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Losing a job often comes with the immediate urge to find a new one. And while it may seem like the best place to start that process is by updating your résumé, Toronto-based outplacement and career transition coach Jane Janniere says that’s the wrong approach.
“To me, a layoff isn’t just a job-search problem. It’s a human transition with a job-search component,” she says. “Someone may lose a role, but they often also lose structure, routine, belonging, status, identity, confidence, financial safety and a clear sense of what comes next.”
It’s easy to see why “update your résumé” became the default advice after a layoff, she says. It’s concrete, familiar and feels productive at a time when life suddenly feels uncertain.
“The advice isn’t wrong. It’s in the wrong order,” says Ms. Janniere, who says panic can disguise itself as productivity after a layoff.
Instead, Ms. Janniere recommends what she calls the Reset Roadmap, a process that begins with stabilizing before marketing yourself to employers.
That starts with understanding practical realities such as severance, benefits and financial runway, while also separating facts from fear.
She encourages clients to ask themselves four questions: What actually happened? What am I telling myself this means? What do I know for sure versus what am I assuming? What decision doesn’t need to be made today?
She also advises people to reflect on what they learned from the workplace they just left, including the kind of leadership, culture and pace where they do their best work. That process can help people separate who they are from where they worked, reconnect with the skills and accomplishments they’ve built throughout their careers and decide what they want more of, and less of, in their next role.
Only after working through those questions does she recommend updating a résumé, LinkedIn profile and interview story.
Ms. Janniere acknowledges that many people don’t have the financial luxury of spending months reflecting before beginning a job search, but she says processing the experience and moving quickly aren’t mutually exclusive.
She recently worked with a client whose timeline was shaped by severance negotiations and seasonal hiring patterns. Rather than rushing into the first available opportunity, they built a strategy that balanced financial realities with finding a better long-term fit.
“The point isn’t to disappear from the market,” she says. “It’s to slow down just enough to avoid decisions made purely from fear.”
People will know they’re ready to market themselves again, she says, when they can explain their layoff simply, describe the value they bring with evidence, read job postings with discernment rather than desperation and treat rejection as information instead of a judgment on their worth.
“One thing I hope people remember is this: you aren’t starting from nothing. You’re starting from everything you’ve already built,” she says.
Fast fact
Gap year
4 per cent
That’s approximately how many students at universities in the U.S. such as Harvard step away for a leave of absence in any given year, according to this Time article.
Career guidance
Human edge
Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and it can be hard to keep up with the change and figure out how to best use it to your advantage.
According to this Wall Street Journal podcast, workers should lean into their human skills, such as communication, critical thinking and evaluating AI output, while treating themselves as a “manager” who directs AI rather than someone threatened by it. Keep experimenting and stay mindful of pitfalls such as over-reliance and burnout from losing the reflective downtime that repetitive tasks used to provide.
Quoted
Summertime sadness
“The obligation that the entire world seems to throw at you, that when there’s no snow outside, when it’s not cold, you have to be out doing something … that adds a strange level of anxiety to a situation that already is difficult to move through for me,” says Calgary-based Mark Manning.
This CBC article explores summer seasonal affective disorder (SAD) – a lesser-known seasonal pattern distinct from its winter counterpart – which causes people to experience symptoms such as insomnia, reduced appetite, anxiety, restlessness and agitation.
On our radar
Graduate unemployment
New research from economists at the New York Federal Reserve estimates that remote work accounts for 64 per cent of the rise in unemployment among recent graduates and young workers. As Linda Nazareth explores, employers hesitate to hire inexperienced workers for remote roles because onboarding, training and vital on-the-job mentorship are harder to provide from a distance.
Read more