How Salespeople Can Rebound Their Profession After a Layoff (Suggestions from Reps Who’ve Achieved It)

Over 200,000 folks have been laid off from tech firms within the final 12 months. Dozens of main tech firms have fired hundreds of staff, together with Amazon (18,000), Meta (11,000), Microsoft (10,000), Salesforce (8,000), and Twitter (4,000). Smaller tech firms adopted go well with, and now, hundreds of individuals are on the lookout for new jobs.

For those who’re a salesman affected by these layoffs, you’re most likely afraid of what the long run will appear like for you career-wise. And that’s okay. Regardless of how dreadful and anxiety-inducing layoffs are, there are steps you’ll be able to take to maneuver ahead and revive your profession.

On this article, you’ll get some suggestions from friends who’ve been laid off up to now on the best way to rebound your profession after a layoff.

Rebounding After a Layoff

1. Maintain your psychological well being and well-being.

Shedding your job unexpectedly might be traumatic. Not solely is there a lack of earnings, however getting laid off additionally comes with a lack of id (inside your profession), a sense of not being ok, and concern of what to do subsequent.

For those who really feel indignant, resentful, and damage, that’s okay. For those who really feel anxious and depressed, that’s regular and legitimate, too. And that’s why it’s not a good suggestion to leap into on the lookout for a job instantly. As an alternative, take a number of days to course of your feelings and deal with your psychological well being.

Will Yang, the top of development at Instrumental, is aware of how vital that is.

“Within the speedy aftermath of being laid off, it is simple to really feel like you’ve on a regular basis on the earth to take care of your feelings, however you do not,” Yang says. “You are still operating on adrenaline and, in case you’re something like me, you’ll be so centered on discovering a brand new job that it received’t hit you till later that that is truly a extremely traumatic occasion. So take a while day-after-day — even when it’s simply 10 minutes — to do one thing for your self. It might be so simple as getting exterior and strolling across the block or going for a run at lunchtime; no matter works for you.”

2. Negotiate your severance bundle.

Mark Woodbury, a co-founder at Minerva Fairness, was a laid-off salesperson a few years again, and he says that negotiating his severance bundle helped him bounce again in his profession.

“What most laid-off staff don’t notice is that employers are seemingly keen to barter as a gesture of goodwill, particularly in case you’ve been an asset to the corporate. For instance, you’ll be able to ask if they’ll add a pair extra weeks of wage to the bundle or if they’ll lengthen your advantages,” he says.

What you ask for, nevertheless, is dependent upon how many individuals the corporate is shedding and the way lengthy you’ve labored there.

For instance, in case you work for a big firm shedding 25% of its workforce, you could be unable to barter. They’ve seemingly streamlined the severance packages to go well with everybody they’re letting go. But when the layoff occurs at a 50-person firm, there’ll seemingly be extra wiggle room.

So in case you’re provided a severance bundle of six weeks’ wage, you could possibly ask for eight weeks as a substitute. You may additionally ask if they might lengthen your advantages or enable you to get a brand new job by means of retraining or counseling. You may even negotiate a shift in roles in case you had been a part of an ongoing undertaking on the time of the layoff.

In Woodbury’s phrases, doing this can enable you to deal with a giant chunk of fear from being laid off and permit you to transition higher.

3. Polish your resume.

If you really feel extra mentally and emotionally secure, you can begin on the lookout for a job. However don’t bounce straight into sending software letters. Give attention to sharpening your resume first.

Take into consideration what you need on your profession and the form of position that can enable you to get there. Then, refine your resume to incorporate expertise that mirror simply how competent and certified you might be for that position.

After he was laid off from his earlier gross sales job, the CMO of Freelance Writing Jobs, Milo Cruz, took a 12 months to construct his profession model. However first, he brushed up his resume to draw higher alternatives.

“Create a result- or skills-based resume and emphasize your achievements along with your previous employers,” says Cruz. “For those who beforehand acquired the perfect gross sales worker award, embrace it in your resume and all different accomplishments that contribute to the corporate’s success.”

On constructing a profession model, Cruz advises, “Show a real and compelling persona in your profession model by itemizing all of your mushy expertise, values, and related experiences. That approach, it is going to be simpler for future employers to acknowledge your price as a dependable salesperson, which finally convinces them to rent you and give you yet one more shot within the gross sales trade.”

4. Leverage your small business community.

When you’ve mounted up your resume and are able to job hunt, speak to folks in your enterprise community — together with former colleagues and managers — and allow them to know you’re out there for a brand new alternative. This manner, they’ll look ahead to job postings that could be an ideal match for you.

You may additionally use LinkedIn to seek out new alternatives — and construct a strong community in case you haven’t already. With over 850 million members and 57 million firms worldwide, LinkedIn is a goldmine for enterprise professionals when it comes to job alternatives and entry to different professionals. The platform also can function your digital resume.

