I got 3 job offers 3 weeks after I was laid off from my role as head of HR. Here's the exit strategy that helped me rebound fast.

• Madeline Mann is an HR professional, career coach, and content creator.
• Years ago Mann was laid off, despite being the head of HR at the time.

At one point in my career I was laid off unexpectedly. It happened suddenly one day, even though I was the head of the human resources department.

Leading up to this, the CEO had been telling me — for many months — "Don't leave the company, we're likely to get acquired, and you're a big part of that." Then one day half the company was gathered together, and we were all terminated on the spot.

If you've ever been laid off, you know that the experience is extremely disorienting

I felt like the floor fell out from under me, and it was so heartbreaking to leave a place where I had spent three years. I adored the work and my colleagues.

But I wasn't mad at the company, nor was I mad at the CEO. From my perspective as a HR executive, I've seen the underbelly of a business and the gut wrenching decisions they have to make in order to keep a business alive during tough times.

Because I had always been acutely aware of how businesses can face the sudden changing tides (they are always looking to appease stakeholders and job security isn't real), I had planned for this.

I followed the exit strategy I had crafted a year before

That next week, I had four job interviews, all with promising companies. Then, within three weeks of being laid off, I had three job offers.

But what I did for myself, you can do too. I know because I've helped thousands of people make swift and powerful moves in their career, even in the face of layoffs, instability, and a pandemic.

The approach that allowed me to land job offers in less than a month of a layoff boiled down to one thing: Have an exit strategy.

An exit strategy is where you prepare yourself to be a marketable employee — or even plan for successful self employment — with clear next steps and strategies, before you are on the job market.

When I was laid off, my exit strategy was a year in the making. You need to build your exit strategy now, before you feel your job is in danger. And, if you're already been laid off, don't worry — you can still expedite your job search with the right steps.

Here are three steps you should take now to build out your exit strategy:

1. Get clarity on what you want in your next role

This is the hardest part but it's crucial to attracting and obtaining new opportunities. You'll want to get specific about the role title, type of company, and industry you are targeting. It's not enough to say you want "a people-facing role" or have a wide variety of potential job titles in mind ("I could do marketing, sales, or project management") — that's too broad.

Career clarity is most often the most complex part of one's career journey, and I caution against trying to simplify it. That's why I put my clients through a "1 Page Career Vision" process to get clear on their next steps. Too many people think that either; 1. No job is going to be good enough for them because nothing feels right so far or 2. They need to take jobs in order to know whether or not it's right for them. Both are misguided. Without a system, many people never get clear on what they truly want.

But no matter what process you use, be sure it's thorough and deliberate. A good way to gain clarity is by talking to people in different roles and companies during informational interviews to ensure it's a path you would enjoy.

2. Build your roadmap

Once you know what direction you want your next career move to be in, it's time to make you highly marketable in that field. Look at the job description you want next: What is the gap between your experience and what the role is demanding? That is what you need to focus on.

The best way to do this is to raise your hand for projects at your current job that expose you to those skill sets. Additionally, have conversations with your manager about your growth trajectory and the specific skills you would like to build. There may be a limit to the projects you can participate in, especially if you are doing a bigger career switch, which means it is time to get creative.

Build this experience by any means necessary: create a personal project, volunteer for a nonprofit or small business, shadow people who are doing what you want to do. I put together a list of 100 ideas for my clients on how to create experience out of thin air, so I know with a bit of creativity you can create a list for yourself.

3. Build your personal brand.

The true secret to having a super-charged exit strategy is building a personal brand. Your personal brand is how you make your career recession-proof, and you can take it with you no matter what company or venture you pursue.

By honing your online image, you can attract job opportunities for the rest of your career. Seriously, my clients will often completely stop applying online and have all of their job opportunities come inbound from companies finding them and asking them to interview.

Because here's the truth: The people who land the most job opportunities aren't necessarily the best, but they are the most easily found. How easy is it to find you? You'll need to brand yourself on LinkedIn and make sure if someone searches for your expertise, you show up. You'll also want to start interacting with others' posts on LinkedIn. You don't have to know people to jump into the conversations for your industry and with people at companies you'd like to work for.

Don't be the best kept secret in your industry.

Job security isn't real so you need to be prepared for the worst

Job security isn't as real as people think it is. No matter how big the company is, or how "safe" the profession is, we can't rely on our jobs being there tomorrow if you're working in America.

That's why I have dedicated my life to coaching people on how to land great jobs and excel in their careers. I specifically coach people to focus on career security vs. job security, and it's an important distinction to make. Career security is recession-proofing and layoff-proofing yourself so that when you lose your job you aren't desperately job searching, but confidently job shopping.

Very few people plan ahead in the good times, and most people don't know how to plan ahead — most don't know what they want. And if they do know, they feel stuck not knowing how to get there. I would say 95% of people aren't prepared for a layoff or a recession. They wait for things to go bad and then start working on their resumes and executing ineffective strategies like sending job applications online.

So get your exit strategy ready now so that as soon as something happens to your job, you can immediately jump into these interviews and opportunities.

Madeline Mann is an HR professional and career coach.