Quick answer
The week-one priorities after a Seattle tech layoff, in order: file for Washington unemployment insurance immediately, review your severance package and separation agreement, understand your COBRA health coverage window, update your resume and LinkedIn while your experience is fresh, watch for job scams targeting your exact situation, and begin applying immediately while starting a live reskilling track in parallel — not after your search stalls.
This is a consolidated checklist pulling together the administrative and strategic steps covered in more depth across several dedicated guides, for anyone who wants the full sequence in one place first.
Day 1-2: administrative basics
- 1File for Washington state unemployment insurance immediately.
- 2Review your severance package, separation agreement, and any non-compete or non-solicit clauses carefully.
- 3Understand your COBRA health coverage window and cost, and compare it against marketplace alternatives.
- 4If applicable, confirm your exact separation date and how it affects any unvested equity (RSUs) — see the Amazon or Microsoft-specific guides for detail.
Day 2-4: get search-ready
- 1Update your resume with concrete, measurable outcomes from your most recent role — see the resume tips guide for the specific mechanics.
- 2Update your LinkedIn to reflect your current status and target track.
- 3Identify which in-demand track (AI, cloud, or data) best matches your background — see the career-switch-by-background guide.
Day 4-7: start moving on both fronts
- 1Begin applying to roles immediately with your existing experience — do not wait to "finish learning" first.
- 2Enroll in a live, structured reskilling track that fits around active job-searching, not instead of it.
- 3Watch for job scams specifically targeting your situation — see the job-scams guide for the common patterns.
- 4Start rebuilding your professional network deliberately — see the networking guide for what actually works.
The sequence matters as much as the individual steps — administrative basics first, then search-readiness, then sustained parallel action on applications and reskilling.
Where MITS Edge fits
MITS Edge’s live, Pacific-Time Seattle tracks are built to be the reskilling step in this exact checklist, running in parallel with an active job search rather than requiring you to pause it.
This checklist covers week one — here is how to sustain the search after that.
Read the staying-motivated guideRead the full Seattle layoffs guide for more depth.
Read the Seattle layoffs guideFrequently asked questions
What is the very first thing to do after a Seattle layoff?+
File for Washington unemployment insurance the same day if possible — there is typically a processing delay, so filing late compounds the gap in income more than any other single delay in this checklist.
Do I need to do everything on this checklist immediately?+
The administrative items (unemployment, severance review, COBRA) are time-sensitive and belong in week one; the job-search and reskilling items can start in week one but continue over following weeks.
Where can I find the deeper guide behind each checklist item?+
Each item below links to a dedicated, deeper guide covering that specific topic in full — this checklist is the consolidated overview, not a replacement for the detail in each one.
Related courses at MITS Edge
Put this guide into practice with a live, mentored program.