How should you address a layoff in a job interview? This year of job market flux has seen more than 80,000 layoffs in the tech industry alone, on top of 250,000+ in 2023. These statistics highlight just how normal and not-at-all-shameful layoffs are, but that doesn’t mean living through them is easy.

In today’s episode, I have three takeaways for managing the interview question that will inevitably come up if you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of people who were unceremoniously let go in the past year and a half. 

These tips serve as a reminder that the question “Tell us about why you were laid off” is a chance to focus your story on your values and use your experiences to drive home what makes you a great candidate for the opportunity before you.

Tune in to learn how to explain your layoff with pride and power:

• Why you shouldn’t skirt around the truth;
• How to normalize your experience without making it personal;
• Where to take the story so it highlights your best traits and skills.

Related Links:

• HIRED: my Job Search Accelerator - https://www.bossedup.org/gethired
• Episode 455 - How to Create a Sustainable Job Search Schedule when You’re Unemployed - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode455
• Episode 453 - Prioritizing your Job Search While Holding Down a Full-Time Job - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode453
• From Verdict: “New year kicks off continued tech layoffs in 2024” - https://www.verdict.co.uk/new-year-kicks-off-continued-tech-layoffs-in-2024/
• From Yahoo Finance: “Five biggest tech industry layoffs of 2024, so far” - biggest-tech-industry-layoffs-151712010.html">https://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-biggest-tech-industry-layoffs-151712010.html
• Tech Layoff Tracker: https://layoffs.fyi/
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

In our modern world, where isolation, loneliness, and stress are at all-time highs, how do we fend off the feelings—and the medical symptoms—that plague such an outsized percentage of our species?

Journalist Julia Hotz’s new book, The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging, explores the phenomenon of social prescribing, a medicine-adjacent approach being adopted in the UK that sees doctors prescribing things like “sea swimming” (yes, really!) and has the potential to alleviate not only the health burdens many of us face in our daily lives but also the pressures on the medical system and the heavy costs of medical care. In this episode, I talk with Julia about what inspired her to write The Connection Cure and the incredible and surprising results of her extensive research. 

Discover how social prescribing could take you from asking, “what’s wrong with me?” to “what matters to me?” instead:

• Defining and demystifying the concept of social prescribing;
• How reconnecting with how we used to live can drastically improve our health;
• Where our deep-seated misconceptions about mental health come from;
• Whether social prescribing stands a chance of taking hold in the U.S.

Related Links:

• Order Julia’s book - https://www.socialprescribing.co/
• Find Julia on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hotzthoughts/
• Episode 172, The Healing Power of Nature - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode172
• Episode 440 - The Problem with Self-Help - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode440
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/
• The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-nature-fix-why-nature-makes-us-happier-healthier-and-more-creative-florence-williams/16616779?ean=9780393355574
• How to take the news that depression has not been shown to be caused by a chemical imbalance by Dr. Joanna Moncrieff - https://joannamoncrieff.com/2022/07/24/how-to-take-the-news-that-depression-has-not-been-shown-to-be-caused-by-a-chemical-imbalance/
• Dopesick by Beth Macy - https://bookshop.org/p/books/dopesick-dealers-doctors-and-the-drug-company-that-addicted-america-beth-macy/16344771?ean=9780316551304

How do you avoid making the job search your entire life when seeking employment is your full-time pursuit? Searching for a new job is stressful and time-consuming. If you’re doing the full-time job search hustle, factors like financial stress and endless immersion in the hunt can quickly become overwhelming. Add to that, it’s taking many months or even a full year these days to land a job. All this highlights the need to build sustainability into your search.

Two weeks back, I covered how to create a sustainable job search plan when you’re also working full-time. Today, I’m sharing some strategies on how to do the same when you’re unemployed and searching for the perfect career opportunity. I hope that by tailoring these strategies to your own biorhythms and strengths, you’ll be equipped to approach this trying and tiring time with a bit more ease.

