Sharing your dismissal on LinkedIn is no longer an ‘act of shame’ – and it could be a smart career move

High profile layoff notices on Twitter, Stripe and Meta within days might make you think about how you would handle the sudden loss of your job.

In addition to figuring out your finances, negotiating severance, and applying for unemployment benefits, you might want to add “share a social media update” to a post-layoff to-do list.

Spend time on LinkedIn these days and you’ll see workers increasingly using the platform to announce their layoffs — just as quickly as they would announce a new job or promotion.

The vulnerability is “huge” to see, says Albert Ko, the sales manager at AngelList Talent who has suffered five rounds of layoffs in his 15-year career (including two where he lost his job).

“Years ago, it was like an act of shame” to publicly announce that you had been fired, says Ko, 37. Now, after the pandemic recession and wild job market of 2022, “it’s a huge paradigm shift in that people are open about their job loss and asking for help.”

It can also be a smart career move if done right. Here’s what to keep in mind if you post information about your dismissal on social media.

Ann Cascella, 34, says she “didn’t struggle at all” with being fired from her job as a data analyst right after it happened in late October.

For one thing, she needs health insurance coverage and can’t take too long between jobs. And second, she wanted to stay ahead of her network, now including former colleagues and bosses, amid competing layoff news. She says it helped her feel supported during a tough week, and her network stepped in to help with great comments, sharing her post on their feeds, and sending job leads.

Ko recalls going through several stages of grief during his “very painful” layoff experiences: shock, denial, depression, shame, and anger. He eventually agreed remembering that, as personal as it may seem, “it’s just work. They needed me for some purpose and after a while it wasn’t a fit anymore” , he said.

That said, he says the best time to post a layoff is as soon as you’re in the right headspace to do so and follow up on any leads that arise from it, whether immediately or a few weeks later. He says he made the mistake a few times of re-starting his job search before he was mentally ready.

“It’s like a breakup,” Ko says. “There’s no perfect time to jump in. But the sooner you do it with the right mindset, the better.”

As for what to say in your post, be clear about your best qualities and what you’re looking for next.

Coming from her first job as a data analyst with a startup at a time when people at giants like Twitter are losing jobs, “it wasn’t enough for me to say I was fired, I was grateful for the job. experience and I’m looking for my next opportunity,” says Cascella. She had to stand out and also be clear about what she was looking for. “People can’t give you what you’re looking for if you don’t know what you’re looking for. .”

To that end, when Cascella wrote her layoff announcement on LinkedIn, she made sure to include the top four wins from her last job, such as becoming an expert in new skills and working on big impactful projects. on the business. She showed that she was a valuable part of the team even though she had only been there seven months (probably a common scenario for people hired during periods of hyper-growth in their business).

Cascella was also explicit in the job title she is looking for and what excites her the most about the job. “People in my network have reached out to me saying, ‘Send me your resume and I’ll forward it to our data manager,’ rather than just, ‘Sorry, you were fired.'”

By stating exactly what you want upfront, Cascella says, “you can get to the desired result faster.”

It also doesn’t hurt to tag a few former colleagues and bosses in your post. Cascella did, and as a result, her former manager shared her post and added even more reasons why she’s a good employee to work with – essentially providing a solid reference from the start.

So far, Cascella has already gotten a few job referrals, and given that she’s gotten each of her previous jobs through a hookup, she feels pretty good about her approach.

Ko adds that it can be helpful to share who you want to work with next by naming five to 10 companies you admire. If you don’t have a specific employer in mind, you may have a preference for company size, potential team, or an idea of ​​the type of product or service you want to work on.

Bouncing back from a layoff can take an emotional toll, so be sure to prioritize your well-being and focus on what you can control. There will likely be busy periods in the job search, as well as lulls, so be sure to manage job search burnout as well.

Cascella adds that his best advice for newly unemployed workers is “to be very disciplined by limiting the amount of time you spend on this job search each day.”

Her plan is to apply for three jobs a day, including submitting her resume and cover letter to a portal and then taking the extra step of sending her information to the hiring manager’s email or to the LinkedIn inbox.

Finally, she adds, “enjoy your time.” Plan something for yourself in the middle of the afternoon which you usually book for a weekend and have to beat the crowds. “Balancing the time you’re not working diligently to find a job is so critical.”

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