This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Brittney Ball, a 36-year-old former Meta employee based in Washington DC. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
I didn’t anticipate being unemployed for over a year after my layoff at Meta. I assumed that, coming from Meta with my skillset, there’s no way I’d be searching for long. I underestimated the job market.
I got hired in 2020 as a documentation engineer and served as the global head of the Black@Pride ERG. Since my layoff in February 2025, I’ve built and sold a startup, and started a Substack newsletter and podcast to build my personal brand as a documentation expert.
I’ve created alternative forms of income, but I’m still applying for full-time work. My advice for people in the most recent round of Meta layoffs is to budget like you’re going to be unemployed for the next year, downsize, and create an action plan now.
I could’ve saved myself a lot of grief if I knew just how unforgiving the job market can be.
You have to stay professionally active while you’re unemployed
This job market isn’t anything to play with. If you plan to reenter the workforce, you have to job hunt like it’s your full-time job.
There are so many talented and smart individuals on the job market now applying for the same position as you, so it’s not enough to just submit your résumé and hope you get an interview.
It seems as though you have to have something to show for the time you’ve been out of work. Establish yourself as a public speaker, write about your expertise on LinkedIn, start a podcast, or build your startup in public. I’ve had more job opportunities come to me since I started posting about my startup — an AI-powered documentation platform — online and writing on Substack.
It’s important to keep posting about your expertise online
Building in public and sharing my journey has created more streams of income for me. My substack, where I audit AI tools and share my research. started to gain traction in the academic world and the AI community, and has helped me establish my brand identity as an AI ethics expert.
I have paid subscribers, and companies have reached out to me directly on Substack to request audits of their AI platforms or to schedule consultations. It’s become a great source of income and provides me with some cushion as I look for full-time work.
Because I have alternative streams of income right now, I get to be a little bit more picky about the next job I take. I want the next company I work for to align with my values and my mission of making AI more trustworthy and accessible for everyone. I’m still holding out for that perfect fit.
Give yourself two weeks to grieve, then create an action plan
It’s easy to wallow in a layoff and create a false narrative around your value, but one thing I think I did right is that I didn’t let it define me. I took a few weeks to grieve the life I thought I would have, but then I created a plan of action.
I’ve had several people from Meta reach out to me and ask how to build a personal brand online to start freelancing, and my advice is to always narrow down to what you’re best at. One of my biggest skills is pattern recognition, so I focused on how I could package it up in a way that would be valuable for other people.
It’s also important to give yourself a deadline. It’s easy to say, “I can get to that tomorrow,” but tomorrow could become next month.
I told myself that if I’m really going to build my startup and try to establish myself as an expert in this field, I need to have traction within six months. I collected metrics across every social media platform to compare performance and help me stay accountable to my goal.
Invest your severance and budget if possible
Looking back, I wish that I had invested a lot of the severance and budgeted for a possible year of unemployment. If I had thought more long-term, I would have saved myself a lot of grief.
I live in a loft in Washington DC, but I plan to move out of the city. My loft was in my Meta salary budget, but it’s not exactly in my entrepreneur budget. I’m now choosing cooking at home over eating out, and I’ve gotten better at monitoring my subscriptions. I’m being mindful that I don’t have the luxury of a salary now.
Remember your worth and don’t self-isolate
If you’re going through this round of Meta layoffs, remember that it’s no measure of the value you provide. You were hired at Meta for a reason, so use that to light a fire beneath you to go find something else great or build something new.
Being in community is also really important at this time. Self-isolation will only drag you into a dark place that you don’t want to be in right now. So many people are going through the same thing as you, so lean on them.
Do you have a story to share about how you’re navigating unemployment after a layoff? If so, please reach out to the reporter at [email protected].
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