How do I restart my design job search after a layoff?
Take one week to update the portfolio and one sentence to explain the layoff, then run the search like a project: a target list of twenty companies, two conversations a week with people who work there, and applications only where you have a name. Volume applying to job boards is the slowest path there is.
Layoffs are common enough now that nobody reads one as a red flag. What reads badly is a portfolio that stopped in 2023. Add the last thing you shipped, even if the product was cancelled: the work is still yours.
The designers on Hop who came through a layoff fastest all did the same thing: they talked to a senior designer within the first two weeks, got a blunt read on the portfolio, and fixed the top problem before applying anywhere.
From Hop mentors who've been there
“Laid off and got a job less than 4 months! I can share my journey if you need a help from layoff!”
Chuck Shin · Senior Product Designer at Microsoft AI · on their Hop profile
“I went from running my own thing for a decade to the advertising industry and from agency into in-house product design within fintech, and I've done everything in between.”
Craig Jamieson · Creative Advisor at CR—G · on their Hop profile
“My career has spanned a bunch of situations including being laid off, passed over for promotion, had imposter syndrome, been the first or only designer, survived multiple re-orgs at big and small companies. I will pull from my real experience rather than speaking in generalizations.”
Mukul Agarwal · Principal product designer at Roblox · on their Hop profile
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