I received my lay off notice in August and officially laid off in October. During that period, I had plenty of onsites but none of them lead to an offer so I decided to on vacations once the holidays starting setting in. Now that it's the new year, I'm revamping myself with Leetcode, Elements of Programming, Designing Data-Intensive Applications, etc as well as working on personal projects since the hiring season is coming up. How shall I go on about myself being laid off during the interview process? Should I say that to the recruiter during the first call or mention it to the hiring manager onsite? Should I have it in my resume and LinkedIn that my last month working was in October? Will a background check reveal that I'm unemployed and if so, what should I do? Any additional input helps. Referrals would be much appreciated. YoE: 2+ TC: $0k Location: NYC
If I’m reading this correctly- You got laid off in Oct, meaning you got the notice in July. So you’ve spent 6 months not doing anything to prepare for interviews, and only just now you’re starting to prepare? Just curious as to why you didn’t start preparing in July when you got the notice? Regardless, you don’t necessarily need to explain that you’ve been laid off unless asked specifically. You just need to disclose start/end dates. Also a background check won’t reveal you’ve been laid off as prior employers only disclose start/end dates and salaries. But given that you have a large gap, expect the question to be asked. Really sorry to hear you got laid off, but you should know for the future that the minute you get the lay-off notice, you start taking interviews. Best of luck.
I was actually heavily preparing for interviews. I had about 8 onsites and talking to about 10+ other companies during my notice period. Unfortunately, none of them lead to offers and I decided to take a break afterwards. Also, when you mentioned "You just need to disclose start/end dates", do mean to put that on my resume or in a different point of time (i.e. post offer acceptance)?
On your resume only put years. Same with LinkedIn. You’ll have to put the full dates in the online application form. Again, employers will not disclose if you have been laid off. The background screen will call The Work Number which will give your start/end date and salary.
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Don't bring it up unless they ask you. If they ask you at any stage then be honest about it. Being laid off is normal. I would put those personal projects on your resume and associate them to something vague like an "Independent Contractor". That way the gap doesn't show when your resume is screened by bots.
Can you be a bit specific on "Don't bring it up unless they ask you"? Would the recruiter/hiring manager asking me "Do you currently work at X" or something similar qualify as them asking me?