Crack the secret of sustainable full-time job searching :

• Why you should batch your tasks and kick multitasking to the curb;
• How creating your own deadlines will help keep you accountable;
• The trick to reawakening your flagging energy and fending off isolation;
• The need for boundaries and restraint even as you push to the finish line.

Related Links:

• HIRED: my Job Search Accelerator - https://www.bossedup.org/gethired
• Episode 141, How To Tap Into Your Network and Ask for Help - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode141
• Episode 152, How To Write A Resume And Cover Letter That Lands Interviews - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode152
• Episode 153, How To Have Effective Informational Interviews - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode153
• Episode 365, How To Write A Meaningful Cover Letter For Today’s Competitive Job Market - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode365
• Episode 413, How To Keep Your Resumes And Cover Letters Organized On The Job Search - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode413
• Episode 415, How To Use AI To Write Cover Letters Faster - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode415
• Episode 435, Grow Your Professional Network in the New Year - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode435
• Episode 449, Your Cover Letter is Better With Bullet Points - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode449
• Episode 450, Entrepreneurship vs. Employment: Building a Blended Career - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode450
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

How has our patriarchal society structured your thoughts and how can you take them back? If you’ve always considered “reprogramming your brain” to be mystical mumbo jumbo, this guest might just change your mind. I certainly had to adjust my preconceived notions when I read Kara Loewentheil‘s new book, Take Back Your Brain: How a Sexist Society Gets in Your Head and How to Get It Out.

Kara and I talk about the insidious nature of our patriarchal society and the impact of that socialization on our brains. We cover making the leap into your dream job and the balance between systemic and individual change. The founder of A New School of Feminist Thought, Kara teaches women how to rewire their thought patterns to spur societal change, and her work is just the eye-opening and mind-expanding approach that women can benefit from.

Learn more about how your brain works and how to deprogram the patriarchy from within, starting with:

• Our tendency to throw out the dreams that don’t please everyone;
• Mistaking a layer of liberating beliefs for a fundamental cognitive shift;
• Forgetting that every major social change started with one person’s thoughts;
• How we define and approach radical acceptance and radical action.

Related Links:

• Order Kara’s book - https://www.takebackyourbrainbook.com/
• Listen to the UnF*** Your Brain podcast - https://schoolofnewfeministthought.com/podcasts/
• Connect with Kara online - https://schoolofnewfeministthought.com/about/
• EP 323: How To Lead With Emotional Intelligence | Best Of Bossed Up - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode323
• Permission to Feel: The Power of Emotional Intelligence to Achieve Well-Being and Success by Marc Brackett - https://bookshop.org/p/books/permission-to-feel-unlocking-the-power-of-emotions-to-help-our-kids-ourselves-and-our-society-thrive-marc-brackett/9879244?ean=9781250212832
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl - https://bookshop.org/p/books/man-s-search-for-meaning-viktor-e-frankl/8996943?ean=9780807014271
• Speak Up: A Live Assertive Communication Course for Women in the Workplace - https://www.bossedup.org/speakup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

How do you make time to job search while keeping a full-time job going? Finding a job these days feels a lot like a full-time job in itself, and it’s not easy to make meaningful progress without completely exhausting yourself.

The reality of the modern job market is that it can take months to manifest a new offer. That’s a lot of time spent searching, so you need to have a sustainable plan in place. Having tackled this mountain recently myself, I have some tried and true tips to help you stay on track without running out of steam.

Get your action plan in place with these measurable and manageable tips:

• Why you should script your job search moves ahead of time;
• How to build out an impactful and trackable application strategy;
• How to stay realistic about the sacrifices you’ll need to make without going overboard.

