Lost your Job? Now What?

Saturday, February 7th, 2009 John

Let us face the reality now. Many people call it in many ways such as being redundant, discharged or downsized, getting dismissed or canned. Whatever you call it, receiving your pink slip or losing your job hurts deep inside. Among an assortment of life’s major events, like serious accident, divorce, death in the family, and serious illness, surviving job loss ranks among the most stressful ones. Job loss can have a deep burden on your emotional well being. Most people laid off will experience a common process from denial, anger, frustration, sadness and finally acceptance. It is critical that you reach the last stage as fast as you can, so you can move on to the next and hopefully enjoyable job.

Surviving Job Loss
Being separated from your job is extremely hard both mentally and financially in many cases. Many of us intimately identify ourselves by what we do for a living. When your job goes away, you can lose track of who you are and even your deeper purpose in life. This is not how it should be faced. In addition to emotional issues, a number of practical issues must be handled. First, your should check out how long your financial resources will last. You must also decide if a career change is needed, a big possibility in this fast moving world. Then you must begin to plan for the future with the fresh enthusiasm on learning new skills and winning new friends.

Being Pragmatic
A leading challenge most people must deal with is providing for themselves and their families. Finding out if you qualify for unemployment compensation or benefit should be the first thing that is taken care of. The next thing is applying for this welfare. There are certain criteria that must be satisfied. In the United States, for instance, your local Employment Service Center should be able to assist you. The U.S. Department of Labor has information on unemployment compensation. All you need to do is visit their website and check out the links to the individual sites in many states. The next issue you have to deal with is health insurance. In many countries, the majority of people who have health insurance are covered under a group plan through their employer. Once you are retrenched, that coverage goes away as well. But you should not worry as the law allows those separated from their jobs to leverage health insurance at a group rate for a limited period of time.

Time to Move on
Once you have come to terms with all matters emotional and pragmatic, it is time to move on. You must decide where to go from here. First you must consider why you lost your job. Was the company downsizing or really trying to barely survive? Is this a trend in the industry in general? Do you want to stay in the same field? Is a career switch in order? If not, maybe this is a good time to acquire some new skills in order to make yourself more in demand. Rather than looking at your current job loss a horrifying matter, it is better to consider the positive significance of this situation. When surviving a job loss, you should take the time to make some adjustments like switching careers or industries, learning new skills and improve upon the ones you already have. Don’t discount possibility of relocating also, if the new job will require. Refocus your whole attention and use this process of surviving job loss as an opportunity to restrategize your career. Many people have turned a job loss into a positive experience. Retrenchment has often opened them a path to a fresh, more satisfying, and better paying job that they would not have been considered if they remained in their previous job. It is now time to check out resources like unemployment, career planning, resumes with cover letters, networking with old and new friends, and certainly job listings. Look forward to your next golden chance. You never know what doorways this turn of events may open for you as a blessing in disguise.

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