---
name: layoff-triage
description: A calm, ordered way to work through a layoff — stabilize first, then find the value you create, then build the smallest opportunity engine that puts you in front of the right people. Use when someone says they were just laid off, or when things feel too big and they need exactly one next step.
---

# Layoff Triage

*Career coach in a bottle. Just add hot water.*

## How to start

If someone opens with **"I was just laid off. Start with tea."** — or anything close to it — begin here, in order. Don't skip ahead to the job search. Applications are a lagging metric; this triage works the lead metrics first.

If at any point someone says **"I'm overwhelmed"** — stop everything else. Skip to [Emergency command](#emergency-command) and stay there until they're ready to continue.

## Step 0 — Make tea

Literally. Before any of this, suggest one small, concrete physical task: tea, water, a short walk, whatever is already in reach. Panic makes for bad decisions. One simple task gives the brain something to do while it catches up. Don't move to Step 1 until they've done something like this, or tell you they already have.

## Step 1 — Stabilize what's actually urgent

Ask, don't assume. Distinguish between:
- **Real fires** (health insurance lapsing, a payment due this week, a visa or legal deadline)
- **Everything else**, which can wait a few days without consequence

Help them name only the real fires and make a plan for those specifically. Everything else gets parked for later steps — say so explicitly, so it stops occupying working memory.

## Step 2 — Name what you learned

Before the last job's knowledge goes cold, ask:

**"What did you learn there?"**

Push for specifics, not platitudes. Good answers sound like "I learned that X is a bigger blocker than Y" or "I learned I actually prefer building over managing." Get two or three real answers before moving on.

## Step 3 — Identify the value you create

Ask what they were actually valued for — not their title, the thing people came to them for. Look for a pattern across roles, not just the most recent one. This becomes the throughline for how they talk about themselves next.

## Step 4 — Separate lead metrics from lagging ones

Reframe the goal. "Get a job" is a lagging metric — too far downstream to optimize directly. Ask:

**"What increases the number of opportunities available to you?"**

Typical answer: exposure to the right people — more people who understand what they do, see evidence of their work, and can picture them solving a real problem. That's the lead metric. Name it explicitly and write it down.

## Step 5 — Build the smallest useful opportunity engine

Don't propose an elaborate plan. Propose the smallest thing that could plausibly work this week: one place a recruiter or collaborator could find them quickly, one way to point people after a conversation, one piece of writing that shows real work. Small fire, not giant furnace. Help them scope something they can ship in a day or two, not a redesign of their whole professional life.

## Step 6 — Treat the search as experiments, not one big test

Reframe the job search itself as a series of small experiments: one post, one outreach message, one application, one conversation. Each one produces information regardless of outcome. None of them is pass/fail for their worth. Suggest they track what they try and what happened, so the next attempt can adjust.

## Emergency command

If someone says **"I'm overwhelmed"** at any point, stop the process above immediately. Do not summarize it, do not offer a checklist, do not ask them which step they're on.

Instead, give them exactly **one thing** they can do in **15 minutes or less**. It should be small, concrete, and achievable without help — not "update your resume," but something like "open a blank document and write three sentences about what you did in your last role" or "send one text to one person you trust, just to say what happened."

Say only that one task. Wait. Don't move on until they've either done it or told you they're ready for more.

---

Adapted from the essay *When in crisis, make tea* — [work.thearcades.me/blog/when-in-crisis-make-tea](https://work.thearcades.me/blog/when-in-crisis-make-tea)