thing when they see you in person they're going to be like, oh, this doesn't match versus. If you just had your current can, it wouldn't even be an issue. And this is what people don't understand. Don't look into me like you just walked out of a horror movie. You know like you need to show up how you're looking.

Mary Fain Brandt: 29:58

Yeah, show up as your true self, online and in person. We, we say that all the time. Optimize your headline. You get 220 characters. Remember that SEO works on LinkedIn. So you want to have, at least, like, if you are a project manager, if you want to lease that in the headline, not just that, but at least that, because that is a searchable term that recruiters will look for. So, if you are a senior vice president at a bank, great, but what else do you do? Who do you serve? How do you help them?

Laura Bashore: 30:33

Yeah, and yeah, I think that's so important, because now I'm seeing people go the other way, where they like, they want to customize that and then they're leaving out all the key words, so instead they just have like this phrase in there and it's like, unless somebody's searching up the phrase Like, if you're really like, we use a lot of phrases yeah, but you will have both. Both there's space, there's space.

Mary Fain Brandt: 31:02

Make it work. There's space 220 characters. You can make it work.

Laura Bashore: 31:06

You're about you summary.

Mary Fain Brandt: 31:09

Make sure that that's updated. It should be written in first person and, as a career professional, talk about your career story, your career journey, what, what do you do? Really well, you know what do you bring to the table? It's your area where I think you have 2,000 characters, 2,600 characters 2600 characters, that's a lot of characters to tell your story.

Mary Fain Brandt: 31:33

So use it. It's free real estate. It lets the recruiters and hiring managers learn more about you. You want it to be intriguing and enticing, and spot on for the industry that you're in. What do you bring to the table? What's unique? You know, throw some stuff.

Laura Bashore: 31:49

Yeah, if people can't understand what you do, you're wasting your time. You're wasting their time, but you're also wasting your time, you know. So make it clear. What do you want?

Mary Fain Brandt: 32:02

Yeah, I've seen some that why they're funny and cute. I had no idea what the person did.

Mary Fain Brandt: 32:08

So you know we're the other and then some are really boring and blank. I thought like, well, okay, you're gonna like just reconcile the books, but like, what else do you do? So I thought you know Exactly. I think you need to put some thought in there. The same with your work experience. It should. Is the title reflective of the title that you had, right? So when you're doing your work experience, are you doing a good job Just what you said, laura, and explaining what it is you do what you did and are you using keywords that are SEO worthy? So again, if you're a accountant, you know, are you reconciling the books? Are you doing the P&L? Like, what were your responsibilities? What are those job descriptions that you read? What are the keywords in there that you should put on your LinkedIn profile, exactly, laura? You want to take the next couple here.

Laura Bashore: 33:03

Sure thing. So over here we're looking at um. So your recommendations, recommendations, are so important and they go under. Utilize. They just okay.

Laura Bashore: 33:18

It's one thing to have a lot of recommendations, but what we're talking about is being strategic. You can place these in order. You can also help people write what you'd like them to write. So, for example, if you see that you are short on recommendations, when you ask somebody to write your recommendation, let them know what you'd like them to highlight, what areas you want them to focus on. You know so for me, I'm a resume writer, but if I want to focus on my coaching with a recommendation, I'm going to let somebody know hey, don't focus so much on the resume I wrote you, but let's focus on how the mock interview, how the mock interview, helped you. Can you share some of that please? It would really be beneficial. Easy Figure out what you want and then let people know They'll help you.

Laura Bashore: 34:05

Um settings turned on. Oh yes, I'm so glad that we're talking about this. This drives me nuts, especially when it's people that I know and I'm like why is your face not here? So go in and make sure that your photo is available to everyone on and off the platform. I don't know who you think you're protecting. All you're doing is squandering your authority, because if I look you up, google's gonna Google's gonna pop up your LinkedIn and like the top five of my Google search. And if you don't have a picture when I'm looking at you on Google because you've turned that off in the settings or you haven't turned it on, I'm going to be like, oh, they're not real and look at the next person. So please share that and then um signal to recruiters that you're open to work. I even keep this on my profile.

Mary Fain Brandt: 34:57

Yeah, I have a section open to work for contract work and different things like that.

Laura Bashore: 35:02

Yeah, for recruiters, so that we're not talking about the frame open to work. What we're talking about is a separate button. Yeah, we feel the same about this, but you do, you. But what we're talking about is there's a recruiter. Turn on the recruiter button and so recruiters will be able to find you. Okay, do you run the risk of your company seeing that only if you have somebody who's really obsessive and is looking for you, or if you're in such a small niche that there's only like 20 of you? Yeah, but if you're laid off you can.

Mary Fain Brandt: 35:41

You can put that or you can why? Even while you're employed or laid off, you can just signal to recruiters in your settings.

