Jobless - Now What?
When you lose your job, the typical response is a sense of helplessness and self defeat. Why me? Why am I not good enough? What's wrong with me?
There's nothing wrong with you.
For most individuals who lose their job during a company-wide RIF (reduction in force), the decision has nothing to do with them personally. During economic downturns, companies have to make very difficult decisions, usually across the board, to reduce costs and stabilize the organization's financial situation.
So, for your own sake, don't take it personally! Make a decision and a commitment to land solidly on your feet. Decide to take this opportunity to make your future better, stronger and brighter for you and your loved ones. Take some deliberate proactive steps to turn this into an opportunity of positive and meaningful change.
Easily said, harder to do. Here are some ideas.
Take a few days to do nothing more than take care of yourself. Do what you enjoy most. If that's expensive, determine whether you can really afford it right now. If you can, by all means do it. If you can't, find an affordable alternative, but the idea is to relax, refresh and manage the stress of the moment. Catch your psychological and attitudinal breath.
Next, inventory your situation. What are your financial resources? What are your current financial obligations? How much time do you have to find the right new opportunity? If the answer is not a lot of time, don't take the first job you find out of desperation. You will inevitably make a poor decision and ultimately regret it. Instead, find every way you can to cut back and reduce your current expenditures. That will stretch your time to find the right job. Also, consider getting a part-time or temporary job to "buy" yourself some more time. All honest and legal work is honorable; there are no demeaning jobs.
If your former company offers you some outplacement services or job assistance, take it and use it with all the enthusiasm and energy you can muster. If your former employer doesn't offer this type of assistance, ask for it. If not, look for career assistance help in your community, through professional organizations you belong to or know of, maybe through your church or synagogue. There are a lot of resources available.
We believe strongly in career and personality assessment of course, and we encourage companies that are letting people go to provide it. It's a way to gain a reliable and objective look into a professional mirror and receive powerful insight into what all your options might be. It can even open up your thinking to ideas that would never have occurred to you otherwise. Our assessment and support is so affordable and easily accessible, it's almost a no-brainer in deciding whether or not to use it.
Whether ours or others, career and personality assessment increases your self-knowledge and expands your thinking on career options. It helps you objectively assess your career interests and strengths, and your interests are the most fundamental motivator for career success. You've got to like what you're doing if you want to do it well. Career change assessment tools will help you develop and implement a realistic career transition plan, which will significantly increase the success of your job choice, your interviewing skills, your professional poise and presentation. And finally, career transitioning assessment tools go a long way in improving your attitude and self confidence, something you really need.
REYCGYHO – read everything you can get your hands on. Don't limit your ideas and thinking, expand them at every possible turn.
Write an effective and utilitarian resume. Get some help. There are a great many books on the subject and the Internet is abundant with resources. If you are not an articulate wordsmith, hire a professional to write your resume for you. It doesn't cost much, and it's a terribly important investment.
Network, network, network – don't be embarrassed to make everyone you know aware of your situation and that you are open to their ideas, referrals and support. Networking often turns out to be the key to open many job opportunity doors.
As important as anything else, be consistent and persistent. Finding a job is a job itself. It takes time, dedication and discipline. Develop a daily routine of how you will spend your time in what activities to implement your career transition plan. Then stay the course. When you get discouraged, talk about it. Confide in someone you trust. Negotiate a contract of accountability. Share your plan with someone you trust, and give them permission to hold you accountable in carrying out that plan.
Finally, be faithful to yourself, and go be great!
