Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone.

Erica: Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum. We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder.

Erica: It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside HER Collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com. Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. So you've been laid off.

Erica: What now? The month of January has seen more tech layoffs than the entire 2022 combined. Big tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, amongst many others, have announced major cuts this month with over 55,000 tech workers being let go across a 154 companies. Y'all, that totals more than the first six months of twenty twenty two. Damn.

Erica: If you are one of those people that has been impacted, I am so sorry. Losing your job at any point in time for any reason can be heartbreaking. It can be scary, and it can bring out emotions of anger and betrayal and fear. But the good news is you don't have to stay in that space for long. Today, I'm going to tell you what you need to be doing to get from where you are now to get to your next.

Erica: So friend, if you've been laid off, fired, impacted by a reduction in force, or part of a rightsizing so that your company can scale in the future, whatever you wanna call it, you found yourself without a job, and that can be scary. In 2,015, right after my first child was born, my husband and I, we both worked for the same company, and I had just returned back to work.

Erica: And I'll never forget this. He called me one day from his office, which was in a building next to mine, and I could tell that he was visibly upset. And I didn't know what was going on, but something horrible had happened. And he let me know in that moment that his manager had called him, and he was unfortunately a part of the company that had been impacted by a reduction in force. Now at this point in my life, my husband, Dan, was the primary breadwinner.

Erica: We could not survive without his salary. You know, we just had a new baby, and we both felt immediately paralyzed. And the only thought that was going through my head at that time is like, what the hell are we supposed to do? When you lose your job, you go through so many emotions. You go through anger.

Erica: How could they do this to me? I've been an employee for ten years to grief. You know, I love this job, my team, to fear. How will I support my family? And sometimes you go through all of these at one time.

Erica: It is truly a terrifying thing. And if you are going through this right now, the first step that you need to take is to allow yourself the space to feel all of these feelings and to go through all of these emotions. You trusted your company to provide you with a steady paycheck. But we all know the world changes, economies change, business strategies shift, technology changes, and it does have an impact on the workforce. And that trust that you had, and understandably so, was broken.

Erica: And I say this as a chief people officer. You have to allow yourself the space to go through the emotions. Take a day. Take a week. Take a month.

Erica: Take whatever you need if you can afford it to process these emotions and get yourself in a space where you can think rationally about what you need to do. And if you're not sure, I am gonna tell you. I do wanna say, though, I recommend for any of you who are struggling with this, talk to a therapist, work through these emotions. Many companies during times of reduction in force will offer EAP, take advantage of it. When you go through a riff, it can feel sometimes like a death, and you need to process.

Erica: It is a lot to go through. But I'm gonna take you through the five steps that you need to work through if you have been impacted after you have processed those emotions. So the first step, very practical one, go file for unemployment. Get that process going. You are entitled to this.

Erica: And if you aren't sure how to do it for your state, go ahead and pull up good old Google. It'll be there. Easy steps to follow. Get this process going. It can take a while, especially with so many people being laid off.

Erica: You wanna make sure you start this now. Once you've gotten that done, shouldn't take more than a couple hours at most, pull up that resume. Let's dust it off. You knew that this was coming. This that you were gonna need your resume, that is.

Erica: But you wanna pass your resume around like this is the free candy at Halloween. You want as many people to see your resume and have it in their email as possible. So that if they know of, an opportunity or a job, they can pass it along. The third thing, network, network, network. And y'all knew I was gonna say that.

Erica: Right? I preach about this all the time on this podcast, but get in touch with your old friends, your team members, your neighbors, your old boss. Heck, tell your mechanic if you're getting your oil changed that you were laid off and that you are looking. And I say this because I haven't met a single person who does not feel empathy for someone that has been impacted by a layoff. We wanna help, but we can't help if we don't know.

Erica: So network, network, network. The next thing I'm gonna do, I will promise you is worthwhile, but there is a lot of fear that surrounds this fourth task that I'm gonna tell you to do. And that is I want you to create a post on LinkedIn where you share that you were impacted by a riff. Oh god. I know that spikes a lot of anxiety for some of you, but hear me out.

Erica: One of the most wonderful things about LinkedIn is that it is a professional social media website where you can have your resume spread like wildfire. And then it will land in the hands of someone who needs you, who wants to hire you and get you on the team. I have seen so many amazing posts go out with people sharing their story of being impacted and having them go viral. And guess what? The amazing thing about going viral is everybody sees it, and it's gonna land in somebody's hand that is like, you know what?

Erica: I need that person on my team. And not only that, but when I see these posts, if I know of anything, I'm sending recruiters their way. I'm sending job opportunities that way. I'm connecting with them to see how I can help. I know a lot of people feel angst around this because of this last thing that I'm gonna tell you.

Erica: Number five. Don't be ashamed. Do not be ashamed to share this. I can't tell you how many women that I've worked with and talked to recently that just feel this embarrassment to post that they have been out of work on LinkedIn. You know, they don't wanna change their status.

Erica: They don't wanna put that they're looking. They have this expectation of, like, well, I haven't been working in four months. I don't want people to see that. You know, I'm embarrassed. You know, it's gotta be me.

Erica: That's I because I don't have a job yet. Girl, stop. It is not you. This is the state of the world that we are in right now. Do not be ashamed or embarrassed that this has happened to you.

Erica: In the 2022, from January to June, there were 44,257 reported layoffs in the tech sector alone. And I'm focusing on tech because that's where I live in the tech world. But 44,000. Honestly, the number is probably higher than that because not all layoffs are reported. And in January, which we are not even done with January, there have been 55,225 layoffs alone.

Erica: I will let that sink in. Over 55,000 alone, and we're not even done with the month. Amazon announced a 10,000 person layoff in November, and then they cut an additional 8,000 this month. Microsoft announced that they were reducing their workforce by 10,000, and then Google let go of 12,000 workers. These are some big ass companies with a lot of money, and these are not small numbers.

Erica: You should not be ashamed or embarrassed. This has no reflection on you as a professional, as a person, as a hard worker. None. So, friend, I beg of you, please do the work internally so that you don't allow shame or embarrassment to creep in and stall you on getting to that next level role. You are so much more than your job.

Erica: And that's where the problem is. Right? Because we so often pair who we are with what we do. When we go out to parties, you

Erica: Know, I tell people, oh,

Erica: I'm a chief people officer. That's one of the first things out of my mouth. When you when you so closely associate who you are with what you do, that can have a devastating impact. You know? You are not just a project manager.

Erica: You are not just a software engineer. You are a person who's a badass that works hard. You're a mother, a sister, a friend who does project management. And, girl, you can do it again if you want to. You're someone who knows what it takes to be a software engineer if you want to.

Erica: You know, your career does not define who you are, and a layoff damn sure doesn't define you. So if you are one of the many people that have been impacted, know that you are not alone. Lean on your network for support, for future opportunities, and for help. Do not be afraid to ask for that help. Whether that's to review your resume, be a reference, or ask to connect with someone else, just do it.

Erica: One of my favorite quotes is, you know, that thing that didn't work out for you? Really worked out for you. Now I know. I know. It is hard to see right now.

Erica: And I know that quote doesn't pay the bills, but you got this. I have faith. I trust that you will do the work and that you will land that next role. I trust that you will be able to take a deep breath and see it. Yes.

Erica: That thing, that job that didn't work out for me really worked out for me because I know that you are going to land something awesome.