By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

When searching for a job, one challenge is figuring out what work arrangements a given employer has in mind. Since 2020, companies in the United States often label their open positions as onsite, hybrid, or remote. Even with those labels, job seekers and individual employers are still not always aligned on what exactly that means. 

​Let's look at some of the factors in play. 

For a job labeled as "remote," their expectations could be any of the following:
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• The candidate lives in the United States and can work from anywhere.
• The candidate lives in the United States and must work from their home.
• The candidate lives within a specific list of states where the potential employer is set up to conduct business.
• The candidate lives within a specific time zone.
• The candidate is willing to work hours in a specified time zone.
• The candidate lives within a specified distance from one of the company's physical office locations.
• The candidate lives in the metropolitan area of the company's headquarters.
• The company is "remote first" with no physical office location.
• The company is "remote-friendly," meaning there may be the option to work in an office location, a designated shared space, or fully remote.
• The company is "open to remote" and may consider a candidate who does not work in their office location.

Regardless of the label, each role may work differently in practice. Here are a few of the many possible scenarios:

• A company may label a job as remote, then later in the job description mention preferences for being onsite.
• A company may label a job as hybrid when it could more accurately be described as remote with some travel to the corporate office.
• A company may label a job as onsite or hybrid, and in the body of the job description, explain that they are also open to remote.
• A company may label a job hybrid, expecting people to be onsite (in the office) anywhere from never to 4 days per week. 
• A company may have an unstated preference for the location of employees.
• A company may not be clear about their ongoing thoughts on having workers return to the office or the timeline for that change.
• Many companies label roles as remote but do not clarify additional details about arrangements (which states, preferences for specific geographical locations).
• Companies may decide on a case by case basis where they prefer employees to be located or if they will be remote, hybrid, or onsite.
• Any of these designations may also include travel. 

As a job seeker who understand the different stated options and possible meanings, here are a few strategies for navigating job listings:

• Review posted job openings for additional details on work arrangements. For remote roles, read the main job description and skim the listing for additional location restrictions (time zones, states, and proximity to a physical office).
• If you're on a job search site, find the job listing on the company's website. Sometimes they will include additional details on the specific states where they are able to hire and/or want to hire for a given position. 
• If you’re not sure if a company can do business in your state, use LinkedIn to search for employees at that company who currently live in your state. This would indicate that the company is legally able to hire someone in your state.
• Connect with and speak with someone at the organization and ask for additional clarification on work arrangements and remote work policies.
• If it’s unclear, reach out to a company recruiter to clarify details (or, if time is of the essence, apply first, then ask questions later).

There are also a few other implications of remote work to keep in mind:
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• Salary ranges will be all over the board for the same role. For example, a title like "Training Manager" could have a salary of anywhere from $50,000 - $225,000 per year, depending on the location of the company's corporate office. 
• Some companies adjust their salary ranges based on the candidate's geographic area, while others do not. 
• Even with pay transparency laws in some states, not all jobs list the salary range--even when they are now required to do so. 

Given these variations on how salaries work for remote roles, be sure to think through your financial requirements and how you will address questions about your desired salary:

• Identify your desired salary range overall. Use this range as a starting point for all conversations.
• Review posted salary ranges for the role. Make sure they at least meet your minimum salary.
• During the interview process, when a recruiter or hiring manager asks you for your desired salary range, answer that question with the question, “what is the salary range for this position?” This assures that you’re not selling yourself short.

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

There are a lot of opinions on how to interact with employers early in the hiring process. They include everything from sending a basic “I applied” email to off-the-wall rom-com level gesture like sending the hiring manager a cake with your resume attached to the inside of the box. In this article, we’ll focus on using email to follow up after you have formally applied for the job.
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Regardless of your approach (and my overall follow-up recommendations are closer to the email than the cake end of the spectrum), stay focused on what you’re trying to accomplish. Remember, your goal at this point in the process is to get your application into the “must interview” pile. 

Let’s first set a few expectations on the impact sending a follow-up email message will have:

• If you are not a generally qualified candidate for the job, you’re not going to “follow-up” your way into an interview.
• If you follow-up badly, you may very well “follow-up” your way right into the “no” pile.
• Following up with the wrong person won’t help your cause.
• If you’re going to follow-up, contact either the hiring manager or the recruiter.
• Sending a follow-up email may help the hiring team remember your name--which may help especially in remote roles with many, many applicants.
• Even if you are a strong candidate, and following up with the right people, you may or may not get an interview.

Like with most of the hiring process, there is no guarantee that you will get an interview for any given role. However, doing the right things consistently gives you a better chance of having a positive outcome. 

Once upon a time, I was the hiring manager for an instructional designer position. A person who I had never met, but who knew a colleague of mine, had a background in instructional design and was interested in the job. Through our shared colleague, that person (who I will now refer to as “the candidate”) ended up with my name and work contact information.

