The Layoff Lady

Job Search Insights By The Numbers After Layoff #7

6/13/2023

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

I Found a Job!

After 9 months of career transition, I am gainfully employed again! I'm excited to be working in an amazing organizational development role.

Each layoff and subsequent job search brings its own challenges. Take a look at my lessons learned from this time around.

New Challenges

The prevalence of remote work added a few new challenges and opportunities, to the job search process. For one, removing many geographic restrictions meant more available jobs. For another, more people applying for jobs nationwide means significantly more applicants (and more competition) for those available roles.
For the first time in my career, I accepted an offer and later had the employer rescind that job offer.
I actually had two job searches. The search before I accepted job offer #1, then the period of me waiting for the job to start, followed by my re-launched job search and accepting job offer #2. It was like being laid off twice without ever even managing to start one of the jobs.

My Post-Layoff Transitions: Duration

People often ask how long a career transition lasts. To give a partial answer to that question, here is my unscientific, skewed-sample-size data on how long each of my periods of post-layoff career transition have lasted.

The time listed starts with my last day of work with my previous employer (aka "Layoff Day") and ends with my first workday in a new role:

October 10 - April 8, 180 days (6 months)
February 2 - May 27, 114 days (not quite 4 months)
June 5 - August 14, 70 days (just over 2 months)
October 16 - March 12, 147 days (not quite 5 months)
September 22 - December 2, 71 days (just over 2 months)
March 8 - April 27, 50 days (not quite 2 months)
September 21 - June 12, 264 days (not quite 9 months)

Overall, my average time in career transition is 128 days (just over 4 months).
Layoff #7 was the longest one I've had so far, and 3 months longer than my previous record.

Career Transition Duration: Contributing Factors

There are a few key factors that made this period of career transition longer than after my previous layoffs:

Time of year: 3 of the 4 times I have been laid off in the fall, I have not found a new role until after the holidays. In general, I find that if I have not accepted a new role before Thanksgiving, it takes me until at least March to land a job. Being unemployed over the holidays adds 1-2 months on to the total time in transition.
Other layoffs: The flood of mortgage company and tech company layoffs starting in the fall of 2022 made the market very competitive with lots and lots of job seekers.
Initial focus on remote work only: Early in my job search, I was focusing primarily on roles with 100% remote work. I learned that many of these roles had hundreds of applications since now people from around the country, not just one localized geographic area, were applying.

The Numbers: Job Applications and Interviews

Given that my previous employer was starting to make organizational changes, including a few rounds of "quiet layoffs," I started to keep an eye out for a new job starting in July of 2022, which I've included in this summary:

Total applications from July 2022 - June 2023: 159
Applications before layoff: 19
Applications after layoff and before accepting offer #1: 104
Number of companies who interviewed me at least once before offer #1: 16
Number of interviews from all companies before offer #1: 36
Job applications I half-heartedly submitted in between accepting offer #1 and having offer #1 rescinded: 11
Job applications after rescinded offer and before accepting offer #2: 25
Number of companies who interviewed me at least once after rescinding offer: 12
Number of interviews after rescinded offer: 20
Total number of interviews from all companies from July 2022 - June 2023: 56
Most interviews with one company: 6
Number of final interviews: 4
Number of jobs where I was interviewing, and the position went on hold: 3
Number of jobs where I interviewed, then never heard from the company again: 3
Number of jobs where I interviewed, then found out they could not hire a Nebraska resident: 3

The Insights: More Opportunities, Fewer Interviews

One challenge during this job search is the newly added focus on work location--specifically the following labels: onsite, hybrid, and remote. Part of why I felt comfortable relocating from Minneapolis, MN to Omaha, NE in mid-2022 was the prevalence of remote work. I also realized that the definition of "remote" for companies can vary widely. As I reflect on my job search, I wonder how many positions I applied for with companies who were not interested in or able to hire someone who lives in my current state of residence.

While there are, indeed, many remote jobs available in my chosen field of learning and development, I discovered first-hand that companies and job search sites are not necessarily aligned on what each of these words means.

Remote jobs mean more applications for me and way more competition:

With previous job searches, which were more limited by geographic area, my goal was to apply for 2 jobs a week. It was easier to prioritize roles.
With this job search, my goal was to apply for 3 jobs per week. Many weeks, there were easily 10 jobs from which to choose.
While I applied for significantly more jobs, I had a lower percentage of interviews as compared to applications.

The Numbers: Working With Recruiters

Remember, LinkedIn is your billboard to the world. Be sure to make your profile a good representation of what you bring to the table as a job candidate. Have a strong headline that includes the job title(s) that interest you and a few key skills.

Have your professional summary in the About section, your work experiences, and at least a couple of sentences about each of your previous jobs. This is what recruiters will check after you apply. This is what may come up in a recruiter's search when they are sourcing candidates. Make this count. Here are the responses from recruiters this time around:

Number of recruiters who reached out to me about roles that made sense for me: 8
Number of recruiters who I then talked to about the aforementioned role: 3
Number of recruiters who I responded to right before they fell off the face of the earth: 5

My Re-Launched Job Search

In April, when I re-launched my job search, I changed my overall approach.

I was open to a wider variety of job titles and placed a heavier focus on core responsibilities.
I focused on companies with a presence in Nebraska.
I was more open to hybrid roles.
I relied more heavily on formal and informal referrals.

At this point in my job search, I had also built stronger relationships with my colleagues in my Omaha-area professional development groups. When I first launched my job search in the fall, I had only been in the area for 2 months. Between then and April, I had met more people in person, talked with them in meetings, presented to groups, and helped a few of them solve business problems. I'm sure getting to know me better and working alongside me helped them to feel more comfortable speaking to my skillset and recommending me as my job search progressed.

My Overall Insights

Building and leveraging strong professional relationships can only make your job search better.
Being open to roles with an in-person component may give you a competitive advantage.
Keep on doing the right things consistently. Remind yourself that over time, something will work out.
At the end of the day, you only need one job.

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