Bree Silveira: Laid Off and Looking: Lessons Learned

In this episode, Marcus Edwardes speaks with Bree Silveira, who shares her experience as a recruiter up until COVID-19 led to her getting laid off from Glassdoor.

Bree describes her understandable feelings of disbelief and grief upon being laid off. She quickly regained her bearings, however, and decided to focus on the silver linings that the crisis presented. For one, Bree was actually a week out from a planned maternity leave when she was laid off. This allowed her to view, from a unique perspective, the challenges of other employees that also lost their jobs at Glassdoor as well as those from many, many other companies around the country during these trying times. Bree talks about her first couple of months as a new mother as being a time of rest and reflection—a moment of respite as she gathered the energy to finally go out and search for a new role as the dust from the outbreak began to settle.

Even as a professional with over 14 years of experience in the talent acquisition space, Bree admits that she still could not help but become overwhelmed by the prospect of losing her job and false beliefs regarding her worthiness. She reminds us (as well as herself) that the recruiter is always considering several other factors aside from your level of skill or professionalism. These factors include seniority, length of experience in the field, and professional goals, among others. The key is to simply “have faith”, according to Bree, and just focus on the process as opposed to the outcome. “You get exactly what you’re supposed to get when you’re supposed to get it.”

Listen in as Bree discusses lessons learned following her layoff from Glassdoor, best practices for job seekers on LinkedIn, maximizing precious real estate on your resumé in order to stand out, and what your frame of mind should be when you walk into that first interview.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• [1:30] Bree on getting laid off from Glassdoor
• [5:05] Planning for future job prospects while on maternity leave
• [7:10] Bree’s background as a recruiter and her experience at Glassdoor
• [9:41] The right mindset to adopt when going into a job search
• [16:20] Starting a job search and effectively utilizing LinkedIn
• [23:51] Setting up alerts on LinkedIn and finding job postings early
• [25:34] Standing out among countless other job seekers on LinkedIn
• [29:41] Other resumé writing tips
• [33:51] Beyond the resumé: Connecting with key people at the company
• [34:45] How recruiters can improve their processes during COVID-19
• [38:45] Challenges that hiring managers are now facing
• [39:32] Bree’s candidate experience so far
• [42:20] Maximizing the candidate experience and the employee experience
• [45:29] Advice for those going into their first interview
• [48:31] Bree’s parting advice for struggling job seekers in 2020

Key quotes:

• “It’s very easy to update the resumés of your friends and family while neglecting your own.”
• “When going into a job search, you have to go in with confidence, and you have to be yourself. Anytime you feel like you’re losing that confidence is a good time to step back from the job search, take a breather, and do something else that you enjoy.”
• “You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be in the universe at this moment. You have to have faith.”
• “You get exactly what you’re supposed to get when you’re supposed to get it.”
• “At the end of the day, you’ve really got to put yourself out there and let people know what your circumstances are and that you’re looking for an opportunity.”
• “Make sure that your experience is transferable to the position you’re applying for. If it isn’t, but you have the experience, then you need to change your resumé so that the person reading it can see a match immediately.”
• “When going into your first interview, do not forget who you are, do not lose yourself, and do not try to anticipate what they want to hear. Just go in with confidence and be yourself. You should also interview back. Remember: You are offering something to your potential employer.”
• “No matter what happens following the interview, you cannot let it affect your wellbeing or confidence, because at the end of the day, it’s just another person on the other side of the phone.”

Photo by Alex Knight on Unsplash