Being laid off from a Fortune 500 company is disorienting. Within the first 24 hours, I had filed for WARN Act documentation, updated my resume, and started reaching out to every relevant contact I had. That speed matters more than most people realize — the window when your contacts' goodwill is highest is right after news of a layoff spreads.
This is part two of my post-layoff job search series. Part one covered the layoff itself; this part covers the strategy I built around where to focus my energy.
The thing I kept coming back to was industry focus. Every resume I sent out had the type of company next to each job — media company, adtech, agency, publisher — because I wanted every recruiter to immediately see the throughline. In a tough market, employers are looking for people who already know their industry. A resume that wanders across five different sectors signals you're a generalist. A resume that shows consistent expertise in one ecosystem signals you're exactly what they need.
My job tracking spreadsheet was my north star. I logged every application: company, role, date applied, status, contacts. Every week I'd review it and make deliberate choices about where to invest energy. The 80/20 rule applied throughout — 80% of my time went to the 20% of roles where I was genuinely competitive. Not the stretch roles, not the roles that were 30% matches — the ones where I knew I could walk in and immediately contribute.
I applied to 57 positions over two months, got nine interviews, and converted three of those to final rounds and two to offers. The ratio isn't great by volume, but it was excellent by quality — because I was only applying where I belonged.
© 2026 Accelerator Consulting