How to prepare for layoff uncertainty 🗂️

+ personal branding and mentorship 101

Jun 19, 2025

May was busy — I got to catch up with Scott Hanselman at Microsoft Build and run some career workshops with retired NFL players and summer interns. I’ve now presented to 8K+ people and my goal is 10K so pls invite me to your next team meeting or career-related event~

It’s almost summer aka halfway through the year ☀️ Sometimes, I feel like I am not doing enough with my life and career. Other times, I feel overwhelmed by everything. One thing that usually helps: journaling and practicing gratitude 😇 I also try to play this Wake Up With Positivity guided meditation every morning.

BTW 🎉 kkarenism.com hit 100K+ visitors in the past month! Thank you so much for being one of those visitors and sharing my blog or LinkedIn with your network of friends and family across 116+ countries!

I also want to encourage you to learn about Juneteenth: Here are some of my learnings

Here’s something funny 💀

Save & document important and valuable work 🗂️

If you don’t look ahead, you’ll always be behind. - Harvey MacKay

If you’ve been on LinkedIn, you’ve probably read some stories about people suddenly losing access to their work accounts due to layoffs. This is a great reminder to save and document your work (when possible). Set a reminder to do this every month or quarter.

Performance Reviews: Make sure you save performance reviews, endorsements, kudos to your personal files so you can reference them for future resume and career walking deck points in the future. It’s even better if you can ask your peers to give you endorsements or recommendations on LinkedIn (and ofc you should return the favour)!

Templates & Presentations: Find a way to save any documentation that you’re proud of creating for future inspiration. To prevent any security concerns, make sure you delete any confidential work-related data. It’s best to clear out the information (or replace it with placeholders) and only keep the blank template/formatting for future reference. Be mindful of your company’s information security policies and do not save anything proprietary that could get you in trouble.

Separate your personal and work files: Do NOT save your personal files or emails to your work accounts (a lot of people are guilty of doing this). Keep everything as separate as possible so that you don’t accidentally lose access to your personal stuff in the midst of a layoff.

👉🏻 Check out 3 steps for navigating layoffs

Note: I am simply sharing my learnings from having 400+ coffee chats all the way up to the C-Suite level. From here, you're empowered to do your own research and make your own decisions! If you want to talk things through, you’re welcome to book a 1:1 career session with me.

Become a founding member 🌻

I recently launched monthly, annual, and founding member subscriptions on Substack 💫 If you choose to support me on my journey to empower 1M+ people in their career development, you will get access to:

Live career and job search workshops/office hour sessions (planning to have these monthly)
24/7 career community chat where I will answer your job search and career questions and share helpful resources that I come across (bonus: you can network with each other)
10% discount off shop templates/resources (BRAND NEW career walking deck template is now available!!)

✨ Founding Member Perk: Exclusive 1:1 career session where we can unblock your job search and career development ✨

I launched a brand new page with EVERYTHING you’d need to build a career walking deck. Get started with a DIY template or I can even create a custom one for you if you’re busy 👉🏼 kkarenism.com/careerwalkingdecks

I recently spoke on fellow Comms Microsoftee, Angela Chen’s Unscripted podcast and shared some insights on how to build a personal brand, resume mistakes, and more. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Some people think that personal branding is cringey and unnecessary. Others say it’s essential to your career growth. Read what personal branding really is and how you can easily start building one—even if you’re an introvert who someone who hates putting yourself out there.

#ICYMI ~ LinkedIn Featured Posts 🌟

Ask Karen 💬

In the spirit of experimentation, I have an anonymous advice column for you to submit job hunting and career related questions for me to answer in the form of a blog, LinkedIn post, TikTok, etc. Please submit your questions here!

Q: What are the steps you would recommend when finding a mentor?

A: First, talk to different people (check out bobatalks). This way, you get a feel of what a good vs. great conversation looks like. Take notice of the conversations that give you a lot of energy and leave you feeling excited and motivated. These are usually with people who could become your potential mentors. You usually want someone who is a few steps ahead and not too far ahead in their career to ensure that the advice you get is more relevant. When you’re ready to ask: be clear about what your end goal is, why you think this person can help you, and the proposed time commitment. Read everything I’ve written about the topic of mentorship here!

Find out who’s hiring and connect 👀

I continue to re-share job hunting tips and job opportunities from hiring managers and recruiters on the daily. There are lots of opportunities out there, so I hope you can find your next one through my LinkedIn Now Hiring Page through networking.

Note: I only re-share hiring posts that are new (within 48hrs of me seeing them) so you get the latest!

💡 Apply ASAP (ideally within 24h of a job being posted) and make sure you apply directly on the company’s recruitment website instead of via LinkedIn/job site.

Job hunting resources to bookmark 🌻

→ Career Walking Decks continues to rank #1 on Bing + Google

→ How to find your next job in 3 steps

→ How to handle rejection when job hunting

→ 7 green flags that hiring managers look for in successful candidates

→ Land Your Dream Tech Role: How to Stand Out in a Competitive Market

Thank you so much for showing your support for #kkarenism by staying subscribed and making it to the end of this newsletter, which is now being read by 1K+ people! Please pay it forward by sharing this with someone who is job hunting or making a career move so we can all grow 1% together 🦋

let’s connect ➡️ kkarenism.com | linkedin | youtube | tiktok | instagram