Happy Tuesday!

Major life update - I got laid off. On 4 May 2023, 7.05pm, I received an email telling me it was my last day at work.

I then put up a LinkedIn post the next morning which kinda went wild (it gathered over 121K impressions in 6 days). My Linkedin notifications, inbox and whatsapp kinda exploded in the first 24 hours of the post. Ex-colleagues, friends, acquaintances and recruiters reached out. (Yes, LinkedIn works!)

Chances are you probably signed up for this email newsletter after seeing the post (thank you). In today’s issue, I’m gonna share what I’ve been working on since the layoff news, list of considerations when thinking about your next role and introduce a new section of the newsletter.

But first, a huge hello and welcome to our new subscribers Jocelyn, Calina, Hou, Peter, Virginia, Tung, Leslie, Shi Meng, Idoia, Alex, Mathew, Vincent, Weiwei, maznahmasop, Tim, Eunice Gwendolyn, ZQ Lim, bmwcheng, Estelle, Alvin, ro1212r, Eunice Leer, 33dotcom, iwirawati, Kostas, Zoey, kc.jc4ver, citylegoexpert, and chequeredfilmadora.

Best,

John Lim

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Being laid off - and next steps

I have expressed my initial thoughts and feelings in the LinkedIn post mentioned above and also in a subsequent post 5 days after. So what have I been up to?

Here’s my general ‘philosophy’:

• Keep busy: Important to keep the regular tempo going (i.e. wake up same time like a normal work day); being kept busy reduces likelihood and temptation to brood/over-think your situation

• Plan ahead: be proactive in planning your schedule

• Sequence activities/catch-ups: I prioritized sessions with career coaches before speaking with recruiters. I spaced out catch-up sessions with friends. Balance is key.

• Life goes on: I still wake up early to walk my older boy down to his school bus in the mornings, I still play football on Monday nights, I still work on passion/side projects like my podcast and this newsletter.

Currently, my ‘post-layoff work’ schedule generally consists of 4 tracks:

1. Re-discovering myself - I am currently working with career coaches to ‘re-discover’ my preferences at work. Examples of topics include why I work, where and how I derive energy at work (similar to Zone of Genius / Energy Audit concept in this issue) I believe this will greatly help me narrow down my search and considerations for my next role. I am an advocate of speaking / working with a coach.

2. Speaking with recruiters - This helps me generally understand what roles are out in the market/my preferred industries, general market sentiments and discuss specific role(s) the recruiters may have for me.

3. Applying for roles directly - I browse jobs on LinkedIn and apply for those which look like interesting opportunities to me. Applying directly without any referral usually means it’s gonna be a long(er) drawn out process - I’d rather put in my bid early. Also interesting to learn the requirements in the job listings and see where I stand.

4. Selected/Special opportunities - Quite early on, I started a list of general potential ideas/opportunities. For a few selected ones, I spend some time researching and cross referencing with ex-colleagues / industry friends and build on them.

This is my LinkedIn profile - and if you think there are opportunities or someone I should connect with - click Reply and let me know. 🙏

How to market yourself (like a product)

Spoiler alert: don’t just write what you did in your CV. You should include your achievements. Watch this 4+ mins video below for more.

Considerations for your next job

Breakdown of next ideal role:

• Function / Role / Title e.g. Customer Success, Business Development

• Seniority / Rank e.g. Manager, Senior Manager, Director; Individual Contributor / Team Lead etc

• Industry e.g. Ecommerce, Social Media, FinTech

• Company

• Compensation

• Reporting Manager / Team

• Company Culture

Considerations / Think through:

1. Non-negotiable and preferences for your next role (what you need and want)

2. Your skills (what are your skills that companies have been paying for and will continue pay for)

3. Your network (who can you reach out to to connect / refer you to Company ABC; who you can ask to find out more about a particular industry/company)

4. Your interest (what you are naturally inclined to)

5. Values (what you stand for)

6. Personality (who you are)

7. Vision (how you see the world e.g. you don’t think crypto is sustainable)

Anything I missed out in the list above? Let me know.

👉👉👉 I have a favour to ask - if you have enjoyed this, would you forward this to three of your friends/family/colleagues? This helps me know which of the newsletter content works so that I can better serve you. Simply click forward on your email browser / app 🙏

About John Lim:

John has had an unconventional career by Singapore / Asian standards - with several career switches. He started his career in banking before co-founding a laser tag events company. After building the business from ground-up, growing the team to 20+ and running Singapore's largest indoor laser tag center, he joined an early-stage tech startup to lead business development across Southeast Asia. In 2019, he took a leap of faith to join the e-commerce industry, seemingly unknown sector, until a few months later when Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees.

While John finds himself lucky to have 'survived' the career switches relatively unscathed, he has never forgotten how it feels like to be at the crossroads of your career and life. Now, he has started On My Own Terms Podcast - to provide the resources and perspectives he wished he had - and to help you make the most of your career to live your best life. Join him as he speaks with unconventional career changers and risk-takers, taps into their experiences and perspectives and discusses all things career. Together, they will provide you nuggets of wisdom, inspiration and actionable insights to start living life on your own terms.

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in newsletter and podcast are solely my own and do not represent the opinions of past, current or future organizations that I was, am and will be part of.