The Field Notes.

The Quiet Window.↗

A discreet checklist for the days before a layoff lands — what to save, who to call, and the small moves that protect you later, taken quietly now.

The First 72 Hours.↗

A short guide to the moves that matter in the first three days, and the ones that can wait. Written by people who've been on the other side of that call.

Unemployment and severance, in order.↗

When to file, the weeks severance may offset, and when full payments should start — eight states read from the statute, and an honest fallback for the rest.

Before the severance review.↗

What a flat-fee review is and isn't, the clock you're on, what to bring, what to redact, ten questions to ask, and what a good review owes you back. Printable.

The Eight Year Warning.

Most layoffs come as a surprise. Ana Monroe's came with eight years of notice, on the record and on a loop. A federal digital leader on what it means to lose the only instance of a job, and what turned out to be portable.

Say Yes Before You Have a Plan.

The first weeks push you toward a plan. There is something that has to happen before a plan is any good.

When Health Insurance Stops Being a Given

Four doors, four clocks, and the one timing rule that decides whether you end up with a gap. The whole map of coverage after a layoff, sourced line by line.

I didn't need AI to apply for jobs. I needed a sounding board.

A retail brand marketer gets pink-slipped into a job market rewritten by machines. The loudest advice: use AI. He refused, until he found the use nobody was selling: a private sounding board.

Unemployment Benefits. Car Insurance With Worse Branding.

Unemployment benefits, the reflex that says "not me," and the one insurance claim that never raises your rates. The week that matters is the first one.

Where to find your people after a layoff.

A layoff is the most collective thing that ever happens to a career, and the aftermath is the most solitary. On why the isolation isn't a personality trait, and the two rooms worth finding before week three.

When Your Old Job Shows Up in Your Feed.

The role you were cut from, reposted. What the feeling means, what the posting might mean, and the thirty-second move worth making before you close the tab.

The Badge Debate Nobody Should Have to Have in Week One.

To badge, or not to badge. One of the least important decisions after a layoff, and one of the most argued about. A practical frame for making it anyway.

What to know when you don't know.

A creative director gets the call from PwC, then a question around a fire pit he can't answer yet. On identity, and not needing the right words before you're ready.

Teaching them the unknown is survivable.

You are not explaining to your kids that everything will be fine. You are teaching them that things can be uncertain and we will be okay.

The job posting and the real need aren't always the same thing.

A job posting is a company's first guess at a problem it's still working to understand. Why the role you're reading is an opening offer — and how to make a counteroffer.

You only get one layoff post.

Why the post where you share your layoff can reach far more people than almost anything else you'll post — and what to know before you hit send.

The algorithm cannot witness you.

Why leaning on human interaction over online connection is a necessity on your journey — and what to do instead of “activating the banner.”

4 Steps to Take After Being Laid Off↗

The first moves after the call — what your separation paperwork actually says, and how to restart without spiraling.

Picked because it starts with the paperwork in your hand, not with a pep talk.

How to Explain a Gap in Your Resume: 4 Easy Ways↗

A gap is a fact, not a confession. Four honest ways to frame yours on paper and in the room.

Picked because it treats the gap as a fact to state plainly, not a flaw to hide.

How to Negotiate Salary Over the Phone↗

You just lost income — that's exactly why you don't take the first number. A calm script for the call.

Picked because it gives you actual words for the call when you feel least able to push back.

What to Do When You Lose Your Job↗

A calm, step-by-step triage of the first weeks — benefits, budget, cash sources, unemployment — before any big decisions.

Picked because it sequences the money decisions instead of dumping them on you at once.

What Happens to Your Benefits When You Leave Your Job↗

COBRA, the marketplace, a spouse's plan — and the four things you can do with an old 401(k), all in one explainer.

Picked because it puts every coverage and 401(k) option side by side in one place.

What Is Severance Pay?↗

What severance actually is, how it's taxed, and why the first offer isn't always the final one.

Picked because it says out loud that the first severance number is an opening, not a verdict.

What is COBRA?↗

What COBRA actually covers, who qualifies, and the trade-offs nobody explains in the exit meeting.

Picked because it explains COBRA's real cost and deadlines in language nobody used in your exit meeting.

Helping a Spouse Cope With Being Laid Off↗

You can't job-search for them. A clinical psychologist on what actually helps — steadying yourself first, giving them room to find their own way back, and knowing where to hold the line.

Picked because it is written for the partner in the room, who almost never gets guidance of their own.

Understanding Waivers of Discrimination Claims in Employee Severance Agreements↗

The government's own plain-language Q&A on what you give up when you sign a release — the 21-and-45-day rules for workers over 40, the 7-day revocation, and what makes a waiver invalid.

Picked because it is the primary source on release waivers, written for workers, and it costs nothing.

Worker's Guide to Advance Notice of Closings and Layoffs (WARN)↗

When an employer owes you 60 days' notice, what counts as a mass layoff, and what you can claim when the notice never came.

Picked because the question 'were they supposed to warn me?' has a written answer, and this is it.

Laid off and unsure how to discuss it in a job interview?↗

The question that stalls people in the doorway: what do you say when they ask why you left? A short, plainspoken answer, without the coaching-funnel framing that dominates this topic.

Picked because it answers the one interview question people rehearse most, in under five minutes and with nothing to sell.

How to Reclaim Your Life From Work↗

On why a job makes a poor identity. The clearest case we've found for the thing that's hardest to hear in week one — you are not the role you lost.

Picked because it separates who you are from the job you held, which is the hardest part of week one.

How to take care of your mental health after losing your job↗

Practical care for the part of this that nobody schedules time for, and free of the tidy-up-your-attitude advice that tends to make the moment worse.

Picked because it treats your mental health as a real task in the plan, not a footnote to the job search.

How unemployment benefits are taxed↗

Unemployment benefits are federally taxable, and the withholding is opt-in. Worth knowing in week one so that January isn't a second shock.

Picked because the withholding choice is easy to miss now and expensive to discover in April.

What to Do With Your 401(k) When You Change Jobs↗

All four options for the account you left behind — including leaving it exactly where it is, which is a legitimate answer most of the internet skips past.

Picked because it lays out all four options neutrally, including doing nothing, with no product at the end.

When is a Layoff Unlawful?↗

Most layoffs are legal. Some aren't. A plain walk through the line between a reduction in force and a cover story, so you know whether the question is worth taking to a lawyer.

Picked because it helps you judge whether your situation is worth a lawyer's time before you pay for one.