7 Practical Ways to Protect Yourself From a Layoff
Strategic, doable steps to safeguard your career, strengthen your network, and stay ready in an uncertain job market.
Lately, it feels like every week brings another headline about a major company announcing layoffs.
I know how unsettling that can feel. When I was laid off years ago, I was one of the lucky ones.
My company gave us three weeks between the announcement and our final day. I had time to process with the small group of colleagues who were also laid off, let other teammates know what was happening, and hand over projects in a way that gave me closure.
Most people don’t get that grace period. One minute they have access to everything, and the next, it’s gone. It’s jarring and disorienting.
You can’t control whether your company announces layoffs, but you can control how prepared you are if it happens.
Think of this as your layoff protection plan. Here are small, practical steps that can fit into your busy week to keep you prepared if a layoff ever happens.
1. Nurture Your Network Before You Need It
Relationships are your best career safety net. The problem is that most people only reach out when they need something. By then, it feels uncomfortable or transactional.
Instead, make it part of your weekly routine. Block off 15 minutes on Friday to send short messages to a few former colleagues or professional contacts. Simply reaching out to say you’re thinking of them or curious how things are going is enough to keep the connection warm.
Then, spend another 15 minutes scrolling on LinkedIn and commenting on a few posts. These small touches keep you connected and visible long before you ever need help.
Action Step:
Schedule these two 15-minute blocks each week to nurture your network with no agenda other than to check in and support others.
2. Don’t Update Your Resume. Do This Instead.
Most career advice online will tell you to keep your resume updated to prepare for a layoff. I disagree.
Your resume is a marketing document, not a historical record. It should only have the information that’s relevant to your future job. And if you’re happy in your job right now, you probably don’t know what that next role looks like.
Instead of spending time writing your resume (which is a task you’ll likely dread and therefore will procrastinate doing), focus on collecting the information you’ll need when it’s time to update your resume.
So what’s the information you need in your resume? Metrics and accomplishments.
Numbers matter. Recruiters and hiring managers want to see the scope, scale, and impact of your work. Metrics help you tell that story with credibility.
Gather the data that shows your results:
Budgets and team sizes
Revenue you’ve managed or influenced
Size and scale of clients, accounts, or projects under your scope
Numbers that quantify cost savings, efficiencies you’ve created, or team engagement you improved
It’s much harder to get those numbers once you’ve left, which is why it’s important to capture them now.
Then, go beyond your numbers. Every six months, document your broader accomplishments, too. Capture the projects you led, initiatives you supported, positive feedback you received, and moments you went above and beyond. These are easy to forget, but they’re the raw material for powerful career stories when you’re ready to make a move.
And while you’re at it, send your performance reviews to your personal email. They’re full of language and feedback you can reuse when updating your LinkedIn profile, resume, or preparing for interviews.
Action Steps:
Inventory your metrics and email them, along with your performance reviews, to your personal account so they’re not lost if access is cut off.
If it’s been a while, set aside an hour to document your top accomplishments from the past six months.
3. Gather Examples of Your Work For Future Interviews
This one might be controversial, but I’m an advocate for you, not your company.
You did the work, and you should be able to show it. I’m not talking about proprietary or confidential information, and if you work in a regulated industry like finance or healthcare, you have to be even more cautious.
But if there are non-sensitive documents that demonstrate your skills in action, like a presentation you created, a project plan you built, or visuals that show your thinking, keep a copy. (I said a copy, not a data dump. You have to be smart and careful here).
These are powerful when you’re interviewing. They allow you to pull out a tangible example, showing—not just telling—what you’ve done. Bringing a real example to an interview makes your experience credible and helps you stand out.
Action Step:
Identify two or three non-confidential examples of your work and send them to your personal email or drive.
4. Raise Your Visibility at Work
Make sure your leaders and peers understand the value you bring. Speak up in meetings, share updates about what your team has achieved, and connect your work to business outcomes. Visibility doesn’t mean bragging; it means helping others see the difference you make.
If visibility is something you struggle with, I support women in building the visibility, influence, and self-promotion skills to get seen by the right people.
This won’t make you completely immune to layoffs. But people who are known and visible in their organizations tend to bounce back faster because others can vouch for their impact.
Action Step:
Highlight one meaningful win to your boss or a cross-functional leader each week. Share why it mattered and the impact it had.
5. Make Sure Your Job-Searching Assets Aren’t Just on Your Work Computer
I recently caught up with a former colleague who had been laid off after 18 years at her company. Her resume was saved on her work laptop. When she was laid off, access to her computer was shut off immediately, along with her resume. She had to recreate it from memory. Oof.
Don’t let that happen to you.
If your resume, professional documents, or templates live on your work computer, move them to your personal drive now. Most people underestimate how much they’ve stored until it’s too late.
Action Step:
Audit your files this week and send any personal or career-related information to your personal email.
6. Build a Bigger Financial Cushion to Prepare for a Layoff
Layoffs can take longer to recover from than you think. Even with severance or unemployment benefits, many professionals underestimate how long it takes to find the right next role.
Give yourself peace of mind by saving a little extra now.
Action Step:
Set up an automatic transfer to start adding a little extra money into your emergency savings.
7. Keep Your Focus on What You Can Control During Layoff Uncertainty
It’s easy to get sucked into the doom and gloom when you read about layoffs or see them happening around you. Our brains get overwhelmed when we focus on everything we can’t control.
Instead, redirect your attention to what you can control: your relationships, your professional reputation, your wins, and your mindset. You have a lot more power and control than you realize.
Action Step:
Set a timer when reading the news or going on LinkedIn so you’re not sucked into the fear. And make it a daily routine to spend a few minutes reflecting on what you’re grateful for.
Layoff Prepared, Not Paranoid
It’s not productive to live in a state of paranoia about being let go. That kind of constant worry can take a toll. It drains your energy, clouds your thinking, and spills over into other parts of your life.
But it does pay off to be prepared. Taking a few proactive steps now gives you peace of mind and a sense of control. It helps you trust that, even if something unexpected happens, you’ll recover faster.
If you want help building your career strategy so you feel more in control of your direction, let’s talk about what your game plan could look like.