Got cut three weeks ago. Restructure, whole layer gone, not just me, so I'm trying not to take it personally but been 11 yrs since I interviewed for a job.
Been three weeks now.
Started applying again and every recruiter call eventually lands on the same question:
- What are you looking for?
- What are you best at?
- What's your focus?
And I just... don't have an answer.
I can tell you everything my team shipped over the last 11 years. I can tell you the projects I worked on and the problems I solved. But if someone asks me what I'd actually want to be hired for next, I just kind of freeze.
I met with an outplacement coach this week and she asked me to describe my value in one sentence. I somehow turned that into a five-minute answer that still didn't really say anything. I walked away thinking maybe I've spent so long doing the work that I never stopped to figure out what my actual thing is.
Honestly I barely opened my laptop after that meeting.
Is this a normal layoff thing? How do you talk about bringing value to the role especially after a layoff?