[_m8fo]

1. I would immediately file for unemployment in your area, if applicable.

2. Take one day and just relax. Have the most fun you can possibly have that doesn't damage your health or take anything more than a trivial amount of money.

3. Calculate your burn rate and cut expenses.

4. Accept that you have a new job. Your new job is finding a new job.

5. Dedicate 20 hours a week to finding and applying to jobs. You can just submit your form everywhere. Spend 5 hours a week identifying companies that you like in particular. Spend 15 hours a week attempting to make actionable progress improving your interviewing ability. This might mean studying things like Cracking the Coding Interview, or doing small projects to show that you can work with technologies that some of your prospective employers want to see.

Throttle the looking for a job part from 25 to 40 hours, keeping everything the same. Do not spend more than 60 hours total doing job hunting related activities. You'll burn out and become unmotivated.

Good luck!

[gdne]

6. Network. Get personal referrals from people you know who work at the companies you are applying. These personal referrals have an order of magnitude better chance at getting you noticed. Use your time to reach out to people you know. Have coffee with them. Yes. Face to face. Let them know you're interested in working at their company. Ask them to submit a referral. Use linkedin to find people. Don't be afraid to ask a connection for an intro to another person you don't know who could help you. You'd be surprised how helpful people are willing to be.

[flukus]

> 2. Take one day and just relax. Have the most fun you can possibly have that doesn't damage your health or take anything more than a trivial amount of money.

This is good advice. Don't try and turn the unemployment into a holiday because the stress is too high to really let yourself enjoy it. You don't want to spend a holiday thinking "should a spend the extra $2 on the gourmet pizza" and stuff like that.

[tsneed290]

Couldn't agree more with tabeth.

And don't be discouraged by a bad interview. It was good interviewing practice anyway. Keep moving forward.

[sixdimensional]

(US only) 1.1 If available, ensure temporary on-going health insurance coverage via COBRA [1]. Usually your former employer / previous health insurance is required to send you a letter regarding how to file for COBRA - otherwise ask.

I had exactly, precisely the same thing happen to me. I agree with 1-5 above (and 6 in the child post).

Try (really hard) not to get depressed and find a weird way to enjoy this unforeseen break in your work life. You probably won't get any other breaks like this unless you decide to take them or get lucky.

[1] FAQ about COBRA https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-...

[abeyer]

You may want to check out ACA plans for insurance, too. Depending on what your needs are and how much your employer was paying, COBRA coverage may be significantly more expensive than your options under ACA. Also, COBRA will only last as long as the company does. (see discussion downthread)

Losing a job allows you to enroll in ACA plans outside of the normal enrollment period, but only for a limited time, so check into that soon if you want to.

[AnimalMuppet]

0. If you feel like it, go ahead and take 15 minutes or half an hour and cry. When the half hour is over, though, be done. Move on to 1.

[nickff]

The only thing I would add to this (great, positive) advice is that you may want to read McArdle's masterpiece on rebounding, The Up Side of Down.[1] She was in a terrible (long-term) unemployment situation, followed by underemployment; she took the lessons she learned, added some others she found later, and wrote this (very helpful and practical) book.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Up-Side-Down-Failing-Success/dp/01431...

[bsvalley]

40 hours a week? I've done it in the past it's not realistic. If you schedule one interview per day, you'll burn out quickly. You need breaks in between to digest the previous interview.

[Macsenour]

I think 40 hours of interviews is to much, I agree, but I think he meant 40 hours of just looking in general. That's a combination of interviews, in person and phone, and the rest of the time looking at job boards and networking.

Then again, maybe you meant that too... :)

[falcolas]

Personally, I didn't find that any form of break between interviews made a difference (excepting when I had to fly out of state). I was fine doing 2-3 interviews (in person combined with phone) a day when they came up. It's probably a personal thing.

If you do need a break between interviews, submitting new applications or working on your skills makes for a decent filler. Like a regular paying job, you'll get out of your application efforts what you put into them.

[bsvalley]

Sure, you can practice and reflect on the previous interview in-between. Your level of concentration is so high during a technical interview, as soon as you disconnect you get a big drop. For an onsite for example, you go to 5-10 45 minutes interviews in a row... you're in until the end, then you crash at night in your bed. No way you can do the same thing the next morning.

[jon-wood]

5-10 interviews in a row seems ridiculous to me. It may be that I focus on smaller companies, but I've never done more than two interviews for any job, and usually its just a phone screen and an in-person interview.

[thecolorblue]

These are all really good. I would only add to keep good habits and take the opportunity to cut bad ones. Work out more, eat better, talk to friends and family, etc.

[chad_strategic]

Let me emphasize, work out more or exercise. I found this to be very important for mental stability.

[falcolas]

When I ran up against the same problem, this is exactly what I did. Though, I did take a weekend off to breathe, instead of a single day. Ended up with two offers 30 days later, and was working 15 days after that.

Unemployment was the most intimidating part initially, but it wasn't hard; just a few pages of online paperwork every week.

[sixdimensional]

Yeah, the unemployment process (at least in the US) was designed to scare people away. It really isn't that bad to report your progress with a job search, and it's your right to receive it since you paid into it.

[jgamman]

remarkably good advice that i could have used last time I got laid off. the burn rate thing was critical - i am still amazed at what we were able to survive on while spending 6 months job hunting. the only thing i might add is an extension to number 3 - the psychological component to job hunting can easily overwhelm your technical skills. find an emotional support buddy, they will help you remember that most job offers come with a healthy dose of luck that you can't control

[arvinsim]

> Spend 15 hours a week attempting to make actionable progress improving your interviewing ability.

Do you have any suggestions on how to do this?

[brianmurphy]

There are some good books on the subject. Start with "The Google Resume" by Gayle McDowell. Then move on to industry specific books like Cracking the Coding Interview.

[arvinsim]

I am already aware of CTCI but not about "The Google Resume". Thanks!