How to Prepare for a Layoff: Build Your Own Canva Package

To prepare for a layoff, build the package your employer might not give you: know how many months your savings cover, update your resume and LinkedIn now, write a list of 30 people who know your work, get a few interview reps in, and learn your severance, health coverage and PTO rules before any meeting happens. Canva's November 2026 layoff showed what a good exit looks like. Most people won't get one, but you can put most of it together yourself while you still have a paycheck.

What Canva gave the people it let go

Canva cut 1,271 roles, about 22% of the company, in November 2026. What got attention was the exit package. According to Newsweek's reporting, it included:

• At least six months of pay, wherever people lived
• 12 months of continued healthcare
• A year of its employee assistance program for staff and family
• One-on-one career coaching and interview prep
• A year of LinkedIn Premium
• An opt-in alumni talent directory shared with investors and partners
• Their laptops

Read it as a design. Pay and healthcare buy time. Coaching, the directory and LinkedIn Premium help people use that time well. Almost none of it depends on the company being generous. You can build your own version of each piece, and the best time to do it is before you need it.

1. Know your runway

Canva's six months of pay buys time. Your version is knowing exactly how much time you already have.

Add up what you could live on: savings you would actually touch, plus any severance you can reasonably expect. Divide by what a month really costs you after the cuts you'd make. That number is your runway.

Then write down what you would cut first, second and third if the search ran long. It takes an hour, and it turns a vague fear into a plan. People with a plan make better decisions in the first weeks after a layoff, because they are not deciding from panic.

2. Update your resume and LinkedIn now

Canva gave people a coach. The first thing most coaches fix is the resume and the LinkedIn profile, because that is the slowest part of a search to get right.

Do it while you are calm and still close to your work:

• Write down your wins while you can still see them. Numbers, launches, savings, the projects your manager would mention. Six months from now you won't remember the details.
• Rewrite your headline and summary for the role you want next, not the title you have. Our LinkedIn profile guide walks through each section.
• Check how your resume reads to software. Most applications pass through an applicant tracking system first. The ATS-friendly resume guide covers what trips it up.

A quiet profile update is normal. People refresh LinkedIn all the time, and you do not need to turn on Open to Work to make your profile stronger.

If you want a fast read on where your resume stands, the free resume grade gives an A to F score in about 30 seconds and quotes the exact lines to fix first.

3. Build your own alumni directory

Canva's alumni directory put its people in front of investors and partners. You can build the same thing from your own network, and it is the piece most likely to get you hired.

Open a note and write down 30 people who know your work: former managers, coworkers who moved on, clients, vendors, people from school. Next to each name, write what they could vouch for.

Then reconnect before you need anything. A short message is enough: congratulations on a new role, a link they'd find useful, a thank-you for something they did years ago. When you do start searching, you are picking up a conversation instead of starting a cold one. Our guide to finding a job through your network explains how to turn that list into introductions.

4. Get interview reps in

Canva included interview prep for a reason. If you haven't interviewed in three or five years, your first few interviews will be your worst, and you don't want to spend them on the jobs you want most.

Practice now, out loud:

• "Tell me about yourself," in under two minutes, aimed at the role you want next
• Three stories about problems you solved, with the result in numbers
• A calm, honest answer to "Why are you looking?" that you could also use after a layoff

You can do this alone in 20 minutes a day. Here's how to practice for an interview by yourself.

5. Know your benefits before the meeting

The meeting where people learn their job is gone is the worst place to learn how their benefits work. Find out now, from your employee handbook and benefits portal:

• Severance. Is there a written policy, or is it decided case by case? In the US, severance is usually a matter of agreement, not a legal requirement.
• Health coverage. When does it end after your last day? The US Department of Labor says COBRA generally applies at employers with 20 or more employees and lets plans charge up to 102% of the full premium, so price it out now. Your state's marketplace is the other option.
• PTO. Whether unused vacation is paid out depends on your state and your company's policy.
• Notice. If your company has 100 or more employees, the federal WARN Act generally requires 60 days' notice for covered layoffs, and some states add their own rules.

If you are offered a severance agreement, read it slowly. Employees 40 and older generally get at least 45 days to consider a group-layoff release and 7 days to revoke it. For anything significant, an employment attorney is worth an hour.

One more thing: keep your personal files, like your own performance reviews, pay stubs and contacts, somewhere personal. Leave company files and confidential documents where they belong.

Getting ready is not disloyal

None of this is a bad sign to your employer. Updating a resume, practicing interviews and staying in touch with people is what careful professionals do whether a layoff comes or not. If it never comes, you have a stronger profile and a warmer network. If it does, you start your search on day one instead of week three.

If it has already happened, start with what to do in your first 7 days after a layoff.

Our team has placed 1,000+ professionals since 2018, and the people who land fastest are rarely the ones with the best resumes on the day they were let go. They are the ones who had a plan before it happened. If you want help building yours, book a free 15 minute call with a recruiter, or start with the free resume grade.

FAQ

What are the signs a layoff is coming?

Common signs include a hiring freeze, budget cuts, projects being paused, leadership changes, frequent closed-door meetings and a drop in company revenue or funding news. None of them is certain, which is why preparing early costs little and helps either way.

Should I start looking for a job if I think I'll be laid off?

Yes, quietly. Updating your resume and LinkedIn, reconnecting with your network and taking a few exploratory conversations is reasonable whenever you have doubts about your role. It is much easier to search while you are employed.

How much money should I save before a layoff?

A common goal is three to six months of essential expenses. Any amount helps, because knowing your exact runway is what lets you search calmly instead of taking the first offer.