Most layoff books, and most books on coping with job loss, start the day it happens. This career advice book starts while you still have the job, when preparing costs you time instead of panic. I was laid off while I was writing this. Not before I started. During. I don't know if you'll be laid off next month, in eleven years, or never, and neither do you. This isn't about predicting a layoff or avoiding one. It's about making sure a job loss is something you prepared for, not something you discover. It's written for office workers: accountants, project managers, HR generalists, marketers, operations people, admins, analysts. If your career has run on the belief that competence and tenure add up to job security, that belief is the vulnerability this book addresses. Whether a layoff is rumored, expected, or already here, the plan is built for every stage: before, during, and after. If you're employed and uneasy, between jobs, or just got the news, it starts from wherever you stand. Career Backup Plan: A Practical System to Prepare for and Survive a Layoff is career planning and strategy for the day your job ends, covering both sides of it: The Layoff Drill. A test of what you'd lose the moment your access is cut, and what to gather while you still have it. The signs worth watching. The quiet signals that tend to show up before a layoff announcement does. The day it happens. What to ask in the termination meeting about severance, health coverage, and your final paycheck, written down before you ever need it. The first 48 hours. The order of operations after a layoff, from filing for unemployment to the calls most people never think to make. Getting hired again. Your job search, resume and LinkedIn profile, recruiters, employment gaps, job interviews, and salary negotiation. The checklists. Eleven quick reference lists covering interviews, job postings, job offers, and your finances, plus a job application framework. Built to be marked up, not read once and shelved. Also inside:What your job actually promises. The real terms of employment, stated plainly, including who owes whom notice. Why it's rarely about you. Companies cut line items, and loyalty was never the currency you thought it was. A plain look at how layoffs became routine. Get your house in order. Why you can't run a job search out of a chaotic inbox, and what to sort out first while you still have time. What hiring managers find when they search your name. Your public footprint, background checks, and social media, and why they matter before you ever apply. Recruiters and gatekeepers. How recruiters actually think, what a rejection does and doesn't tell you, and the question of lying on a resume. The interview. Why it's a performance with a mostly knowable script, and how to rehearse it so no single one feels like a verdict on you. The job offer and salary negotiation. Know your range and your walk-away number before anyone asks, and look at total compensation, not just base pay. The stress in between. Why forcing yourself to stay calm backfires, and what to do with the worry instead. No hype, no motivational speeches, and no promises of an outcome. This is a practical system you can start today, written by someone who needed it and didn't have it. Treat your career like software, not a resume you write once and panic over later. This book gets you to a working version. The point of version control is that there is always a next one. Start before you need it.
