You’ve Been Laid Off. Here’s How to Restart.

Getting a job after a layoff can feel like trying to rebuild your life while the ground is still shaking. You don’t need a motivational poster to tell you it’s tough. You already know it is. 

You’ve recently faced a layoff, and it sucks. Anyone who has lost a job knows the mix of panic and confusion that hits all at once. Right now it might not feel like it, but you will get through it. 

Lost My Job: How to Start a New Career After Layoffs 

When you say “I lost my job,” it can feel like the world just heard you announce a failure. It’s not. Layoffs happen all the time, and they usually have nothing to do with your talent or value Sometimes it’s budgets. Sometimes it’s strategy. Sometimes it’s someone in a boardroom making a decision you had no part in. It doesn’t mean it sucks any less, though 

Changing careers or figuring out how to start a new career from this place feels overwhelming. You look at job postings and wonder who all these people are that meet twelve skill requirements and have ten years of experience in a field that didn’t exist five years ago. But this is the moment where you give yourself permission to pause and reset before running toward the next thing. 

Getting a Job Starts With Reaching Out to Your Network 

Your first instinct might be to isolate and try to fix everything alone. Don’t. This is the time to reach out to your network, both professional and personal. Text people. Message the coworker you actually liked. Tell your friends you’re figuring out how to get a job again. 

Most people understand layoffs because they’ve been through them or know someone who has. Someone in your circle knows someone who knows someone. It’s awkward to ask for help, but it’s also how real opportunities start. A conversation is more useful than another night doom scrolling job boards that all start to look the same. 

Skilling, Upskilling and Training for Career Change 

Once the dust settles, take a breath and look ahead. This might be the moment where you ask yourself if the path you were on is still the path you want. Career coaches exist for a reason. They help you figure out what skills you have, what skills you need and what skilling or reskilling makes sense if you want to shift into a new field. 

Training for a career change doesn’t have to mean going back to school for years. Sometimes it’s a short course. Sometimes it’s a certification. Sometimes it’s realizing you already have the attributes needed for a role and just need a little polishing to make that clear. 

This is also the part that can feel like an opportunity instead of a crisis. You get to rethink the kind of work you want to do and the kind of life you want to build. 

How to Get Your First Job in a New Field or Restart After a Layoff 

Restarting after layoffs means accepting that you’re in a transition, not an ending. You already navigated the hardest part, which is waking up the day after losing your job and deciding to keep going. Every step after that is forward movement, even when it feels slow. 

You don’t need the perfect plan. You just need momentum. One email. One conversation. One course. That’s how you get a job again and rebuild confidence one small win at a time. 

A Simple Way to Move Forward With Support 

If you want help navigating this career reset, pepelwerk’s AI Career Assistant can guide your next steps. It can help you understand your attributes, find training for a career change and match with opportunities that fit who you are, not just what’s on a resume. It’s a straightforward way to rebuild without doing it alone.