The First 30 Days After a Layoff: What to Do in Order

The moment you get the news

A layoff conversation usually lasts less than ten minutes. What you do in the following 48 hours matters more than almost anything else in the process, because it’s when most people make decisions under stress that they later regret. Slow down before you sign, quit reacting, or start applying to jobs at 11pm out of panic.

Do not sign anything on the spot

Companies often hand you a severance agreement and ask for a signature within days, sometimes the same meeting. You are almost never legally required to sign immediately. In the United States, federal law (the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act) gives employees 45 days to consider a severance agreement if it’s part of a group layoff, and at least 21 days for individual terminations, plus a 7-day revocation window after signing. Even if your situation doesn’t fall under that specific law, most employers will grant a short extension if you ask for one calmly. Say something like, “I’d like a few days to review this with someone before I sign.” That sentence alone buys you time and rarely causes friction.

Get everything in writing

Ask HR to email you a summary of your last day of employment, the exact severance terms, what happens to unused PTO, when your health insurance actually ends, and whether any bonus or commission you already earned will still be paid. Verbal promises in the termination meeting are not reliable. If it’s not written down, treat it as not yet real.

What to actually read in a severance agreement

Severance agreements are written by the company’s lawyers to protect the company. That doesn’t make them unfair, but it means you need to know what you’re looking at before you sign away rights.

The clauses that matter most

• Non-compete and non-solicit clauses. Some states (California, for example) don’t enforce these at all. Others do. Know what you’re agreeing not to do for how long.
• General release of claims. This is the core of most agreements. Signing it typically means you give up the right to sue over the termination itself, including for discrimination, in exchange for the severance pay. Understand that trade before you agree to it.
• Non-disparagement clause. This limits what you can say publicly about the company, and sometimes what they can say about you. Ask if there’s a mutual version.
• Return of property and confidentiality terms. Usually standard, but confirm what counts as company property if you used a personal device for work.

When to get a second opinion

If your severance offer is more than a few weeks of pay, if you signed a non-compete when you were hired, or if you have any reason to believe the layoff wasn’t purely business-driven, it’s worth a short paid consultation with an employment attorney. Many will do a one-time review of a severance agreement for a flat fee that’s small relative to what’s at stake. This is not the same as hiring a lawyer to fight the company. It’s a second set of eyes before you sign.

Severance: the money decisions that actually matter

Lump sum versus salary continuation

Companies typically offer severance either as a lump sum or as continued paychecks over a set number of weeks. A lump sum gives you control and can sometimes be negotiated upward. Salary continuation may keep you technically “employed” longer, which can matter for benefits eligibility or for explaining a gap later. Ask which structure your offer uses and whether you have any choice in it.

Negotiating severance is more common than people think

The initial offer is rarely the company’s final number, especially in individual (non-mass) layoffs. Reasonable things to ask for include more weeks of pay, extended health coverage, outplacement support, or a neutral reference agreement. The worst outcome of asking is usually just “no.” Ask in writing, stay professional, and give a specific number or request rather than a vague “can you do better.”

Healthcare: don’t let this part slide

Losing a job usually means losing employer health coverage on your last day or at the end of the month. This is the part people scramble on, and scrambling here costs real money.

Your main options

• COBRA. Lets you keep your exact same employer plan, but you pay the full premium plus an administrative fee, which is often a shock (regularly $500 to $1,500+ a month for a family, depending on the plan). You typically have 60 days to elect COBRA, and coverage can be applied retroactively, so you don’t have to decide the day you’re let go.
• ACA marketplace plan. A layoff qualifies you for a special enrollment period, so you can shop for a marketplace plan outside the normal open enrollment window. Depending on your income during the year, you may qualify for subsidies that make this cheaper than COBRA.
• Spouse or partner’s plan. If your spouse has employer coverage, a job loss is a qualifying life event that lets you join their plan outside of their company’s normal enrollment window, usually within 30 days.

The comparison to actually run

Before defaulting to COBRA because it’s familiar, compare the real monthly cost of COBRA against a marketplace plan with any subsidy you might qualify for based on your expected income for the rest of the year. A severance payout can affect your income calculation for subsidy purposes, so run the numbers after you know your severance structure, not before.

Unemployment benefits: file sooner than feels necessary

File for unemployment insurance as soon as your last day is confirmed, even if you have severance coming. In most states, severance paid as a lump sum doesn’t delay unemployment eligibility, though salary continuation sometimes does. Rules vary significantly by state, so check your state unemployment office’s specific guidance rather than assuming. There’s no benefit to waiting, and processing takes time.

The first 30 days: build a schedule, not a scramble

The instinct after a layoff is either to freeze or to apply to fifty jobs in a panic. Neither works well. What works is treating the job search like a defined project with its own structure.

Week one: stabilize

Handle severance review, healthcare enrollment, and unemployment filing. Update your resume and LinkedIn. Don’t apply to jobs yet. This week is administrative, not search-focused.

Weeks two through four: build the pipeline before you apply widely

Identify 15 to 20 target companies rather than applying broadly to hundreds of postings. Reach out to former colleagues and managers directly, since most roles are filled through referrals rather than cold applications. Reconnect with your network before you need something from them urgently, ideally with a short, specific message about what you’re looking for.

Set a weekly rhythm you can sustain

A job search that runs on adrenaline for two weeks and then collapses does less for you than a steady, moderate pace kept up for two months. Block specific hours for applications, specific hours for networking conversations, and protect time that has nothing to do with the search, so you don’t burn out before the offers start coming.

A layoff is disruptive, but the first month is the part you have the most control over. Slow down on the paperwork, move fast on healthcare and unemployment, and build your search like a project instead of a scramble.

For the complete, structured playbook on this topic, see The Layoff Playbook: Severance, Healthcare, and the 90-Day Reset That Lands You Better in our library. New here? Start with our free guide.