I landed 2 job offers within 60 days of my layoff. Here's how I found them and decided on the best fit.

Courtesy of Spencer Specht This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Spencer Specht, a 33-year-old manager of sales development and enablement who is based in Minneapolis. It's been edited for length and clarity.In July 2025, I was laid off from my role as a sales development manager at a SaaS company. Three months prior, my wife had decided to stay home with our 10-month-old daughter. We quickly became a zero-income family.I received a severance package of around three months' pay, which allowed me some time to find a new role. My wife and I were also saving for a down payment on a home, so we had savings we could dip into.I started applying to jobs a few days after I got laid offI was very focused on finding a company or role I was truly excited about. I connected with 5-10 people at companies I was interested in on LinkedIn.I tried to look at my job-search situation with a positive mindset — this was a chance to reinvent myself with a fresh start and, hopefully, find something that could propel my career much faster than if I had stayed at my last job.The realization didn't start to kick in until about a month after my layoff: My COBRA is running out, and things are going to change if I'm not able to find anything.It took roughly 60 days to land two job offersI found both offers through people reaching out to me on social media, when hiring managers and employees suggested I look into their company.I interviewed with 12 companies and participated in about 27 interviews in total. I landed two offers — from Company A and Company B — after about five interviews and conversations at each company.Figuring out which one to take wasn't easyI'd already started working at Company A for a short period prior to receiving the offer from Company B. I accepted an offer from Company A because I was still going through the interview process with Company B. I was confident I would get an offer from Company B, but not confident enough to pass on something in front of me. I was employed by Company A for two and a half weeks. It was very difficult to try to be a good performer while still negotiating an offer with Company B, knowing I might have to say, "Hey, I'm leaving" very soon.Once I had the second offer from Company B, I had to figure out what to doI considered everything about both Company A and Company B, including benefits, salary, job security, travel, and growth opportunities.There were a few similarities between the roles — both were in the SaaS field and remote, though Company A required some travel, which, at the time, was a negative for me because Company B didn't.Both also had on-target earnings and a similar payout structure: a percentage of my yearly salary would be a base, and the other percentage would be commission.Comparing key differences helped me make my decisionI chose Company B, and in October 2025, I left Company A to join Company B as head of sales development and enablement.I don't think I burned the bridge at Company A by leaving so soon. My manager was very understanding, and at the end of the day, it's just business. They'd invested time in me, but it was probably best I moved on so fast rather than a few months later.I wanted leadership opportunitiesWhen I graduated from college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I took a basic corporate job for six months, then bounced around: I was a UPS driver, I worked at a banquet facility, did some oddball things. Then, I got my foot in the door as a customer service representative at a logistics company, which sparked my interest in sales.Once I was there, I saw a path to leadership: you start as a sales development representative, become an account executive, and then transition into leadership, which is what I had always wanted to do.When I was deciding between Company A and Company B, the leadership opportunity was a major factor. Company A was an individual contributor role, so I'd be out selling and closing deals. Company B was a manager-level role, where I'd be leading people. Company B offered greater exposure to leadership-level decisions and strategies, and that's a big reason I chose them.I wanted a faster path to advancementCompany A had been in business for 25 years. As a long-standing, mature, private-equity-backed company, I figured it likely had a slower path to advancement.As a Series A startup, Company B had only 40 employees, so I felt I had unlimited potential to grow with the company. This ties into Company B's leadership role — having the ability to move up as a leader seemed like the best avenue to advance my career.I wanted a higher base salary, even if it came with a lower splitCompany A was offering $85,000 with a 50/50 split. If I achieved my goals as a seller, I'd walk away with about $170,000 at the end of the year. Company B had an almost 50% higher base salary than Company A, but only an 80/20 split, which meant less money in total.With a wife and a child at home and still trying to buy a house, that higher base salary meant a more stable income, so it became my go-to option from a salary standpoint.I also wanted to enjoy my work as much as I couldI asked some mentors at my last company who were also affected by the layoff to help me weigh this decision.After talking to them, I realized that what it really came down to was: where am I going to have the most fun, even if the startup gets sold and I only make it six or eight months? I realized that working at a Series A startup seemed like the job I'd enjoy the most.12 months into my new role, I don't regret my decisionI hit one year at Company B in October. I'm still happy with the decision as I've gained a ton of great experience. I've had the opportunity to do things that I never thought I would.In my last job, it would've taken five or 10 years to get some of the exposure I've had from being this close to leadership and negotiating with our vendors. I wouldn't have gotten this experience at Company A or in my previous role. That exposure alone has been worth the difficulty of navigating my job offer decision.It's better to take risks for a possible reward rather than play it safe and regret it. I think if I were still at Company A, I'd be kicking myself or thinking about what Company B could've been. That gives me peace of mind. Read next Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Robin Madell has spent over two decades as a corporate writer and communications consultant in New York and San Francisco, serving as a copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter for executives, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders across diverse industries, with a focus on productivity, work-life balance, stress management, and women's leadership. As a business journalist, Robin contributes to Business Insider's Strategy section, and her work has also been published in Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Forbes, US News & World Report, and many other business publications. Robin is the author of "Surviving Your Thirties: Americans Talk About Life After 30" and has contributed to many business books including "Ditch Your Inner Critic at Work: Evidence-Based Strategies to Thrive in Your Career," "Rise to the Top: How Women Leverage Their Professional Persona to Earn More," and "Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success," published by Random House. Before starting her own business as a corporate writer, Robin held executive positions in communications, journalism, and advertising, including as vice president and managing director at Draftfcb in New York, as managing editor at Cline Davis & Mann, and as director of communications at Catalyst, Inc., on Wall Street; she has also served on the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association in New York and San Francisco. An avid runner and two-time Boston Marathon qualifier, Robin graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with honors from University of Oregon, a.k.a. TrackTown USA, where she majored in English — visit her on her website. as told to Jobs Layoff More Layoffs Unemployment Job Market career advice