COVID Layoff Help
I want to share here what I learned this month getting laid off and finding a job. Here are some tips to have you land on your feet as well!
I am always able to chat, reach out to me at info@dolong.ca or on LinkedIn if you want some personal advice!
COVID-19 Help Lists
There are a lot of job and employee boards out there to support people laid off during these times. I got a lot of success from these lists, be sure to read the section following on standing out to maximize your chances!
Canadian Startup Talent Help List 2020
US/World
https://www.getsilverlining.com/
https://blog.drafted.us/post/whos-hiring-on-layoff-network
https://www.layoffs.tech/submit-to-layoff-list
AlleyCorp + Tech:NYC | NYC Tech Talent + Opportunities
Also some of these websites have slack communities you can connect with. Be sure to do that, there are tons of people on these platforms you can message directly for help and directly about jobs they post.
How to stand out on these lists
Create a LinkedIn profile that stands out. Employers often click LinkedIn links immediately viewing your resume or listed info.
Get a professional picture – This builds immediate trust! It also presents you professionally, a picture is the first thing they will see.
Write a great description – I spent some time thinking about readability. Think of how someone would look at hundreds of profiles would read first. Don’t format it as a big block of text.
Market yourself with a featured section Create a featured section with a picture that stands-out. I created a PPE fund during my last few weeks and I put it as a featured item. You can also start talking about your positive community involvements, personal website with accomplishments and projects here.
Put up strong bullet points that emphasize your accomplishments, one of the biggest factors in me hearing back and having gotten employers reach out is just changing the marketability of my bullet points.
Example: I changed “Created JIRA Kanban Boards, and managed all bug tracking” to “Expedited support bug backlog by overhauling agile and kanban practices, over 80% reduction in bugs and increased response times from monthly to weekly”
Projects
If you are laid off, start extra projects! It’s important to keep yourself busy and create some side income if you can.
Other High performing platforms
angel.co
Angel List recently updated their job listings by having a “Covid Verified” status. Making older job posts unverified, a lot of older job postings are from positions unavailable but wouldn’t ever hurt to inquire/apply
hired.com
A lot of named companies are using hired.com I’ve gotten interviews in the past from Instacart, Microsoft, Amazon, its a great platform for developers
ziprecruiter
Twitter
Heres something interesting, try searching “Hiring {Role} {Position} on twitter. You’ll get the latest job live
One last tip about for all these websites is to not just stop at clicking apply, but to do a bit of researching and try to contact the company directly through LinkedIn, email, and find the hiring managers if you can.
Everything is remote! Even if you are Canadian and want to apply somewhere else
A lot of companies might still prefer to hire an in-house team right now, but they all must be willing to have you work and start remotely till COVID-19 clears up. However, a lot of forward thinking companies will allow you to remotely permanently now.
It’s a bit of a challenge but you can always inquire as you apply if they’re willing to hire a Canadian to work remotely, bigger companies shouldn’t have a problem.
Another reason for working remotely is because there are also TN visa delays, Canadians cannot relocate at this time. If you’ve gone through an interview process right now most likely, the company will have you stay in Canada until a later time. I know some companies will avoid hiring Canadians, but at the same time it provides them more incentive to hire a completely remote Canadian if you are truly qualified.
- TO DO (Stay tuned for updates on the following):
- How to talk to US company and show them how they can pay you easily. Current status is that US is on lock-down for 8 months, everything is probably remote for Canada
- US Contracts – more about contracting options
LinkedIn Outreach
I love LinkedIn premium. It’s just much easier to reach out to companies directly, and message very casually recruiters, employers, and talent acquisition teams. I recommend adding or adding with a simple message that you would like to ask more about a position. Something everyone is asking is whether or not positions are remote right now. I know it might cause a lot of trouble for recruiters being bombarded, but if you’re confident in your profile, it doesn’t hurt.