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The Layoff Playbook

The first 48 hours, the money deadlines, and the task-sort worksheet from the video — free, no email, no course. Everything here is yours to keep.

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Start with the first 48 hours Open the worksheet

This is the whole thing the video promised. No sign-up, no "email us for the worksheet." Scroll down and use it.

From PathifyMe — the channel that reads the data so you don't have to.

Please read: This is free general information, not legal, tax, financial, or immigration advice, and nothing here is tailored to you, and it does not create any professional relationship. Rules vary by state, by your employer's plan, and by your situation.

Before you act — especially on a severance release, COBRA (the law that lets you keep your old employer's health plan after you leave, at your own cost) vs. Marketplace, or anything involving a work visa — check the primary source (your state labor department, HealthCare.gov, the DOL, the EEOC, USCIS) and talk to a licensed attorney or your benefits administrator.

On a work visa? Talk to an immigration attorney this week. The stakes include your ability to stay in the U.S.

Part 1

The first 48 hours

Do these before anything else. Most take under an hour.

Your ticks save in this browser, on this device only — come back tomorrow and they'll still be here.

Before you lose access (today, while you still can)

In the first two days

Don't do these in the first 48 hours. Don't post "I'm devastated" before you've read your non-disparagement clause. Don't accept the first number. Don't blast 400 applications before the money and health questions are handled.

Part 2

The money deadlines that cost you if you miss them

Four clocks. Each card leads with the one that's running.

Unemployment — file this week, literally.

The clock

In most states your claim takes effect the Sunday of the week you actually file — not the week you lost your job. Some states will backdate for good cause, but the grounds are narrow and vary by state, so don't plan around it.

What waiting costs

Every week you wait can be a week of benefits you don't get back. File even if you have severance, and report any severance accurately when you file — let the state decide, don't rule yourself out.

Where to file

Start at the official finder: CareerOneStop Unemployment Benefits Finder — a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) site.

Severance — you likely have a review window. Use it.

If you're 40 or older

If you're 40 or older, U.S. law generally gives you at least 21 days to consider an agreement that waives age claims (45 days in a group layoff), plus 7 days to revoke after signing — and that window runs from the employer's final offer, not from your last day.

Your leverage

Don't sign in the room. The company wants your signed release — that's your leverage to ask for more weeks, employer-paid COBRA, or neutral reference language, in writing.

COBRA — you have 60 days, but "retroactive" has a price tag.

The 60-day window

Losing your job opens a 60-day window to elect COBRA — counted from the later of your coverage-end date or the date you receive the election notice.

What "retroactive" costs

If you elect, coverage is retroactive to the day your old plan ended, but only once you pay every back premium from that date, as one lump sum (due within 45 days of electing). For two months that's roughly $1,500 for an individual or $4,500 for a family, at what may be your worst cash moment.

The gap before you elect

During the un-elected gap you're functionally uninsured — prescriptions may not fill, and an ER visit exposes you to the full bill until you elect and pay.

Price the Marketplace first

Price an ACA Marketplace plan at your new, lower income before you commit to COBRA — many people qualify for something cheaper.

It is the same clock

Important: your Marketplace special enrollment period is generally 60 days from the day your job-based coverage ends — the same clock, not a later one. Decide between the two inside that window.

If you drop COBRA later

If you elect COBRA and voluntarily drop it after those 60 days are up, you generally can't get a Marketplace plan until the next Open Enrollment (Nov 1–Jan 15).

Sources: DOL — COBRA FAQ, HealthCare.gov — losing job-based coverage.

On a work visa (H-1B)?

What you get

You generally have up to a 60-day grace period — or until your I-94 date (the record of your authorized stay), whichever is shorter — to find a new sponsor, change status, or prepare to leave in good standing.

If a filing lands in time

If you file a change of status or a new employer files for you — and USCIS receives it inside the 60 days — you can generally remain in an authorized period of stay while they decide.

When the clock starts

The clock generally starts the day after your last day of employment — USCIS typically looks at the last day you were paid a salary or wage. Severance paid after employment ends generally does not extend it.

Do this week

Get your last day of employment confirmed by HR in writing, and have an immigration attorney confirm which date applies to you.

Not guaranteed

This grace period is discretionary, not guaranteed.

Verify it yourself

Verify at USCIS — Options for Nonimmigrant Workers Following Termination of Employment and talk to an immigration attorney this week.

This is the one area where a professional consult is close to non-negotiable.

Part 3

The one calculation to do this week

Figure out your runway so dread turns into a plan.

The formula

Runway (months) = (cash + savings + severance + expected unemployment) ÷ (real monthly burn, including your new health premium)

Two things people forget: add the new health premium to your burn — don't budget $0 by assuming you'll go without coverage.

And count unemployment as income for the weeks it lasts in your state, and if your state offsets benefits against severance, don't count both for the same weeks.

If the number is tight

If the number is tight, cut burn first and start bridge income early. Income started early extends your runway more than the same income started in month four.

Turn this number into a plan →

Part 4 · The deliverable

The task-sort worksheet — is your week exposed or judgment?

