Google Chrome browser and other Google products (Google voice, Google docs, Gmail, etc) helped me get multiple job offers very soon after I was laid-off from a company. Here is how.
When I was given notice of layoff from previous company, I did not have to think about my personal data(documents, spreadsheets, photos, contacts, bookmarks, browser extensions, passwords, etc) being on that company’s computers or that data getting lost, since it was all in my google account. For example, Contacts etc were at Google voice contacts, bookmarks and extensions etc were in my google chrome account.
All I had to do, after the lay-off, was head over immediately to Fry’s electronics and buy a new inexpensive laptop(AMD processor), which I got for $299+tax. It had a 15.6 inch screen and Internet capability, that was all I needed to download the Google chrome browser (and Google video chat plugin) onto, and do a login and sync (of bookmarks, extensions, passwords, theme, etc) , and voila – I was in my personalised google account again, and the URL search suggestions etc were meaningful to me.
Next, I had to create my resume on google docs and publish it. I got the link to the resume, which I sent out via my gmail account to various companies. The advantage of sending the link to Google document of my resume (instead of an actual Word document) was that not only did I not have to purchase the Microsoft Word program, but that sending the link to the Google document, would lead to lesser total disk space consumption for everyone, and I could modify my resume anytime, and all the folks who viewed my resume at Google docs site would always see the latest-and-greatest copy of my resume.
Since I had got my AT&T landline phone disconnected (was using my Google voice number on laptop as the main contact number) and did not have a company mobile phone any longer, I continued to my Google voice number as my contact phone number, so that I could answer incoming phone calls, view missed calls and listen to voice messages (which I could not do with my AT&T landline phone) all from my Gmail dashboard, and from any computer, since I happened to use the library computers also.
Anytime I would get an email or a missed call from any of these contacts, I would call them up in a couple of clicks right from gmail (using the Google voice “call phone” feature.)
I tried to keep my Inbox zero (ie delete all mails) that were not actionable, and the hyperthreads of conversations helped my quickly respond to thread, and delete the whole thread at once. This helped me send our multiple letters (with linked resume) to multiple folks, have phone calls with them at Gmail. And I would go to company websites and quickly submit resume and other personal details using Chrome auto-fill , which saved me time (and mental energy, which was very much needed then) and I was able to submit resume to lots of companies in a short amount of time.
Very soon, I landed multiple job offers. I sold off the laptop (and my data is in the Google Chrome account) so that when I login from my company computer or get a laptop from the new company again, I will have access to my data again at the new company.