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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 trades-person, 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.
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.
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.
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.
