Women in Revenue’s roots come from the B2B tech industry. That means that our community has been hit hard in recent months by layoffs and change. When turmoil hits our ranks, we gather our resources to help. Today we’re launching the Career Progression Support Center, a place for our members to go to get advice on imminent career transition.
Whether you’ve been laid off, are considering a new career or job, or find yourself navigating a new work environment post layoffs, this center has resources to help you plan and cope. We spend one-third of our life working. Managing and planning for what comes next is important for your financial future, overall career success, and your mental health. We hope this page helps.
The Career Progression Support Center is a living site that will be updated regularly with resources to help with career transition and progression. It includes helpful resources from experts around the web including articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics, webinars, and more.
To give you a sample of what you can find in the center, here are a few highlights and tips from the resources we’ve gathered:
- Don’t forget your worth. As this Harvard Business Review article says, “Being laid off is not a reflection of your skill set — it’s a reflection of your former company’s lack of proper planning during a turbulent economy or of its change in business strategy.”
- Yes, tech companies are still hiring. This community-generated, free list of jobs in tech currently lists more than 1300 tech companies that are hiring.
- Not laid off yet, but worried you might be? This Resource Center includes a number of resources with advice on what to do when you’re laid off, including a layoff playbook which includes insight on how to handle the rumors, the actual layoff meeting, and steps on what to do after. For example:
- Before: Gather documentation and information (such as employment agreements, contracts, contacts, and examples of your work). DO NOT take proprietary information.
- During: Know that you can negotiate your severance. Understand what to expect and how to negotiate.
- Immediately after a layoff: Hydrate. Sleep. Process.
- After: Compute your runway–How long do until you have to work. Apply for unemployment. Set up health insurance.
- Take care of your mental health. Pandemic followed by career transition is a lot. The resource center includes a pair of podcasts from Brene Brown and Melissa Froehlich on how to handle the exhaustion and how to shift your success mindset, respectively.
- Ask a mentor for help. Mentorship doesn’t have to be a lifetime commitment. As Women in Revenue board member Jill Melchionda discusses in a WIR TV episode on the resource page, you can even have “spot mentorships…where people get matched on a particular challenge or topic.”
Check out the resource center and if you need help with any of the steps, help is available in a flash! Taking a page from that last highlight, Women in Revenue’s Flash Mentorship Program allows you to set up a one-time call with a qualified mentor to discuss a specific skill and/or topic, for example, how to beef up your resume, how to set up an informational interview, or how to leverage your network to find or get the inside scoop on job search opportunities. Sign up here and be sure to select the “Mentorship” box to get started.
