Laid off while former coworkers get promoted: what to do next

“After I got laid off, the people who bullied me got promoted. My manager is now a head of engineering and the woman who did a smear campaign on me the whole year is a team lead,” wrote a reddit user on r/Layoffs.

He had spent the previous three years working constantly, shipping projects, getting visibility and recognition, and even working weekends. Then the restructuring came, and HE was the one who lost his job!

Meanwhile, the people he believed had worked against him were getting promoted.

That can mess with your head. Big time.

You start wondering whether you were actually good at your job. You replay conversations. You look at LinkedIn and see someone you couldn't stand announcing a promotion while you're sitting at home trying to figure out what on earth you're going to do next.

Here's how to handle it

First, breathe. Tell your partner, family and close friends what happened. Get some sleep. You're going to need a clear head because the job search can take longer than you expect, and panic makes every decision worse.

Then get brutally specific about what you're looking for. What companies make sense? What kind of work do you actually want? Decide your minimum compensation before a recruiter starts telling you that $50K less is “competitive.”

Then start applying, but stop treating every job posting like a lottery ticket.

I'd rather see you apply to 20 roles where you're an excellent fit than 200 where you're vaguely qualified. And most importantly, find the people involved in hiring. Reach out to the recruiter, hiring manager or relevant executive and explain why your background fits what they're trying to solve.

Then follow up. And keep following up.

A great application sitting quietly in an ATS never landed anyone a job.

Separate your emotions from the results

You also need to separate your emotions from the results. For our clients, it takes roughly 27 qualified interviews to land a role. That's a lot of recruiter screens, interviews, rejections and unanswered messages before somebody finally says yes.

Don't let every rejection become a verdict on your career.

Track your interviews, too. Write down what they asked, where you struggled and which answers landed well. After three or four interviews, you'll start seeing patterns you couldn't see before.

Keep the pipeline moving

And keep the pipeline moving even when you get close to an offer.

Your first offer isn't automatically your best offer.

Options give you leverage.

Getting laid off can make you feel like your career has suddenly been put on hold. It hasn't. You’re just an immediate joiner now =)

And if doing all of this while dealing with the emotional mess feels overwhelming, get help. We handle the positioning, targeting, applications, hiring-manager outreach, interview preparation and negotiation for senior technology leaders.

You focus on showing up to the interviews. We handle everything around them.

If you're interested, book a call with us.