Matt Rutherford

Layoffs come with their own vocabulary, often used at the exact moment you're least able to look things up. Here's the plain-English version.At-will employment — Mostly a US concept. Either side can end the job at any time, for almost any reason, with no notice required.COBRA — The US mechanism that lets you keep your employer health plan for a period after leaving, usually by paying the full cost yourself.Collective consultation — A legally required group process in much of Europe when…

Your head and your wellbeing. If you're struggling, talk to your GP or doctor first. In the UK and Ireland, the Samaritans are free and available any time on 116 123. In the US, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is there by call or text. In the UK, Mind offers mental health support; in Ireland, Aware supports people through depression and anxiety.Your rights at work. UK: ACAS for free, impartial employment advice, and Citizens Advice for broader help. Ireland: the Workplace Relations…

If this guide helped, don't let it be a one-off. Every week I write Stuff that MattRs, a newsletter about work, careers, and building a life that doesn't hang on any single employer. This guide is the map for one hard stretch of road. The newsletter is how you keep moving once you're through it.Come and subscribe. And if you want someone in your corner for what comes next, find me at mattrutherfordcoaching.com.

Let's end where the whole series started.The contract was always transactional. The loyalty was always conditional.Once you actually accept that, instead of feeling betrayed by it, something strange happens. It sets you free.The safe job was always a storyThere was never a safe job. There were jobs that felt safe right up until the spreadsheet changed, which is a different thing entirely. The belief that the right employer, the right performance, the right loyalty would keep you protected was…

Here's something nobody warned me about. The moment you're laid off and visibly looking, you become a target.Scammers watch for it. A fresh open-to-work banner, a public post about being let go, a CV newly uploaded to the job boards. It signals someone who's anxious, moving fast, and hoping for good news. That's exactly the person a fraudster wants. While you're out there hustling, keep one eye on your own back.The tellsMost job scams share a family resemblance once you know the shape. An offer…

Here's a trap. People treat the next job search like the last one, just with more competition. It isn't. You're now searching in a market that AI is actively rewriting, for jobs that AI is actively rewriting, using tools both sides are gaming. Same goal, different game.Know which way the ground is tiltingThe cuts haven't fallen evenly. The roles most exposed to current AI tools, support, content, data entry, routine QA, some junior coding, have been hit hardest. Entry-level software roles for…

There's money the state owes you when you lose a job, and a surprising number of people never claim it. Pride, confusion, or a vague sense that it's not for people like them. That's expensive nonsense. You paid in for years precisely so this safety net exists. Use it.The systems differ by country, so here's the shape of it in the places most of you are reading from. Rates and rules change every year, so treat the numbers as a guide and check the current figure before you rely on it.If you're in…

Back in post two you worked out your runway. This post is about flying on it without doing something stupid out of fear.Here's what runway actually buys you. Time. It's the one thing panic takes away. The person with six months of breathing room makes better decisions than the person with three weeks, every single time. Not because they're smarter. Because they're not choosing from a place of fear.💡One caveat up front: I'm not a financial adviser, and none of this is personal financial advice.…

The job hunt gets all the attention. The search, the CV, the applications, the networking. And meanwhile the one thing that has to carry you through all of it, you, gets left to fall apart in the background.Here's the thing not many people put on the checklist. You are the vehicle for everything that comes next. If you break down, nothing else runs. So looking after your head isn't the soft, optional bit. It's the part everything else depends on.You are not your job titleStart here, because…

Everyone focuses on the money. The money is the easy part to talk about. In my experience, it 's not the part that keeps you up.What keeps you up is quieter, and somewhat harder to admit. You lost more than an income. You lost a version of yourself.The losses that aren't on the payslipThe badge that got you through the door. The team you knew how to make laugh. The weekday rhythm that gave the week its shape. The easy answer to so, what do you do, which turns out to have been holding up more of…

Many people sign the first offer they're given. Not because it's fair. Because they want the whole thing to be over.That instinct can be the most expensive feeling in a layoff, because the first number is almost always a starting position.Start by understanding your selectionBefore you talk money, understand how you got here. You're allowed to ask how the redundancy pool was defined and what criteria were used to select you. If the pool is not clear to you, or the scoring is vague and…

