Guidance on Twitter and LinkedIn posting for redunancy

Hey,

So I got made redundant yesterday after 4 months in my new role as a Senior QA Engineer. COVID-19 has hit their client base pretty hard and they just don’t need a QA right now.

I have till the 8th April to get a new job.

I’ve updated my CV and applied for some things but I want to do a Twitter and LinkedIn post to extend my reach. I’m out of my depth, I’m not sure of the etiquette, process or whether I mention to any potential companies my situation or if that comes off as desperate? I find job hunting weird and just want to be honest with people.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

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Sorry to hear this Louise, I was in exactly the same boat at the start of lockdown having a job offer withdrawn a day before I was due to start!

For myself I was honest with people. I told them my situation and that I was available. I think there’s a setting in LinkedIn to flag the fact on your profile. I also offered my services and had a few training requests and did my first ever webinar. I don’t think that would have happened otherwise.
Here’s my LinkedIn post: Ady Stokes on LinkedIn: #accessiblity | 13 comments

You could also ask people to review your CV and get some tips. Not only could you improve your CV but it gets it in front of people too. Use your network, that’s what it is there for. I posted my status I think once a week with updates on what I was doing. Good luck and I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. Also happy to connect on LinkedIn or Twitter and promote your posts.

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Hey Louise, Firstly sorry to hear this! You have definitely done the right thing getting your CV all up to date. I would recommend doing the Tweet and LI post, do not think it is desperate or unprofessional, this is why we network, so we have their support at times like these. I specialise in Software Testing recruitment so if you do want to partner with a Recruiter please do reach out! My email is gabbi.trotter@Searchability.com and my Twitter is @Gabbibility. Good luck x

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Hey Ady,
Thanks for replying to me and telling me your story. It is good well good might not be the right word reassuring? to hear people have been in the same boat and turned it around.
Thank you that would be most awesome!

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I’ve shared this link on my Twitter @A11y_Ady so hopefully it will nudge some folks to share ideas.

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Thanks, it is all a little daunting. I didn’t tell anyone yesterday other than my old manager. I don’t even know why. I think I’m worried about being judged which I know is mad

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@christovskia maybe you could share what inspired you to write your own post after ending up in a similar situation? :slight_smile:

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Thanks Gabbi, I guess with everything that has happened in the last year there is less stigma attached to these sorts of things.
I’ve added you on twitter, I’ll drop you an email cos that sounds great :smiley:

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Well yes indeedy!

My situation was super fast and I didn’t even take time to dwell. It was only last month.

A good friend of mine @russell.craxford encouraged me to post my availability online (Twitter and LI) straight away.

Twitter is much more a space that I am comfortable in, and ultimately let to my current role. But LinkedIn led to other leads as well.

Ultimately, at that point I was desperate to find a new role quickly, but I also had taken the time doing personal retrospectives to work out what it was that I wanted in a role as well.

So maybe it did come across as desperate, I literally posted that I was immediately available and that I would appreciate RTs for reach, but the testing community is wonderful and they shared away.

I did blog about it and am really happy to chat more, if you think it will help.

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Thanks Chris, I literally just read this! and remember retweeting your post and it is awesome you had such a great response.
Thanks for the advice. I think I need to work on my twitter/LinkedIn post sooner rather than later and to hell with how terrified it makes me.

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This can happen anyone at the moment and I guess many people feel “there but for the grace of god go I”. I’d say that being honest is the right thing and people will pick up on your sincerity. One thing i’d say is that to view getting job as a job. Also don’t feel that the only success is getting a new job, every interview, every piece of feedback from a failed application is a success that will help you find a new job.

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Thanks for the retweet, they all really helped!

I’m no social media expert, but happy to help where I can

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Thanks Mike. It has only been 4 months so I at least can remember the last time I had rejections and failed applications and retrospectively they were a good learning experience. you are right anything could happen at any time especially in this current climate I need to try and stay positive and take it all in as experience to learn from :slight_smile:

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Thank you. It is a bit of a minefield sometimes.

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Something else you could do to boost your cv is to volunteer on the MIT Covid app: https://www.pathcheck.org/en/community it would also give you good things to post about which woudl raise your profile

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I can’t help you. But, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask some questions. Feel free to pass.

Do you have any more insight into why you were let go?
E.g. Your project was ended because it was lower priority, lack of funds due to Covid etc.

Do you believe you could have avoided this in the interview stage itself by asking certain questions?
E.g. Which area of the business will I work on? How important is this to your org right now?

Are you the only QA or employee who was laid off?

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Sure:
Do you have any more insight into why you were let go?
The project they were planning on building that they needed a full time QA for has been delayed due to the virus

Do you believe you could have avoided this in the interview stage itself by asking certain questions?
I was told during the interview progress they had been fine during the pandemic and hadn’t furloughed anyone. This was not the case.

Are you the only QA or employee who was laid off?
I am the only QA and yes, but there is other cost measures being applied. It is just a case of last in first out.

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Sorry to hear you’ve been let go Louise. I would say get a post ready to go on Twitter and LinkedIn and get someone else to give it the once over if you are concerned about the way it comes across. Everyone is doing it on LinkedIn.

When I thought I was being let go last year, i did a post on Twitter but not LinkedIn as was worried for my current company seeing it. But as you’re being made redundant, there should be no issues with posting on Li too.

Happy to share any post of yours, someone will get lucky by hiring you!

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Thanks Simon.
It took me ages to build up the Courage to type it out and tweet it but it is done now.
LinkedIn is a work in progress. My company is quite active on LinkedIn and I feel like id need to check any wording with them first though possibly I’m being too considerate?

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Shared your tweet! Yeah understand LinkedIn being trickier. If you’ve already been made redundant, the company can’t really say anything about what you post as long as you aren’t bashing them…

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