Related Links:

• Episode 435, Grow Your Professional Network in the New Year - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode435
• Episode 449, Your Cover Letter is Better With Bullet Points - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode449
• Episode 450, Entrepreneurship vs. Employment: Building a Blended Career - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode450
• Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath - https://bookshop.org/p/books/switch-how-to-change-things-when-change-is-hard-dan-heath/943987?ean=9780385528757
• Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu - https://bookshop.org/p/books/drop-the-ball-achieving-more-by-doing-less-tiffany-dufu/8440970?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwir2xBhC_ARIsAMTXk87ULKKXylioThwgZ0ii3_BpBeMleVtIKcNnvWli6UvOngBkknREVMoaAn-qEALw_wcB
• S*** First Drafts by Anne Lamott - https://wrd.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/1-Shitty%20First%20Drafts.pdf
• Time To Hire Factbook by Josh Bersin - https://joshbersin.com/time-to-hire-benchmark-factbook/
• HIRED: my Job Search Accelerator - https://www.bossedup.org/gethired
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

We’re in the midst of unprecedented times, where corporations prioritize short-term profits over the long-term health of their organizations, clients, and employees. Wage and wealth gaps grow ever-larger, and a few billionaires hoard an obscene amount of money while more and more people struggle just to get by. 

The upcoming book Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy, which my guest June Carbone co-authored with Naomi Cahn and Nancy Levit, explores the history, politics, and legality of how we got to where we are today, the impact this system has on women and the quest for gender equality, and the efforts being made to reverse these trends. 

Explore what past and present corporate research can teach us about where we’re headed:

• Where did our winner-take-all economy come from?
• How does this profits-first, people-last approach impact women?
• What is the triple bind befalling women leaders today?
• How do we start rebuilding a positive-sum economic culture of collectivism?

Related Links:

• Pre-order ‘Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy’ - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fair-shake-naomi-cahn/1141652296?ean=9781982115128
• Banks with More Women on Their Boards Commit Less Fraud - https://hbr.org/2021/05/banks-with-more-women-on-their-boards-commit-less-fraud
• The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change to Adopt
• Listing Rules Related to Board Diversity - 8186013-227180.pdf">https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-nasdaq-2020-081/srnasdaq2020081-8186013-227180.pdf
• Connect with June online - https://law.umn.edu/profiles/june-carbone
• Episode 440: The Problem with Self-Help - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode440
• Episode 444: Are Pay Transparency Laws Working? - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode444
• Take Action with Bossed Up - https://www.bossedup.org/takeaction
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

We all have our ideal working conditions. We might love working from home, enjoy a couple of sociable days in the office each week, or crave the daily ritual of a peaceful commute. Whatever your personal preference, the recent trend in many sectors to force a return to the office has raised a lot of concerns.

In this episode, I dig into the statistics and history of the WFH-to-RTO saga and its weighty impact on employees—in particular, how the move away from flexible work options may have a disproportionate effect on working mothers.

We’ll break down the latest data and explain how we got here:

• Why the “she-cession” was followed by an influx of moms re-entering the workforce;
• The stats that back up the nation’s feelings on flexible work;
• How changing mandates are affecting job seekers;
• The systemic causes that got us to where we are today.

Related Links:

• Wall Street Journal essay - https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/return-to-the-office-mandates-are-a-disaster-for-working-mothers-bf57a071
• Time magazine article - https://time.com/6251465/return-to-office-working-moms-pandemic/
• University of Chicago research - https://bfi.uchicago.edu/working-paper/time-savings-when-working-from-home/
• Bankrate article on the effects of return-to-office mandates - https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/return-to-office-mandates-effects-on-working-mothers/
• Take Action with Bossed Up - https://www.bossedup.org/takeaction
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

Community, connection, and collaboration: these are the keys to our survival as a species if you ask Baily Hancock, a community architect and strategist with more than three decades of experience. Prioritizing these concepts within both her own career trajectory and her client work has positioned Baily as an expert and thought leader who helps organizations conceptualize, launch, and grow successful communities.