What followed was an example of the worst-case scenario of a how a candidate reaching out to a hiring manager can actually be detrimental. From mid-December through the end of the calendar year, over the course of 10 business days, the candidate (who—reminder—I had never before interacted with in any way) contacted me 16 times via phone and email about the open position.

I do not remember what all the candidate asked during each request (because blocking out awful memories is a real thing). I do remember one early request was asking how to apply for the job. Given that this role was with a technology company, and I needed someone who could work independently and solve problems, a candidate who wasn’t sure how to apply for the job through a pretty typical Careers webpage was not going to be a top candidate.

In addition, after they managed to apply, they then called and also emailed the recruiter multiple times, again in the spirit of follow-up.

The good news—we definitely knew the candidate’s name. The bad news (for them)—we knew for sure we were NOT going to interview them.

As a hiring manager, here are the issues I’ve seen when people follow up on job applications:

• They reach out with no plan or point.
• They reach out too many times.
• They reach out many times with too small of a gap between messages.
• They reach out to the wrong person.
• They reach out with a large ask.
• They are DEMANDING about what the hiring team should do for them.
• They push too hard on next steps. 
• They disregard specific directions in the job description regarding what follow-up is acceptable. 

Remember, typically the two people to follow up with regarding your job application are the recruiter and the hiring manager. The first challenge is figuring out who these people are, then getting their email addresses.

In some cases, the name of the recruiter may be included on the job posting. Through using LinkedIn or the company website, you may be able to find a professional email address to use for them. You can also potentially do some digging through LinkedIn and find out the name of the recruiter through their LinkedIn posts. It could be little to no effort to find their email address, or a genuine project, to find out that detail about the recruiter.

For hiring managers, some job listings will include the title of the hiring manager (who the position reports to), or even sometimes their name. Again, you may be able to use LinkedIn to find their contact information, or you may find the naming scheme a company uses (like [email protected]) to figure out their email address. You may also need to contact HR or a current employee to find out more, or there might be fee-based services you can use.

When it comes right down to it, it is important for you to determine how much time and money you want to dedicate to finding this information. You also need to decide if the time you spend on this quest is worth the value you will gain from sending a follow-up message. It's your call.

Once you’ve identified the person to contact, and have their email address, think about what you’ll say in your message. Here are my recommendations on details to include: 

• Greet the person by name. 
• Introduce yourself.
• Mention that you’ve applied for the job and include the title of the job and the company name.
• Share a brief summary (a sentence or two or a few short, bulleted points) on why you applied and the skills you bring to the role.
• Include your contact information (email and phone) and invite them to contact you.
• Thank them.
• Your first and last name, email, phone, and LinkedIn URL

Subject Line: Following Up on my Support Manager Application

Body of the Message: 

Hi, Annette. I’m Esme Whitlock, and I'm sending you a quick message to introduce myself, and let you know I just applied for the Support Manager role with Super Cool Company. Because I have a background working in tech support specialist and help desk supervisor jobs in manufacturing companies, I think I am a great match for this position.

As indicated in the job description, I have experience setting up a knowledge base using Super Cool Software and training new staff on using internal resources. I also enjoy hiring and training new associates and helping them grow their skillsets to meet performance goals. These skills, and my desire to grow in my career, drive my excitement for this role with Super Cool Company.

If you’re interested in talking to me directly about the Support Manager role and my qualifications, please contact me via text/phone at 555-555-5555 or via email at [email protected].

Thank you!

Esme Whitlock
555-555-5555
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mylinkedin/ewhitlock

There are also various opinions on when to contact a potential employer and how many contacts to make.

I suggest emailing once sometime between the day you apply and a week after you apply to briefly introduce yourself and get your name in front of the hiring manager and/or recruiter. If you decide you want to do a second message, I suggest waiting until a week or two after the first message and modifying the message so it is not just a repeat of the first message you send.

Remember, you get to do whatever you want to do. Some hiring managers and recruiters may be very open to messages, and others might prefer to avoid being contacted. I believe reaching out one to two times with a few days in between contacts should show your interest without venturing into being way too much.

It starts like any other day. Then, it takes an ominous turn. 
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Whether you were invited to an ambiguously titled last minute meeting, received an awkward message in your personal email notifying you of your last day, or are perp walked to HR on your first day back from vacation, you are now among the newly unemployed. 

​Welcome to the suck.

Even if there were buyout rumors, a quarter with low sales, or a new company direction, being part of a reduction in force (RIF) is still surreal when it happens to you. It's hard to know what to do with yourself when you find yourself unexpectedly out of the job. It's time to redirect your attention.

Along with your new focus areas, your overall guiding principle is not to do anything counterproductive (or downright dumb) as you figure out your post-layoff next steps.

Your Never-Do List

Here are the career-limiting moves that will make your life harder. Instead of springing into action, stop, think, and then just don't do the following:

• Talk trash about your former employer or layoff publicly.
• Spew your unfiltered anger, sadness, fear, or hurt all over the interwebs.
• Post on social media about how desperate you are for paid work.
• Apply for all the jobs motivated solely by panic.
• Take any old job.

