How a Free Networking Event Turned Into The Reset Framework

I was laid off - and I wasn't quiet about it.

I told people. At the grocery store, at pickup, at a free networking event. Turns out half the room had been laid off too. Nobody was ashamed — because most of the time, a layoff has more to do with business performance than yours. That's not a pep talk. It's just true.

At that networking event, the talk was all business — building teams, leadership skills, the future of HR. Good stuff. But almost nobody was talking about your development. Your next move.

So, I went home and started thinking about the people I'd met — what they had done during their layoffs and what I was doing differently. I wrote down three words. Recovery. Reflection. Redesign. I didn't know it yet, but I'd just outlined the thing that would get me a job I still love, six weeks later.

Recovery

I kept a schedule. Not a vague "stay positive" schedule — an actual one. I still did school dropoff. I still ran my house. And I treated the job search like a job: set hours, networking calls booked like meetings, deliverables I could point to at the end of the day.

Every night at dinner, my husband got an update whether he asked for it or not — how many roles I'd looked at, who I'd talked to, what I was thinking for next steps. Not because he wanted a report. Because I needed to say it out loud. Control was a thin ground that month. Routine was the one thing I could hold onto.

Reflection

Once the ground stopped shifting, I stepped back and got honest. What had I actually enjoyed in my career? Where had I been good — not just competent, good? What did I want to lean into next, instead of just what I was qualified for?

That turned into a three-page document. Skills, experience, projects I was proud of. Not a resume — a map. Something I could hold up against every job posting and ask: does this actually fit, or does it just fit on paper?

Redesign

This is where the map became a filter. For every role I applied to, I asked what made it interesting to me — how my specific skills and strengths would actually change something for that organization, not just fill a seat.

I tracked what I applied for, what I wanted for salary, what work-life balance actually meant to me now. And I went into every interview remembering something people forget under pressure: it's a two-way interview. The company is deciding if you're a cultural fit. You should be deciding the same thing about them, against whatever you named in Reflection. If it doesn't match, no offer is worth taking.

I found a job in six weeks.

I built The Reset Framework because I don't think that story should be rare. Layoffs will keep happening. Most of us won't have a plan for the day it's our turn — and that gap is exactly what Recovery, Reflection, and Redesign is built to close.

Recovery. Reflection. Redesign. If you're in it right now, or bracing for it — I'd love to hear where you are.