Stage 5 of 7 · 7 lessons · ~3 weeks
Career insurance before you need it
The best time to prepare for a layoff is while you still have a job. Build a money cushion, keep your CV and proof of work ready, keep your network warm and test the market once a year, so a layoff is a hard month and not a crisis.
Start: An emergency fund in months, not moneyLessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order
Do this
- Work out essential monthly expenses and how many months your savings cover
- Set a target of at least three to six months and a monthly amount to get there
- Update your CV and LinkedIn from your brag document
- Save personal copies of your contract, payslips, appraisals and equity letters
- Write a list of 30 people you would contact if you were laid off
- Reach out to one person outside your company every month
- Do one real or practice interview this year and check your market rate
- Read your contract on outside work before starting any side income
Start with
- GuideFreeTech Interview Handbook: Resume Guide
Yangshun Tay
Rewrite your CV around results so it is ready before you need it
Practise
Keep handy
Also worth your time
- Learn In PublicRead
Proof of work that lives outside your employer and stays with you
Before moving on: An emergency fund plan with a target in months and a date, an updated CV and LinkedIn profile, a list of 30 people in your network, a personal folder with your employment documents, and one real or practice interview done this year.
Most of the pain of a layoff is not the lost job: it is having no money cushion, a stale CV and nobody to call. All three are cheap to fix while you are employed and expensive to fix after. Do them in calm months, not when the rumours start.