FIERCE Playbook 001
Can we leave a little space between losing a job and announcing what an incredible opportunity it's been?
You might eventually feel that way. You might not. Either way, you don't owe the feed a silver lining before you've worked out what happened.
Welcome to the first FIERCE Playbook. I'm Mike. We're here to have a more useful conversation about life, work, and what the hell comes next.
Two people. Two different problems.
One has years of experience and a suddenly useless office badge. The other has a new degree and a lot of advice that starts with “just.” Just network. Just get some experience. Just put yourself out there.
Well, that clears everything up.
We won't pretend starting over at 55 and starting out at 23 are the same. We are putting them next to each other, because there's more to learn from that conversation than from another lecture about mindset.
Laid Off at 55? Here's What to Do Next.
Get the paperwork in one place. Find one example of work you can explain. Choose one person to call. Your first week doesn't need to solve the rest of your life.
Read: /articles/laid-off-at-55-first-week
You Graduated. Congratulations. Now Forget Everything They Told You About Getting a Job.
Keep what you learned. Pick a role, make a small sample using a fictional problem, and ask someone a question they can actually answer.
Try this before you rewrite your entire personality
Write down one problem you helped solve.
What was going wrong? What did you do? What changed?
Use work, a project, volunteering—whatever gives you a real example. “I made the handoff less chaotic” is a perfectly good start. You don't have to call it an enterprise-wide transformation. Especially if it wasn't.
Keep private details out. Use numbers only if you can back them up. Then read it aloud. Does it sound like you, or like a résumé generator trying to get promoted?
Want a place to work through it? Our One Useful Move worksheet is free, and it won't ask for your email again.
AI can sound very sure of itself. Check anyway.
Give it a fictional job brief and ask for three interview questions. Then look at what it produced. Does each question belong in that interview, or has it invented a whole new job?
Our guide gives you the prompt and a way to check the answer. It's a practice exercise, not a miracle hiring hack.
Your turn
What's the career advice you're most tired of hearing—and what would actually help instead?
Email mike@fierce.com. We'll use your questions to help decide what to cover next, and we'll ask before quoting you publicly.
Mike
FIERCE / Life, Work & What's Next