💡Important bit - I'm not a lawyer, or an employment law expert - so read this as 'advice' and then find out from your local experts what the LAW is in your market. In the United States, you find out you're gone. In much of Europe, you find out you might be, and then everyone has to talk about it first.That gap shapes everything about how a layoff feels and what power you have inside it. So this post is the one to bookmark, because almost nobody writes it across both worlds. A quick warning…

The cruellest thing about a layoff isn't the decision. It's the speed.In some markets, one click and your access is gone. Email, files, contacts, the lot, often cut before the meeting that tells you has even finished. In some companies, you don't get to go back to your desk. You don't get to gather your things. The company has a button. You have lead time, and only if you use it.I had a month or more to do this as I left my role, and I still had a lot to do - especially at a company where…

Most people aren't blindsided by a layoff. Not really. They felt it coming for weeks and talked themselves out of it.In my recent case, they told us a month before that there would be ‘significant cuts’, most people worked on knowing that decisions were being made that they couldn’t influence.The body knows before the email does. The trick is letting yourself hear it.The signals around youSome of these are about the company, and they rarely come one at a time. A hiring freeze that nobody will…

Every round of cuts still gets reported like a surprise. A shock. A sign that something somewhere has gone wrong.It hasn't. Nothing has gone wrong. This is the system working exactly as designed.That's the part not many people want to say out loud. So I will.The numbers stopped being a blip a while agoIn 2026 the cuts didn't ease off. They accelerated. AI became the single most cited reason for job losses, with AI-linked cuts running to nearly 88,000 by mid-year, against roughly 55,000 for all…

I've been laid off twice in the last six years.So I'm not writing this from the outside looking in. I'm writing it from the chair you might be sitting in right now. I know the email. The strange quiet afterwards. The 2am maths. The way your own name suddenly feels unfamiliar once the job attached to it disappears.I also do this for a living. I'm a career coach, and I've sat with a lot of people on the worst professional day of their year. So I've seen a layoff from both sides. My own inbox, and…

Every week, I share something I learned in the previous seven days. I usually find these while I'm putting my weekly newsletter together but somehow, they don't quite fit! This week I learned about a system that could alert us all to an impending 'Apocalypse' by tracking the private jets of the world!Apocalypse Early Warning SystemLocal dashboard for monitoring tracked-aircraft concurrent-activity anomaly signals. Get better at work. Every Week. One Email. Practical Tools. Real Progress. Get…

UpdatesMy first week post layoff is completed - and I'm starting to settle into a slightly different rhythm of gardening leave. A few times this week I have felt 'adrift' without the scaffolding of the rhythm of my days, so it's up to me to create my own cadence while I work through what is next. The weather in Dublin has helped, and busying myself with some of the paperwork has been a lot easier in summertime. There was no quiz this week, as we sacrificed our weekly fixture to ensure people…

Hey friend! I started Stuff in a ten-week gap after being laid off, looking for somewhere to put the anxiety of not working. At issue #100 I compiled the first Stuff 100. At #200 I did the next.My third 100 arrives from a different place. Forty years in the workplace behind me, a fresh redundancy, and this time I'm not job hunting. I'm building something of my own.Thank you for being on this journey with me. This is Stuff, I'm still Matt, and normality returns next week.The journey is only 1%…

Every week, I share something I learned in the previous seven days. I usually find these while I'm putting my weekly newsletter together but somehow, they don't quite fit! This week I learned about an undersea 'jellyfish' roundabout... some excellent engineering going on here!World first under sea roundaboutTHE NEW GIANT UNDERWATER “JELLYFISH” ROUNDABOUT HAS BECOME THE LATEST FAROE ISLANDS TOURIST ATTRACTION Get better at work. Every Week. One Email. Practical Tools. Real Progress. Get the Mail…