Your Think-Before-You-Consider-Doing List 

Here are a few things you may want to do at some point, but that require thought and a plan before you move forward. At the very least, sleep on it before you do any of the following:

• Contact recruiters, hiring managers, or colleagues about job openings before thinking about what you really want to do next.
• Make big life decisions with long-term consequences (like a cross-country move, selling your house, or getting rid of your car).
• Act on anyone else's advice without thinking about what is right for you (including a cross-country move, selling your house, or getting rid of your car).

Now that you are at least somewhat inoculated against creating utter chaos for yourself, let's get back to those top three focus areas. 

Losing your job can be an emotional roller coaster. An unplanned job change is a stressful life event on par with getting divorced or going to prison. ​Just like dealing with a death in the family, you’re dealing with the death of the future you thought you had. Losing that imagined future is a significant loss that needs to be addressed.
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Figure out how you will cope with these changes. While distracting yourself from the unpleasant parts of the process is natural, building healthier coping mechanisms, like prioritizing self-care, is better for your long-term success.  

While you can get away with avoiding your feelings for a while, eventually, you need to acknowledge each one so you can move on. If you don’t work through those difficult emotions, your ignored feelings will come out sideways at just the wrong time. It is better to work through your grief privately than to fall apart during an interview or snap at someone who is trying to help you.

Disclaimer: 

While I know quite a bit based on my previous work experience supporting financial coaches, my own research, and my personal life experiences, I do not currently hold a license or certification to give financial advice. Therefore, the information provided here is educational information provided as guidance.

I hope you can glean value from my lessons learned. Feel free to take my recommendations or not—but whatever you do, double-check my information (and everyone's facts, for that matter). This is your life, and you will care more about your finances and health care than anyone else. With that, read on. 

Although your paychecks will eventually stop, you will receive your final paycheck, possibly vacation time that you have earned and, hopefully, a lovely parting gift from your former employer in the form of a severance package. Severance could be equivalent to a set number of weeks of pay or include an additional lump sum, continuation of some benefits, and job placement services. In most cases, employers do not have to give you any type of severance.

If you are eligible for a severance package, you will need to sign something before receiving that money. Once you sign, any thoughts you might have about legal action regarding your employment with the organization are pretty much over. Read the agreement given to you, consider having a lawyer look it over, and ask for clarifications (and any revisions) before signing it. After that, there is typically a waiting period before you receive that money. I also encourage you not just to sign whatever paper they put in front of you. Make sure you advocate for yourself. 

After a layoff, most people will be eligible for unemployment insurance income, or UI. I encourage you to apply for unemployment payments. The money used to make unemployment payments comes from the payroll taxes that employers pay. That money is intended to help people who have been laid off to pay their bills as they search for something new.

Unemployment payments are administered at the state level and vary by state. After you apply, there may be a waiting period before you receive a payment. Your state will also outline the amount of each payment you will receive, the number of payments you are eligible to receive, and additional factors impacting your payments. You may also qualify for job search support services and even programs to help you upgrade your skills. 
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In short, apply for unemployment income right away. In most cases, there is not a good reason for most people to forgo unemployment payments. 

​Since many people rely on their employers for health insurance coverage, consider how you’ll cover healthcare costs. If you have a  spouse, domestic partner, or parent who can bring you onto their health insurance, that may be your best option. Check with the other person’s employer and let them know you no longer have health insurance through your employer because of a layoff. Their employer can talk you through your next steps and cost changes.  

If that's not an option, consider COBRA coverage through your former employer. This means you could stay with your previous health insurance, but now you'd pay the whole premium cost. Brace yourself when you see your new premium amount because it is usually A LOT more than you spent as an employee.

Another option is going on the insurance exchanges at Healthcare.gov to find coverage. You may even be eligible for a subsidy to offset the cost. Alternatively, for less expensive coverage intended to cover a big expensive medical issue should it happen, short-term health care insurance may be a good interim option. Do your research and determine what makes the most sense for you and your household.

Next, plan to launch your search for a new job. Start by thinking about what kind of job you want. Write down job titles, possible employers, and your target salary range. Update your resume to include details about your last position and showcase your unique skillset as it aligns with your target job.

From here, start letting people know your new status of being “in transition” and ask for help. They might be able to introduce you to a valuable business contact, keep an eye out for job openings that meet your needs, and introduce you to a hiring manager looking for someone just like you.

If you've recently been laid off, check out my book Seven Lessons From Seven Layoffs: A Guide. You can even buy the eBook to get help right now.
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In this book, I cover seven lessons from my seven experiences with unplanned job losses. I include my personal stories alongside practical advice for navigating this tumultuous time. 
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You'll learn strategies for managing your mindset, finding the next right job for you, shaping your career story, and overcoming setbacks.