How to Make Yourself Marketable After a Layoff

Craft a path to personal and professional growth

Vanessa Rodriguez

May 2024

In the wake of a layoff, while the initial shock may seem overwhelming, it also presents a valuable window for self-reflection and growth. Consider this period as an opportunity to reassess your career trajectory, pinpointing the aspects you've enjoyed most and those you'd prefer to leave behind. With thoughtful planning and deliberate practice, you can navigate this transitional phase towards a more fulfilling and resilient future, equipped with newfound knowledge and expertise.

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Assess your situation

1. Reflect on what tasks you enjoy most

2. Reflect on what tasks you enjoy least

3. What do you want to do more of

Take advantage of the free tools and well priced platforms there are to learn if you don't yet have your skillset at the level you may need.

A layoff can be disheartening, but it provides you time to reflect on your career. What have you enjoyed doing the most? What have you enjoyed the least? What would you like to do more of? Take time to reflect on that. Once you know the kind of projects and skills that resonate with you the most, invest time in honing those abilities. Explore the eLearning offered all around you. YouTube, Udemy, and many others are amazing resources that allow you to learn on your own time. Don't know which ability/skill to focus on first? Review job boards. What skills are listed most frequently? Place those as priority #1 and go down the list of skills you would like to enhance or add.

Research the market

Want to land a job at a company you to work at?

1. Look up the company on LinkedIn

2. Find employees with the job you want

3. Review their LinkedIn profiles

4. Identify skill patterns

Find out what skillsets the employees at your dream company have. Compare their skillsets to yours, and identify which you want to enhance.

If you're dreaming of landing a job at a top company, start by leveraging LinkedIn to strategically position yourself. Start by searching for the company and exploring the profiles of current employees who hold the job title you desire. Carefully review their profiles, noting their career paths, educational backgrounds, and key skills. Identify patterns in the skillsets these employees possess, and compare them to your own. Highlight the gaps and prioritize which skills to enhance or acquire based on their relevance and your career goals.

Develop a concrete learning plan involving courses, certifications, and practical experience, and track your progress with set milestones. This meticulous approach not only sharpens your qualifications but also demonstrates your initiative and dedication, making you an irresistible candidate to your dream company.

Choose how to learn

Enhance your skills and ask yourself:

1. How much time do I have to learn?

2. How much am I willing to pay to learn?

3. Am I staying or pivoting my career?

If you seek to make a career pivot, you may want to look for bootcamps, degrees, etc.

If you are skilling up or re-skilling, you'll likely need a more simple route.

Navigating the myriad of online learning options—videos, webinars, certifications—can feel overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. Before diving in, ask yourself three crucial questions: How much time do I have each week to learn? How much am I willing to invest in my education? Am I staying in my career or pivoting to a new one? Your answers will steer you toward the most suitable e-learning path. For those looking to pivot, immersive options like bootcamps or degrees may be ideal, as they offer comprehensive and structured learning experiences that equip you with the necessary skills to transition into a new field.

If you're skilling up or re-skilling within your current field, simpler and more flexible options like short courses, webinars, or even microlearning modules might be perfect. These formats allow you to learn at your own pace and fit your education into a busy schedule without overwhelming you. By taking a strategic approach and tailoring your learning choices to your specific needs and constraints, you can effectively leverage the abundant online resources available. This not only makes the learning process more manageable but also ensures that you invest your time and money in the most effective way possible to advance your career.

Plan a schedule

Planning your schedule to "fit" learning in won't be enough to learn what you need. Why? 40-50% of what's learned is forgotten in one day. Do this instead:

Space your learning out
Daily review at the middle and end
Review items on Day 3 and 6

If you follow this regimen, you will retain 80-90% of what you learn!

True learning requires a great deal of effort, persistence, and time. Planning your schedule to "fit" learning in is less optimal than creating a learning schedule. You must plan learning thoughtfully so you can maximize its impact. For instance, it's been shown that 40-50% of what's learned is forgotten in just one day!

You can overcome this by spacing learning out. Once you spend time learning/upskilling, review what you learned at the middle and end of that same day. Review the same items again on Day 3 and Day 6. Do this for all new sub-skills you're learning. If done, you will retain 80-90% of what you learn over longer stretches of time!

Apply your learning

If you don't activate what you're learning, then you simply accumulate knowledge rather than developing a skill:

Create a practice activity with a goal
Complete the activity
Evaluate your results
Find why you ran into problems
Find solutions and do activity again

Learning can be passive at times. If it's not activated, then you're simply adding knowledge, not skill to your repertoire. The best way to activate your learning is deliberate practice.

If you're not activating what you're learning, then you're simply accumulating knowledge rather than developing a skill. The best way to activate your learning is deliberate practice. This means you must apply your learning intelligently. Use data to explore how effectively you're applying what you've learned. Here's how you do this:

1. Create a challenging practice activity with a desired outcome

2. Do your best to reach that outcome

3. Evaluate the results of your practice

4. Identify the root causes of any problems you ran into

5. Identify solutions, test them out and try again

This process helps you pinpoint crucial areas for focus, allowing you to customize your learning for your needs

Embrace growth

If you don't activate what you're learning, then you simply accumulate knowledge rather than developing a skill:

Create a practice activity with a goal
Complete the activity
Evaluate your results
Find why you ran into problems
Find solutions and do activity again

Your post-layoff involves finding a path that suits your interests and abilities. Every skill acquired contributes to your growth. Celebrate wins, learn from losses, and stay committed. You're building resilience and adaptability.

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