Survive Job Layoffs
Dealing with the layoff and staying focused on finding a job is tough. Here are some practical steps you can take to lessen the fallout from this traumatic life event.
Contents
Steps
Coping with the Emotional Aftermath
- Acknowledge your emotions. Before all else, be honest about the depth and strength of the emotional fallout and be gentle on yourself. You're likely to experience shock, panic, a sense of identity loss and fear all at once. Suddenly your dreams are being pulled out from under you, along with your financial stability. Acknowledge that it is all right to feel these emotions; indeed, it would be unusual if you did not feel this way.
- You have a right to do what you need to do to cope in your own way.
- Don't be afraid to seek counseling or psychological support if you don't feel as if you're coping. The sooner you are able to work through your emotions, the faster you will mend and find yourself back on your feet again.
- Begin to process these emotions and regain control. A cathartic activity is to write down your feelings. Put together a letter to the company detailing how you feel about it and the manager's approach to laying off staff. Once it is all down on paper, burn or shred the letters. Keep doing this till you feel the anger subsiding. Keeping a journal is another way of doing this. The reason for writing it down is so that you get it out of your system in a private environment and don't burn your bridges by letting loose a harangue of anger in the workplace. How you leave truly matters, as people remember and word gets around to potential new employers, so aim to leave with dignity.
- Try to avoid sitting around and talking about it endlessly with mates, family or other colleagues. This can make the situation a lot worse as you either feed off one another and build a great ball of negativity together, or you frighten those around you with your vehemence and anger. Remember that none of you are likely to have the "big picture" of what's going on and a lot of fear can result from hypothesizing rather than focusing on taking care of the "what next".
Dealing with Others
- Be understanding that others mean to be helpful, even if their advice irks you. You will no doubt be regaled with advice about getting a new job, finding interviews and getting back on that career track. It's well intended but it is meddlesome, especially when it crosses into haranguing and bossing. Say thanks for the ideas but you are working through it and that the best thing they can do for you is to identify job leads for you that are realistic and likely to be actionable. That puts the onus back onto them to do more than just talk.
- Realize that some people cannot find job leads for you or be of any real help but will act as if they know, especially those who have retired. They have lost touch with the work world you're now a part of, so don't take to heart their fears, worries and insistent refrains that you "take anything". Be polite and spend as little time as possible around them until they know to be less bossy.
- Set boundaries as needed. If you find it impossible to deal with all the well-intended comments and bossy remarks, tell people that you're not able to discuss the layoff right now but need time to process what has happened before resetting your course. Tell them that you'll be ready to talk to them about it at a later date and that you'll let them know when that is. Preserve your well-being above all.
Doing Something About Your Future
- Be proactive immediately. Update your resume and build a portfolio of accomplishments. It can be helpful to have a professional update of your resume done, to remove the emotion from going back over your own work history and to ensure that it's in the best shape possible. Remind yourself of two things constantly - you have skills and you will find another job. List all the experience and skills you have. Highlight your strengths and accomplishments. Rework your resume to reflect these.
- The difference between someone who wallows and someone who gets moving to find the next best thing is resilience. If you lack resilience, bouncing back will be extremely difficult and you risk giving up. Focus on bolstering your resilience to get you back into the search for a new job.
- In between interviews, consider Know-What-to-Do-in-Hard-Times. It's another networking resource and resume addition all in one. Employers generally respond quite well to this.
- Get really good references and letters of recommendation from the company. Look at it this way; they owe you big time to provide quality statements about your work with them. Select relevant work samples that demonstrate your abilities such as proposals and reports. Develop a portfolio that focuses on the value you can bring to a prospective employer. If you were a tradesperson, take photos of things you did to add to a document outlining your building, baking, sewing etc. skills. If your bosses have a hard time trying to write references owing to large numbers of layoffs, or their own woes, help them out by writing one for yourself and getting their sign off on it on company letterhead. Demand at least a few minutes of their time to sit down and do this together.
- Good references are one of the reason for leaving work in a polite and considerate manner. It's all about guarding your future, no matter what you think about the company or people you used to work with.
