Dealing with Job loss (Tips)
Some of us are fortunate enough that we don’t ever have to deal with that moment when the boss calls you in to his office for a little “discussion”. You open the door and there is neatly placed pamphlet on the desk and perhaps a slightly over-optimistic person behind the desk with your boss. “Have a seat…as you know, our company has been looking to cut costs.” Your own personal nuclear winter delivered by the horsemen of corporate apocalypse.
Dismissed, let go, made redundant, discharged, ousted, removed, the terms are endless but the main point is, you’re fired! Hopefully you get some advance on your end date and your termination isn’t immediate. Its at this point you need to take quick actions. After you have woken up after crying yourself to sleep under your desk of course.
Grab what you can — As much as you probably don’t want to think about it, you are not coming back to that job. If you are an organized individual, then you shouldn’t have to work very hard to find all your important assets. TAKE EVERYTHING! (Unless you have some specified contract or restrictions that don’t allow you to) Take your contacts lists, learning material, industry specific information, co-workers contact information, those really dumb looking pen/highlighter combo, anything else that might be of use to for future plans.
Decide to stay or play — If you read the last article, one key point was to have money saved up for this situation. If you have the savings it gives you a new opportunity to decide if you want to stay working in the mines or become a tourist in some different ones, maybe in Belize or Mexico? You can still apply for jobs but have the benefit of doing it on a beach while Juan Pedro serves you Mojitos and Margaritas. One of the benefits of vacations are that they can reinvigorate that drive in you that makes you feel refreshed and ready for a new challenge.
Don’t start any new projects — This seems pretty obvious but its important you don’t give your old company any new ideas or start any ambitious projects. There is no benefit to giving away great ideas to a company that doesn’t want you anymore. Save it for the next company you start working for or better yet bring it up in an interview. Use your time to benefit yourself. Look for work, study new skills, relax, maybe plan a vacation. Besides, what are they going to do? Fire you? (oops to late!)
Look busy, somebody might be watching — Gaps between resumes don’t look great, and its even worse when your interviewer is to daft to realize the job market is terrible and asks “Why do you have a gap between employment?”. Plan to fill up that time with learning something new, check out online University courses you can take for free or become certified in something. Usually these programs are free and go-at-your-own-pace and gives you a valid excuse to your possible lack of flooding job offers.
Embrace your situation – Some people have an odd tendency to correlate the end of their job to the end of their life. Usually this isn’t the case, especially if you are still young. Being unemployed sometimes is that push you needed off the diving board, your form might be terrible, you might make a big splash, but its swimming back to the surface that really matters.