Hey friend! Welcome to new subscribers that joined since last week. It's great to have you here!Stuff I've WrittenYou synced to your company's pace for years. That borrowed tempo is exactly what makes you decide badly. Discover the Clockspeed Trap.From the Archive: 25 career success secrets they don't teach you in business school.Stuff I'm ReadingIt's not liking each other or good vibes that makes teams perform, it's being in sync. The key ingredient for making your team soar. How to imagine a…

I'll begin with my truth, I really like Werner Herzog. He is an interesting chap, who has made some outstanding films and documentaries, including my absolute favourite. I've read a number of his books, and enjoy hearing his 'voice' lift from the page. This tiny book is a hundred pages. Ninety minutes maybe two hours. One enormous question. What is truth, and how do we find it when deepfakes and fake news have wrecked the whole idea?Herzog has been chasing this his entire life. His answer…

UpdatesI missed a week - we were travelling in the UK and I had no connection. We had an amazing weekend, involving a wedding at Queen Victorias Summer House, a tattoo, a Tracey Emin exhibition, a walk around Arsenals ground - and loads of sunshine and food in between. In the prior week, we went to see the marvellous Glen Hansard in concert at Trinity College in Dublin. It was a fine evening in the sunshine. In between all of this, I was formally laid off from Meta. It is bitter sweet - I knew…

The email lands on a Wednesday. By Thursday, people are trying to decide everything.New job or new career. Stay in tech or leave it. Move city. Retrain. Sell the car. Fix the pension. Rebrand themselves on LinkedIn by the weekend.I have watched this up close. Over the past few weeks I have coached a number of people through the layoffs that also impacted me. The pattern is super common. Smart, capable people, trying to make every decision at once, and getting worse outcomes for the effort.The…

Every week, I share something I learned in the previous seven days. I usually find these while I'm putting my weekly newsletter together but somehow, they don't quite fit! This week I learned about a single pot of broth that has been tended by the same family, for 52 years. The Thai Beef Noodle Soup That Has Been Continuously Simmering for 52 YearsAs Bangkok rises into the ranks of the world’s great culinary destination cities, its restaurant scene caters to ever more well-heeled travelers.…

Hey friend! Thanks for the nice response to last weeks newsletter, I'm still writing every week and I'll be linking it here rather than reposting it. I'm all for respecting your inbox. Matt.Stuff I've WrittenJob posting scams are on the rise, and are getting more sophisticated every day. Find out how to spot the scams, and avoid wasting your time.From the Archive: The Five-Why's Technique. A simple tool for solving problems. Stuff I'm ReadingPeople love working hard. Pushback on a common…

Every week, I share something I learned in the previous seven days. I usually find these while I'm putting my weekly newsletter together but somehow, they don't quite fit! This week I learned what an 'Otrovert' is - and how they differ from common Extro- and Intro- 'verts'What is an ‘otrovert?’ The internet is buzzing about themDon’t feel like you fit into any group? Not even personality types like introvert or extrovert? You may be an \ Get better at work. Every Week. One Email. Practical…

As someone being made laid-off next week, I have been spending hours back in the job market and researching how it works now. I've already been watching fake recruiters up close. They have changed. The old ones were easy to spot. The new ones are not.I used to spot a fake in two seconds. Too good to be true. Bad grammar. A salary with too many zeros. A stock-photo headshot. The tells were loud enough to bin the message immediately. That era is over. (Thanks AI!)They've tidied up the grammar,…

Hey friend. I'm taking things back to my roots. Stuff started out as a link newsletter, and I know how much you love finding interesting things. Stuff I've WrittenYou don't build a reputation in the future. You build it today, in the choices when no-one is watching. What are you actually building? 28 sidequests worth taking, and why the sidequest is important. Stuff I'm ReadingYour job is changing faster than you think, but it's not too late to do something about it. The interview question that…

UpdatesA beautiful week in Dublin - shirtsleeve weather all week, and the beach in Killiney was packed out most evenings. The interminable lay-off process is continuing, and things are starting to look clearer now. I'll definitely be leaving Meta, and I'm making plans about what is next as I go. Highlight of the week was a trip to Marlay Park to see The Cure playing on Friday night. It was a stunning evening, 40000 people enjoying the park with the Cure coming on stage at 20.30. Over two hours…