“Use on-line platforms comparable to LinkedIn or Twitter to attach with trade contacts who might need insights into potential job alternatives,” says Lisa Dietrich, a associate at Girokonto.io. “Remember the facility of face-to-face networking both. Attending trade occasions or commerce exhibits might be helpful in serving to you land a brand new position faster…”

To extend your probabilities of getting a job by means of LinkedIn, do the next:

• Replace your profile to make sure that all info is related and up-to-date.
• Craft a complete “About” part about your skills, experience, and achievements in your final position.
• Join and work together with others in your trade or desired roles/firms.
• Publish posts that show your trade experience.
• Set your profile as “Open to Work” so hiring managers and recruiters can discover you and attain out with open roles.
• Publish a publish that lets folks know you’ve been laid off and are open to new alternatives. The response you get could shock you.

5. Hold your expertise up-to-date.

It’s straightforward to get absorbed with crafting cowl letters and filling out job functions proper after you’re laid off. Nonetheless, you must take a while to maintain your expertise up-to-date and be taught new issues that may give you an edge in your job search.

Riva Jeane Could Caburog, a PR/media coordinator at Nadrich & Cohen Accident Harm Legal professionals, used to work as a gross sales specialist for an ecommerce model. However when the enterprise needed to reduce down on its operational and labor prices, her employer laid her off.

After discovering it troublesome to get a brand new gross sales job, she determined to upskill. “I took programs associated to public relations, a self-discipline that enhances effectively with gross sales,” Caburog recounts. “That was the perfect choice I made as a result of my newly-acquired experience in PR helped me land a job in a regulation agency. Now, I’m trusted to craft efficient methods for the agency’s gross sales group, which permits me to make use of my earlier expertise whereas incomes extra.”

Garrett Smith, the top of native search engine optimization at GMB Gorilla, echoes Caburog’s sentiments.

Talking from his expertise of being laid off from his gross sales job, Smith says, “Take this chance to realize expertise and expertise for a special trade you’ve been desirous to pursue. Not solely will this make you enticing to employers, however it can additionally provide you with confidence and momentum in what can in any other case be a discouraging state of affairs.”

6. Spend money on a profession coach.

Working with a profession coach who has tons of expertise within the gross sales trade might help you in your seek for a brand new, better-paying job. Not solely do they bring about their data to the desk, however in addition they convey their enterprise community that can assist you discover job alternatives.

Allan Stolc, the founder and CEO of Bankly, used to deal with a gross sales group in a medium-sized tech firm earlier than he was laid off because of the pandemic. In 2020, he was capable of bounce again and begin his personal fintech enterprise with the assistance of a profession coach.

“For those who’re struggling to get again to gross sales, a profession coach with a long time of expertise within the trade can offer you the best instruments, invaluable insights, and dependable sources,” says Stolc. “You don’t have to exert effort and time researching what’s greatest for you since you’ll be introduced with all of the out there choices primarily based on what fits your persona, as objectively assessed by your chosen profession coach.”

Profession coaches are price your cash as a result of they make you a greater salesperson. And in case you select a well-connected coach, they’ll refer you to firms they’ve affiliations with and vouch for you.

For those who plan to begin your individual enterprise like Allan Stolc, profession teaching helps you be taught vital enterprise administration expertise that’ll turn out to be useful while you launch.

7. Attempt freelancing.

For those who don’t wish to get a full-time job proper after the layoff, you’ll be able to go the freelancing route. Lisa Dietrich of Gironkonto.io recommends it.

“Doing a little freelance work could not solely assist tide you over financially till you discover one thing extra everlasting, but it surely might additionally open up additional employment alternatives as it can assist broaden your talent set and add extra various expertise to your CV.,” she says.

And she or he’s proper. Freelancing permits you to earn some cash and enhance your portfolio of labor finished for purchasers. It will possibly additionally increase your expertise degree and make potential employers see you as competent, able to working alone and with a group.

Adrienne Sofa, a human sources analyst at LLC.Companies, additionally likes the concept of freelancing.

“The job market is consistently altering, and it is vital to be open-minded about various kinds of work preparations,” says Sofa. “The gig economic system is rising, and increasingly more firms are hiring unbiased contractors and freelancers, so don’t restrict your self to simply conventional job openings.”

8. Keep optimistic.

As you be taught new expertise and apply for jobs, you’ll get interview gives. If you do, go into the interviews with a optimistic mindset. Positive, some interviews would possibly go the best way you anticipate, however you must transfer ahead and hold attempting until you get one.

Cole Gordon, gross sales coach and founding father of Closers.io, is aware of how vital it’s to be optimistic when looking for new jobs.

“The job search course of might be irritating, but it surely’s vital to remain optimistic. Keep in mind that rejection is simply part of the method, and that you’re going to land a brand new gross sales gig ultimately. Keep motivated and proceed to place your self on the market.”

For those who’re discovering it troublesome to remain optimistic, take into account taking a break from job looking to spend high quality time with family members and do issues that make you content.

Be gracious to your self after a layoff.

After getting laid off, an important factor to recollect as you search for one other job is to be type to your self. Attempt to not spend all of your time questioning the place you went flawed or what you could possibly have finished higher. The reality is: many layoffs will not be private. So that you might be wonderful at your job and nonetheless get laid off.

Throughout your free time, attempt to do issues that can nourish your spirit and hold you content. Hang around with buddies, eat effectively, train, interact in hobbies, and have enjoyable. Sooner or later, you’ll be completely satisfied you probably did.