Hi Reader,

I've hired a lot of technical writers. Yes, I read your LinkedIn recommendations.

Layoffs are everywhere right now, and they suck. Some of you got the surprise calendar invite this month, and some of you are still at your desks wondering who's next. Either way, the people who can vouch for your work are about to scatter.

If you were laid off

1. Ask for portfolio samples, and get the answer in writing. Yes, NDAs are a thing. Most of them come down to "do not share company material without permission," so get the permission. Get it from someone who can actually grant it, which might be your manager or might be legal. Check your separation agreement too, because some include their own confidentiality terms. Don't take anything until you have that yes.
2. Exchange LinkedIn recommendations with your coworkers, both the ones leaving and the ones staying.

If you survived

1. Write recommendations for the people who just left. Survivor's guilt is real, and this is the most useful thing you can do with it. Twenty minutes of your time could help get someone an interview.
2. Ask for your own while people are still around. After a layoff, the people who know your work best tend to drift away over the next few months, and your manager might be one of them.
3. Get permission for portfolio samples now, while nobody is in a rush and you can ask calmly.

Why I keep harping on recommendations

I cannot, CANNOT, overemphasize this. You stay connected to the people who know your work, and everyone walks away looking good. It costs you nothing but a little typing and time.

When I was hiring, I read between the lines of every recommendation, and specific details about what someone was like to work with went straight into my mental arithmetic about whether to invite them to interview.

Some recommendations do a lot more work than others, though. "Great team player, a pleasure to work with" could be about anyone. "She rebuilt our API reference in six weeks and our auth support tickets dropped by a third" tells me what I would get if I hired her.

How to write one worth reading

Give as good a recommendation as you want to get, and write theirs first. People tend to match the effort they receive. Cover these four things in a short paragraph:

• How you worked together, and for how long
• One specific project and what they did on it
• What changed because of their work, with a number if you have one
• What they are like to work with on a hard day

When I audit LinkedIn profiles for my coaching clients, recommendations are one of the first things I check, including the dates. If your last one is from 2014, you have some catching up to do.

If you've been laid off recently, I'm sorry. Hit reply and tell me how you're doing. I read every one.

Diana