In this episode, she shares what she’s learned about leveraging community, leaning on connections when navigating major career pivots, and fostering collaboration every step of the way. We even dig into thought leadership and the question of job security as either an employee or entrepreneur.

Prepare to expand your professional persona and unleash the thought leader within as we uncover:

• The persistent reality of reinvention throughout our careers
• The game-changing benefits of nurturing community and reaching out
• What’s actually more secure—being an employee or entrepreneur?
• How to put yourself out there as a thought leader and expert

Related Links:

• Connect with Baily on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bailyhancock/
• Visit Baily’s website - https://bailyhancock.com/
• Snag the Podcast Guest Playbook - https://bailyhancock.com/podcastguest
• Join The Collaboration Coalition - https://collaborationcoalition.mn.co/
• The Level Up: a Leadership Accelerator for Women on the Rise - https://www.bossedup.org/levelup
• Speak Up: our live assertive communication course - http://www.bossedup.org/speakup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

Writing cover letters is stressful. If I surveyed a thousand job seekers about their least favorite parts of the job search, I bet most of them would put this task near the top of their list. But as awful as they can be, they’re still important and can help set you apart. A good cover letter lets you highlight the most important details of your application right away. 

Here’s my straightforward, bullet point-based cover letter strategy that will help you curb the overwhelm and get right to the point. Keeping the reader engaged through the first page of your application goes a long way to getting your foot in the interview room door. 

Discover my go-to template for creating an impactful cover letter every time:

• Why white space and brevity will land your cover letter on the top of the stack;
• How to harness the awesome power of the rule of three;
• Step-by-step instructions for creating your own low-stress, speedy cover letter writing strategy.

Related Links:

• Hired: my Job Search Accelerator - https://www.bossedup.org/gethired
• Episode 365, How To Write A Meaningful Cover Letter For Today’s Competitive Job Market - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode365
• Episode 415, How To Use AI To Write Cover Letters Faster - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode415
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

Resiliency is an important trait for any leader, but the systemic barriers that underrepresented professionals face, on top of persisting gender and racial gaps, make this skill even more vital. My guest, Jacqueline Twillie, quite literally wrote the book on resiliency for these leaders, drawing on her experience working to reduce worldwide inequity. 

In this episode, we discuss her book and her approach to strategic sustainability for leaders facing these challenging dynamics. From the cyclical process of refilling your resilience well to a fresh take on failure, Jacqueline’s approach to empowering women from underrepresented backgrounds who are navigating the pitfalls and potentials of leadership offers real-world advice for all leaders seeking a stronger foothold in their futures.

Reset your mindset with Jacqueline’s expert insights into:

• The ways risk, resilience, rest, and reward work together to foster growth;
• How cultivating resilience is like navigating a traffic jam;
• What neurotransmitters and nutrition have to do with resilient leadership.

Related Links:

• Jacqueline’s website - https://www.zerogap.co/
• Connect with Jacqueline on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelinetwillie/
• Connect with Jacqueline on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jacquelinetwillie/?hl=en
• Connect with Jacqueline on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Jvtwillie/
• The Resilient Leaders Program - https://www.zerogap.co/resileintleadersprogram
• Jacqueline’s book, Dear Resilient Leader: A Guide for Underrepresented Leaders - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNRFYVZQ/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_gl_i_15FXH2FQXNWCNHPEZJKS?linkCode=ml1&tag=thepowbre-20
• The Seven Spirtual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-seven-spiritual-laws-of-success-a-pocketbook-guide-to-fulfilling-your-dreams-one-hour-of-wisdom-deepak-chopra/11605345?ean=9781878424716
• Mindet by Carol Dwek - https://bookshop.org/p/books/mindset-the-new-psychology-of-success-carol-s-dweck/7841782?ean=9780345472328
• Episode 386, How To Boost Your Energy With The Power Of Nutrition - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode386
• Level Up: a Leadership Accelerator for Women on the Rise - https://www.bossedup.org/levelup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/