Bossed Up

How To Explain Your Layoff in a Job Interview


Listen Later

How should you address a layoff in a job interview? This year of job market flux has seen more than 80,000 layoffs in the tech industry alone, on top of 250,000+ in 2023. These statistics highlight just how normal and not-at-all-shameful layoffs are, but that doesn’t mean living through them is easy.

In today’s episode, I have three takeaways for managing the interview question that will inevitably come up if you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of people who were unceremoniously let go in the past year and a half. 

These tips serve as a reminder that the question “Tell us about why you were laid off” is a chance to focus your story on your values and use your experiences to drive home what makes you a great candidate for the opportunity before you.

Tune in to learn how to explain your layoff with pride and power:

  • Why you shouldn’t skirt around the truth;
  • How to normalize your experience without making it personal;
  • Where to take the story so it highlights your best traits and skills.

Related Links:

  • HIRED: my Job Search Accelerator - https://www.bossedup.org/gethired
  • Episode 455 - How to Create a Sustainable Job Search Schedule when You’re Unemployed - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode455
  • Episode 453 - Prioritizing your Job Search While Holding Down a Full-Time Job - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode453
  • From Verdict: “New year kicks off continued tech layoffs in 2024” - https://www.verdict.co.uk/new-year-kicks-off-continued-tech-layoffs-in-2024/
  • From Yahoo Finance: “Five biggest tech industry layoffs of 2024, so far” - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-biggest-tech-industry-layoffs-151712010.html
  • Tech Layoff Tracker: https://layoffs.fyi/
  • Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
  • Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Bossed UpBy Emilie Aries

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

397 ratings


More shows like Bossed Up

View all
Good Life Project by Jonathan Fields / Acast

Good Life Project

3,304 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,448 Listeners

Find Your Dream Job: Insider Tips for Finding Work, Advancing your Career, and Loving Your Job by Mac Prichard

Find Your Dream Job: Insider Tips for Finding Work, Advancing your Career, and Loving Your Job

618 Listeners

How to Be Awesome at Your Job by How to be Awesome at Your Job

How to Be Awesome at Your Job

1,032 Listeners

Radical Candor: Communication at Work by Kim Scott, Jason Rosoff & Amy Sandler

Radical Candor: Communication at Work

710 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

110,877 Listeners

UnF*ck Your Brain: Feminist Self-Help for Everyone by Kara Loewentheil

UnF*ck Your Brain: Feminist Self-Help for Everyone

5,124 Listeners

9 to 5ish with theSkimm by theSkimm

9 to 5ish with theSkimm

1,876 Listeners

Worklife with Adam Grant by TED

Worklife with Adam Grant

9,178 Listeners

Career Contessa by Career Contessa

Career Contessa

460 Listeners

Life Kit by NPR

Life Kit

4,372 Listeners

The Anxious Achiever by Morra Aarons-Mele

The Anxious Achiever

560 Listeners

Get Hired with Andrew Seaman by LinkedIn

Get Hired with Andrew Seaman

143 Listeners

Fixable by TED

Fixable

211 Listeners

What We Spend by Audacy

What We Spend

619 Listeners