Not every useful resource comes in the form of a government website, checklist, or job-search tool. Podcasts, videos, and other media can offer practical advice, firsthand experiences, and perspectives from people who have been through layoffs and job transitions themselves.
The resources below are free to access and were selected because they focus on information or experiences that may actually be useful after a layoff, not because somebody paid to be listed here.
Laid Off to Lift Off
What it offers: A free podcast hosted by Vanita Capobianco featuring conversations with people about their layoff experiences, what happened afterward, and what they learned along the way. Episodes cover different parts of career disruption, including job searching, career changes, entrepreneurship, workplace experiences, and rebuilding after a layoff.
Best for: People who want to hear firsthand experiences from others who have been laid off, including people still searching for work, people who changed directions afterward, and people reflecting on what they wish they had known.
Cost: Free to listen.
Account required: No account is required to access episodes through the podcast website. Some listening platforms may have their own account requirements.
Watch for: The podcast website and episode descriptions may link to Vanita’s separate Stan Store, where she offers paid services and job-search products, including LinkedIn help, résumé templates, and interview resources. Those paid offerings are separate from the podcast and are not required to listen to the free episodes.
Why it is included: Layoffs aren’t just a collection of deadlines, forms, and job applications. Hearing how other people experienced a layoff and what happened afterward can provide useful perspective that a checklist can’t. Laid Off to Lift Off focuses specifically on those experiences and includes guests with a variety of post-layoff paths and perspectives.
Visit: Laid Off to Lift Off
Lift Our Voices – Worker Rights & Workplace Resources
What it offers: Lift Our Voices is a nonprofit focused on ending workplace silencing mechanisms such as forced arbitration, nondisclosure agreements, and non-disparagement clauses. Its free resource library includes information about worker rights, state NDA laws, workplace silencing mechanisms, legal-aid and survivor resources, research on workplace culture, and other information for workers navigating workplace rights and misconduct.
Best for: Workers who want to better understand agreements or workplace policies that may restrict what they can say or how they can pursue a claim, as well as anyone looking for more in-depth information about NDAs, forced arbitration, non-disparagement provisions, and related worker protections.
Cost: Free.
Account required: No account is required to access the resource library.
Why it is included: Workplace agreements can contain restrictions that are easy to skim past or difficult to understand without knowing what you’re looking for. Lift Our Voices provides more in-depth information about workplace silencing mechanisms and related protections than JustGotLaidOff.org can reasonably cover in a general post-layoff guide.
Visit: Lift Our Voices Resources
Mostly Human by Deb Haas
What it offers: Mostly Human is a free weekly newsletter from Deb Haas, founder of AI Confidential, focused on making AI practical and understandable without requiring you to become an AI expert. It includes beginner-friendly tips, practical prompts, tools and resources, and guidance for using AI more effectively at work and in everyday life. The newsletter also regularly touches on career changes, job searching, workplace trends, and navigating the ways AI is changing how we work.
Best for: People who want practical, plain-English help using AI, especially job seekers, career changers, and anyone trying to understand how AI can be useful without getting buried in technical jargon.
Cost: Free
Account required: No account is required to read issues available on the website. An email address is required to subscribe and receive new issues by email.
Watch for: The Mostly Human newsletter is free. AI Confidential also offers separate paid products and services, including career-related prompt kits, but purchasing those is not required to read or subscribe to the newsletter.
Why it is included: AI has become increasingly difficult to separate from job searching and the workplace, but a lot of AI information is either overly technical or assumes you already know what you’re doing. Mostly Human provides a more approachable way to learn how to use these tools practically, including during a job search or career transition.
Visit: Mostly Human by Deb Haas