This is the worksheet from the video "Will AI Replace Project Managers? The Wrong 35%." It works whether or not you've watched it, but it'll make more sense if you have.

Averages don't tell you anything about your own job. The number that matters is the one you get from your own week, not a headline. This worksheet gets you that number — a ratio, not a verdict. Print it, or copy it into any document. No app, no account, no email required.

The one-page version: print this section. Page one is the test and the worked example below; the 10-day log runs onto the pages after it. This section is typically the last several pages of the printout — check your print/PDF preview for a page marked "Worksheet."

Worksheet — this section runs to the end of the document

Step 1

The test

For each task, ask one question, using this exact wording:

Is it bounded, specified, and reviewable by someone else?

Yes to all three → left column

Exposed. This is the kind of work software is already good at.

No to any one → right column

Judgment. This is the kind of work that depends on you being the accountable human in the room.

Don't overthink the borderline cases on your first pass. Log first, sort after — that's what the 10-day window below is for.

Step 2

Worked example

Task Bounded? Specified? Reviewable by someone else? Column
Weekly status report for the steering committee Yes — same format, same recipients, weekly Yes — data sources and template are fixed Yes — anyone with tracker access could check it against the source data Left (exposed)
Deciding whether to cut scope or push the deadline when engineering says the feature won't be ready No — the tradeoff is different every time No — there's no template for "which stakeholder loses" No — the call needs context only you have, and you own the outcome Right (judgment)

The difference in practice: the first task has one correct output a checklist could verify. The second doesn't — it needs you to weigh things nobody wrote down, then be accountable for what you chose.

Step 3

Your 10-day log

Log every task you actually did for 10 working days — not your job description, what you did. At the end of each day, sort each entry with the test above. Most people log somewhere between 5 and 15 tasks a day. Don't force a fixed number — log what's real.

Saved on this device only, as you type — clearing your browser clears this. The checklist ticks in Part 1 save the same way.

One card per entry, three slots a day. Fill the task, answer the three questions, then write L or R.

Day Task Bounded? Specified? Reviewable? Column (L/R)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Prefer paper? The cards above fill in and save right here on your phone. If you'd rather write it out, print the full six-column grid instead — either way is fine, the ratio only cares that you logged honestly for 10 days.

Need more rows on a given day? Just add a line by hand — the table above is a starting grid, not a cap.

Step 4

Score it

At the end of day 10:

Left-column count  =
Right-column count =
Total tasks logged  =
Your ratio = Left ÷ Total = %  (this is your exposed share)

There's no passing score. The point is to see your real number instead of guessing. Most coordinator-heavy roles land higher on the left than people expect going in — that's the finding, not a failure.

Step 5

What to do with your number

This worksheet is Move 1 of a 90-day plan the video walks through. Short map, not a re-teach:

  • Move 1

    Audit.

    You just did this. You now know your real left/right ratio instead of a feeling.

  • Move 2

    Automate the left column, visibly.

    Take your single most repetitive left-column task and move it onto AI — openly, not quietly — and show the time you got back.

  • Move 3

    Claim one judgment call.

    Find one right-column decision that currently flows around you — a scope call, a stakeholder relationship, a risk call you usually escalate — and start owning it.

  • Move 4

    Rename the job on paper.

    Once Moves 2 and 3 have real evidence behind them, update your résumé and title conversation to describe the right-column work you now do, not the left-column work you used to be measured on.

A high left-column ratio today is not a verdict on you. It's a starting number for a 90-day project — and you already know how to run one of those.

A layoff is not a verdict on your worth. Most of the 2026 analyses point at over-hiring corrections and expensive money, not at you. Handle the money and the deadlines first — the confidence comes back once the ground stops moving.

Our standing promise: No course. No webinar. Just the receipts. We don't take money from resume-blast services or affiliate deals. When we make something paid someday, we'll say exactly what it costs and why, on screen.

A longer, fully-sourced edition is coming — the H-1B decision tree in full, severance levers, COBRA and RSU detail. That one will ask for an email, because it's a mailing list. This page never will, and nothing above is a preview: it already has everything the video promised, the basics complete, and the worksheet.

What comes next

The playbook covers the next two weeks. When you're ready to think past that — new title, new industry, or the same one — PathifyMe builds a free, personalized plan from your resume and your answers. No course, no webinar, no upsell.

Build my plan →

Sources

Primary documents only. Every one of them is free to read.

This page describes U.S. federal and state rules only and is not applicable outside the United States. Last reviewed: August 1, 2026. Published by Sound Roots Global LLC (PathifyMe). Free educational resource, not legal, tax, or immigration advice, and it does not create any professional relationship. Verify against your state's labor department, HealthCare.gov, and a licensed attorney.

This page uses Google Analytics to count visits and see which links get clicked. It collects no personal data and never asks for your email. Anything you type into the worksheet above is saved only in your own browser (localStorage) and is never sent to us or anyone else. Questions or corrections: reach PathifyMe through the channel this page came from.

Watch the paths, not the panic. — PathifyMe