Are you new to the game? Laid-off is code for fired, and yes, I have been "laid-off". You are viewed by potential hiring managers as: dead wood, lazy, troublesome, difficult and incompetent. You may not be, but that is the reality. As my union-job for life buddy advised me, If you had any value, they would have kept you. You were seen as non-essential overhead. Ouch that hurt, but true.
And the sheep who doubt you and think they are too valuable and it can't happen to them, will find out for themselves after they have been "laid off".
I recall years ago during the pre-BRGOS town hall meetings as the ice queen Kathleeen Metters followed the script, appeared to be holding back a crocodile tear or two and tried hard to pretend to care about the tens of thousands of employees she was about to axe "to ensure the long term survival of the company", she was VERY careful to always use the euphemism "separated employee". She never once used the term "laid off". Guess what? Once you were "separated", NONE of the paperwork EVER used the term "separated employee". Every Fidelity statement, every benefits document, every severance-related document listed employee status as TERMINATED. Not laid off, not "downsized", TERMINATED employee. Talk about twisting the knife really good.
Unless you had a lofty title of associate director or above and had golden parachute when you were "laid off", most hiring mangers had the attitude just as the poster above indicated. Headhunters who constantly cold called you while you were at your post aboard the mother ship were not interested at all once you became "separated" from the mother ship.
While nothing is 100%, you should prepare for this type of treatment because it is the rule rather than the exception. Be prepared to hear BS like:
What are your salary expectations? Translation: We will pay you 45% of what you make now. Is that o.k? Not that it matters. Wink, wink.
You are too "experienced" for the position. Translation: You are over 50 and if we hire you our health insurance premiums will skyrocket.
If we hire you, you will leave when the economy turns around. No translation but that golden oldie is still being used even today.
There are a bunch more and you will become very familiar with all of them after you become "laid off" or "separated".