Mary Fain Brandt: 35:49

Number eight for LinkedIn tips is posting can help you become more visible, just like I was sharing about this gentleman on LinkedIn. He's talking about being laid off and what he's doing every week, you know, for looking for his next thing. He's encouraging people. He's showing that he's taking action. Share your knowledge, share tips, stuff that's going on in your community or any groups that you're part of. If you're part of a networking group or a chamber, you've got to remember that only 10% of your network is typically seeing your posts. Linkedin sends it out to the first 10%. So go ahead and start sharing posts on LinkedIn when you're laid off. You're going to get more visibility. Whoo, that was amazing tips. If you've been laid off, we hope that this will help empower you, encourage you to take action so that you can become the CEO of your career and find your next career move. Okay, laura, I think that we should play a little game. Are you in?

Laura Bashore: 37:01

It depends. What is this game?

Mary Fain Brandt: 37:04

Okay, let's play the game that we always play with our guests on our podcasts and our audio events. If the this or that game, I'll ask you these questions and then you can ask me the questions. I think it'll be fun and it'll let our listeners learn a little more about us. So are you ready?

Laura Bashore: 37:24

Did you like how I moved up in the seat to get prepared, like, yeah, I'm dialed in Now, I'm ready Now I just want to go over the rules.

Mary Fain Brandt: 37:31

You cannot answer. You must pick a this or that. You're going to get two options, one of them. You get three and you have to pick one of the words that I give you. Okay, so you don't get to add something, because we've had some guests that are like, well, neither I'm going to add something. That's not the way this game plays. So, okay, okay, okay, okay. Beach or mountains, beach Coffee, tea or whiskey, vodka.

Laura Bashore: 38:02

You're not going to get it right. At least that was fast. I'm good, I'm good.

Mary Fain Brandt: 38:11

Oh my gosh. Baseball or football, football, favorite color? Red Book or Netflix Book? Dogs or cats?

Laura Bashore: 38:26

Dogs now Water ski or snow ski, water ski it doesn't make sense to get wet when it's cold outside. I don't understand.

Mary Fain Brandt: 38:36

I don't understand Rock and roll or country Rock and roll. Snooze button.

Laura Bashore: 38:45

Yes or no?

Mary Fain Brandt: 38:46

Multiple times. Yes, I love it. Okay, your turn. You get to ask me the question.

Laura Bashore: 38:54

Okay, and I just want to throw out here, if you had had my option of preferred alcoholic beverage, then I would have just chosen it, I wouldn't have had to add it.

Mary Fain Brandt: 39:04

I wouldn't have had to add it.

Laura Bashore: 39:06

No, your audience, Mary. All right, so we're going to start with you and you can't add anything Because you're going to follow the rules. Okay, all right, here we go. Beach or mountain Mountains Coffee tea or whiskey.

Mary Fain Brandt: 39:26

Whiskey every day.

Laura Bashore: 39:29

Baseball or football Football Really. Oh, okay, I thought you would have done baseball. All right no football Favorite color. Tiffany blue. Oh, okay, book or Netflix.

Mary Fain Brandt: 39:47

Netflix Bingen.

Laura Bashore: 39:50

Dogs or cat Cats. We have two. And water ski, or snow ski, water ski. I agree with you If I'm going to be wet, let it be warm out All right and rock and roller country, country, okay, and how about you Snooze button Once?

Laura Bashore: 40:12

Just once, okay. You know I'll notice that in here you only broke the rules once too. You know you just ad-libbed like once. So I feel like you're a rule follower who will be like let me just, let me, just let me, just your rule follower, who will be like let me just once, just one time, and then I'll be like where did I break the rule?

Laura Bashore: 40:35

When you were you added in. You know that you have two cats Right, so I'm counting that as breaking the rule. Oh, you're so funny, You're cracking me up, girl.

Mary Fain Brandt: 40:46

Well, you guys, this is our episode of tips to how to navigate a layoff. If you have recently been laid off, please follow us to get more daily tips. Subscribe to the podcast. If you're looking for a career coach or coaches, we can both help you with that, and we do have a joint package. You can scan that QR code or you can DM us on any of the platforms and we will set up a call with you to see how we can help you. It's been great. Here's to your success in your career.

Laura Bashore: 41:22

So are we also going to talk about our announcements.

Mary Fain Brandt: 41:25

Well, we're going to go record that right and you're just going to plug it. Oh, you're just going to record it separately.

Laura Bashore: 41:31

Got you, got you Okay.

Mary Fain Brandt: 41:33

Yep, that's what I thought. And then because then you can splice it and you can just put it on the last three episodes Doesn't that make sense?

Laura Bashore: 41:40

Okay, yeah, so let's just record this and then we'll do like that quick 10 minute one with our questions, and then we'll be good. So we need two more quick recordings.

Mary Fain Brandt: 41:50

Okay, so I'm going to set up two more rooms. Yes, okay, it's your favorite thing to do. No, it's easy. Okay, I'll put it on the oh yeah. Okay, I'm going to add. So I'm going to go in and I'm going to delete the link. This there I'm going to put two more links over there. Give me just like one and a half minutes, okay.

Laura Bashore: 42:13

Okay.