Just Got Laid Off? What to Do in the First 7 Days

The meeting ended in eleven minutes. Your access will expire at 5 p.m. Someone in HR mentioned COBRA and severance "details to follow." Your group chat is on fire with anger and job leads you are not ready to click yet.

Day one is not "apply to forty roles before dinner." Day one is stabilize, then search from a platform that will not crumble in week three.

Day 1: Secure the basics

• Get severance letter, final pay date, and PTO payout in writing
• Ask deadlines: signed release, equity exercise, laptop return
• Download personal files you are allowed to keep (portfolio, public work)
• Export contacts you can reach ethically (no scraping confidential lists)
• Note health insurance end date; set COBRA or marketplace reminder
• Tell one inner circle person; defer public announcement if you need space

Do not negotiate from panic. Read documents twice.

Days 2-3: Runway and admin

• Build a 90-day budget: rent, debt, family costs
• File unemployment if eligible in your state (often slow, start early)
• Schedule a tax conversation if severance or equity is complex
• Fix sleep and meals (search quality crashes when basics slip)

Know your runway number before you say yes to panic offers.

Days 4-5: Positioning, not volume

• Update resume bank with last role metrics while fresh
• LinkedIn headline aligned to target lane (not old internal title)
• Short "open to work" plan: who to DM first (managers who hired you, peers at target companies)
• Write 5-line "what I am looking for" blurb for intros

Skip the public LinkedIn essay until you can write it without rage-editing.

Days 6-7: Start the pipeline small

• Pick 5-8 strong-fit roles, not 50 maybes
• Tailor four zones for each before submit
• Start a tracker: company, version, follow-up date
• Book two networking calls for next week, not twelve

Quality-first week beats a shame-driven spray that burns referrals.

Common traps

Accepting the first offer out of fear. Runway math first.

Trash-talking former employer online. Recruiters read timelines.

Applying before you know your level and lane. Layoffs push people down-level; decide intentionally.

Ignoring references. Ask while colleagues still remember your last launch.

Announcing before you have a story. A vague "open to opportunities" post gets sympathy, not intros. Lead with lane and stack when you go public.

When you are ready to scale outbound

After the first week, increase cadence to 8-12 tailored apps weekly. Form-heavy portals eat time you should spend on networking. XApply.ai helps with match, resume tailoring, and Workday-style autofill while you keep final approval.

The layoff is an event. Your search is a campaign. Week one builds the campaign's supply lines.