A 6-Step Plan to Prepare for Any Career Setback

“What might happen if…” is a common discussion prompt in the meetings I lead as a career coach. Coaching provides a safe space to talk honestly about the opportunities and challenges that intertwine when you’re pursuing the next step in your career. As we’ve seen in the past few years, those challenges abound.

A job offer may be rescinded due to unforeseen circumstances such as a change of leadership at the company or a hiring freeze. Layoffs and furloughs can occur with or without warning. Promotions can get derailed by sudden shifts in contingent factors such as financial performance, accelerating developments in your industry, and even legal or regulatory changes. And employment arrangements in almost all United States jurisdictions are at will. This means the employer (and the employee) can terminate the employment relationship for any lawful reason, at any time, with or without notice.

Developing a predetermined fallback plan allows you to proceed with a clear head when faced with a career setback. Importantly, fallback plans are not a marker of failure. They allow you to reflect on a measured, pre-determined response that you can adapt in real time if needed. Provisional planning for the worst-case scenario can clear the way for you to rigorously pursue your goals while providing peace of mind that you have your bases covered.

Here’s how to put together your fallback plan so you’ll be ready in case you’re faced with a career setback:

1. Identify the worst-case scenario.

There will be times during your career when you’re unexpectedly faced with a major setback. Thinking about the worst-case scenario is not designed to make you cautious or hold you back. It’s a one-time exercise that allows you to think calmly and strategically about how you’ll handle the challenge if the worst happens. This is a safe space to get excited about your potential and to avoid possible pitfalls.

Start with the possible career shift you’re planning for. For example, if you’ve completed the final round of interviews for your dream role and successfully negotiated the terms of your employment, the worst possible outcome might be a rescinded offer before you’re due to start. Or if you’ve started a new job and are busy onboarding, the worst possible outcome might be a sudden layoff before your probation period ends. If you’re delivering results in your role and targeting a promotion, the worst possible outcome might be learning your request to advance has been denied.

2. Clarify your non-negotiables.

In my book, Prep, Push, Pivot, I discuss the importance of underlining your non-negotiables. These are your fundamentals for your career planning. Your non-negotiables underpin your decision-making parameters, in good times as well as tough times. For example, your non-negotiables might be remaining in a certain location, earning over a certain threshold, or maintaining a focus within a certain sector.

This is a space to consider what’s essential for you so that you can get closer to where you want to be. There will be other areas you can be flexible on, but your non-negotiables provide the foundation for you to make decisions that will propel you in the right direction. They may change over time, but they’re unique to you. And if the worst happens, they’ll underpin the next steps you’ll take to bounce back.

3. Identify the obstacles you could face.

This is a theoretical brain-dump exercise that you can complete in 10 minutes. Look over what you identified in the worst-case scenario description and expand on the challenges you’d need to address quickly.

For example, if you’re creating a fallback plan for a rescinded employment offer, the obstacles might be:

• The impact on your self-esteem
• Explaining the situation to others
• Restarting your job search

Don’t overthink this — just write down the challenges that immediately spring to mind when you consider the worst-case scenario.

4. Assess your options and consider the support you may need.

Start by asking yourself the following question: If I’m facing [insert obstacle], what ideas do I have about next steps?

Don’t just think this through; write it out. It doesn’t have to be an extensive document (bullet points are fine), but writing it out is important — if something suddenly goes wrong, your emotions are likely to be running high, and you may or may not recollect your ideas in the moment.

List every thought down and prioritize the ideas that enable you to move forward in a positive manner. For example, if you relocate for a job and then have your offer rescinded, you may consider speaking to an employment lawyer to get counsel on any moving expenses incurred or to understand state legislation within the employer’s jurisdiction.

If you’re struggling to think of what you would do to address the theoretical obstacle, write down the names of three people you know who have experienced something similar. If the time comes, you can reach out and ask for their perspective on how they handled their situation, resources they would recommend, and what they learned from the experience.

As you outline your plan, make sure to revisit your list of non-negotiables periodically. If there are financial or time-sensitive implications, create a provisional budget or schedule that aligns with the next steps you’ve identified. For example, if you suddenly lose your job, you may determine that you need to find a new role within three to six months in order to maintain your financial well-being. To meet that deadline, your fallback plan might include setting aside time twice a day to talk to people in your network and allocating time each morning to reviewing new job postings.

5. File your plan away.

Document insights that could be helpful in the future. If you’re creating a fallback plan just in case a job offer falls through, your next steps may include reconnecting with former bosses to ask for introductions, checking in with recruiters you’ve worked with previously to let them know you’re actively seeking a new role, and continuing to research opportunities you had previously set aside to focus on the job offer. Remember: You can revise the contingency plans based on your unique circumstance if the need arises.

Save your notes in a place where you can find them easily if you need to update them. Documentation that was written in a moment of calm and clarity will be an anchor in the future if you find yourself in a tailspin.

6. Make your well-being a priority.

As you work through this process, remember to hold space for self-care. Be prepared to be kind to yourself if you need to implement your fallback plan. When your stress levels hit a peak, there’s the potential to upend your mental and physical well-being. Prioritizing sleep will provide a solid foundation for rebuilding and regular exercise will unlock the mindset-boosting power of endorphins.

Example Fallback Plan: Requesting a Promotion

Once you’ve completed the six steps, your fallback plan might look something like this:

Worst-case scenario:

Promotion request is denied.

Non-negotiable for worst-case scenario:

Secure a VP-level opportunity within 12 months.

Potential obstacles to overcome:

• Disappointment and frustration.
• Lack of clarity from leadership on the decision-making process.

Options available:

• Schedule a 1:1 meeting with my supervisor to discuss benchmarks for success and current skills and experience gaps.
• Create a six-month professional development plan.
• Ask peers in other departments for introductions to three recently promoted coworkers to learn more about their career paths.

. . .

You can’t control what might happen to you, but you can control what you do next and how you respond. If the time comes to implement a fallback plan, regardless of your level of experience or the size and depth of your network, the most important person in this process is you. Through my work as a career coach, I’ve witnessed scores of professionals bounce back from setbacks. Remember, you will always have options, no matter what you’re facing. Any period of transition or uncertainty won’t define you forever.