- Start networking. Be open about your layoff and inform every relevant person that you are currently in the job market. It is not a shameful thing; it is simply a reality of companies failing in good money management or being overly optimistic about their projected earnings. Develop a concise but clear summary of what you're looking for and what skills you have to offer. Have business cards ready to hand out at the right moment. Ask for the business cards of people you network with to follow up.
Staying Involved in Everyday Life
- Stick to a daily action plan. Develop a structure for your day that involves scheduled activities. Set aside time slots for different activities - networking, job search, researching prospective employers, writing cover letters and sending out resumes. If you need to contact banks and other companies concerning changing payment schedules, include this in the plan as well; facing such needs sooner rather than later is essential.
- Get good financial advice from your bank and financial adviser as to tiding you through the layoff period before you get a new job.
- Stay connected with friends in the same boat; meet weekly to exchange ideas and possibilities. Share your tales of woe but don't get bogged down in these; try to keep a good sense of humor about your situations and be grateful for one another's friendship through the hard times.
- Be sure to include important activities such as exercise, healthy eating and some time spent on hobbies or activities that help you relax. It is important to get out of the house so visit the library to do some job research or simply take a walk through the park. All of this will keep you in top work shape and prevents you from wallowing in misery or turning bitter.
- Join-in-the-End-of-the-Profit-Motive.
- Preserve the cash that you do have. If you are financially supporting anything or anyone right now that can wait, let the relevant people know what is happening and that you need to put it all on hold until things are in a better position. People will usually be understanding, although you must get promises from companies and banks in writing, in case they later renege on their agreement to postponements of payments, etc.
- Be realistic. Sometimes you need to practice inverse promotion and take a job lower than your previous level. If this is what it takes to get your foot back in the door and the mortgage paid, do not be too proud. You will show what you're made of in no time and start climbing the ladder again.
- Another option may be to start your own business. However, be sure to get very solid advice about what is involved and be careful of anyone trying to take advantage of someone in your position. Also be aware that running a small business is extremely demanding, especially in start-up mode, and you may be working 24/7 initially.
- If you have the ability to return to school, consider retraining for a new career or for improving your skills. Don't discount existing degrees or qualifications; always ask how these count towards reducing the amount of additional study you'll need to do.
- Make money from your hobbies. You might be able to cash in on your hobbies, the ones you barely had time for while working. Dog walking, photography, selling items on eBay, are all possibilities. Think about what you love doing and turn that activity into a possible side business for enough cash to keep you afloat.
- Spend time contemplating your own hopes and dreams. This is a good time to reconnect with the person you really are, the person beyond the employee. Consider the world that you want to be a part of and give yourself the time and dream space to think this through. You might just find that the next steps you take are considerably different from what you were pre-layoff.
Tips
- Make sure your interview clothing is clean and pressed, ready to wear. Check for missing buttons and broken zippers. Polish the shoes that go with it, and make sure you have the correct socks/hosiery. You don't want to be scrambling to put together an outfit the night before your interview. If you've been out of work for a long while, try everything on to make sure it still fits.
- Be prepared for ongoing questions from friends and family, such as "Have you found a job yet? Has anyone called to set up an interview?" While they mean well, as time passes you may get tired of talking about your job search. If so, it's perfectly fine to say "When I get a job, you'll be the first to know."
Warnings
- Initially it may seem like the end of the world. However, it isn't and for some people, it can turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to redirect your life's focus. It is very important to push beyond the feelings of hopelessness and fear, and if you need support to do this, never hesitate to seek it. It's easier when it's a shared journey.
- Don't start staying up late and sleeping in. You'll find it a hard habit to break when you get another job.
Things You'll Need
- Quality up-to-date resume
- Neat, pressed interview clothing
- Daily schedule of actions
- Talks with banks, utility companies and others about payment schedules and financial strategies between jobs
Related Articles
References
- Source of original article: http://www.best-job-interview.com/layoff-rights.html. Shared with permission.
