Have you ever lost a job? Was it OK with you, or did you struggle? Did you lose ground after hearing the news that your job will no longer exist? In one moment in time, you are part of a team, have plans, and the next day, you need to scratch your plans and get into survival mode. Here are some of the questions you may ask yourself: How will that affect my bank account? Will I be able to pay the rent/mortgage? Why did I buy the fancy watch or the new phone last week without recognizing the signs of what was coming? But those questions come to your mind with others. If you live alone, you should think of your well-being. However, if you have a family or a circle of people depending on you, the question also includes their survival. This makes the job loss an even more difficult process.
The Hidden Impact of Job Loss
But what looks obvious in such a situation is just the peak of an iceberg. Often, the financial insecurity is just the face of the growing concern. People, especially those who have been working in a company for a long time or are closely connected to the role they execute, often feel as though they have lost their identity. What was a daily routine in an established and process-driven environment suddenly becomes obsolete, and what was seen as a known area turns into an uncharted territory.
And while emotionally driven, this momentum of yours involves your family, close relatives, and circle of friends in your circle of suffering and insecurity. For example, your wife and/or kids may sense tension and stress at home, partners in life may feel tension while becoming the only source of funding for everything around, friends may think twice before inviting you to a fancy event, knowing that it may impact your financial stability, which also leads to making them keep a long distance from you, etc.
And this is the surface. However, in the ground, there is an emotional bag that comes with dark feelings, such as rejection, frustration, and even anger. This may also affect the usual way of communication at various levels, including within your family, circle of friends, and close relatives, as well as when communicating with potential employers, etc. All these feelings are temporary, but often they don’t feel like something in the moment, but as an unending suffering.
Six Essential Steps to Reclaim Your Path Forward
Yes – job loss is an overwhelming bag of feelings and emotions that creates an illusion of loss and weakness. However, they are manageable, and taking action can significantly help the transition process from one workplace to another over time. Here I am offering you six steps to guide you through such a transition:
1. Honor Your Emotions and Establish New Routines
Often, what happens at first is that we try to look calm and balanced. The truth is that this action doesn’t help. At first, you will need to permit yourself to be emotional, to show disappointment, to curse and express your frustration, and to declare your uncertainty about what is happening. However, this is the correct action set in place from the beginning. Letting the emotions consume you is not a healthy strategy. In your suffering, you will need to establish new routines in line with the new situation you are in. The new routine will establish a new structure of stability for you and help you transition forward further. Another positive aspect of creating a new routine is that it will serve as a helpful milestone in achieving your new physical and mental well-being as an individual during the transition period you have entered.
2. Conduct a Comprehensive Financial Assessment
Your dreams, plans, and planned actions shouldn’t be stopped directly. The stress from this may affect you even harder than the lay-off. This is the moment when you have to find a financial reason for yourself. An honest look at your finances and savings, and understanding your severance package or other benefits that you may have received as an unemployed person, is a pivotal move forward. As a result, a balanced budget should emerge from it. The income and spending balancing makes you feel safer and more stable within this transition period you have entered. And as an additional benefit, your anxiety will be reduced to levels it is easily manageable.
3. Refresh and Modernize Your Professional Materials
Every recruiter or headhunter you meet in your life asks directly, “Do you have an updated CV?” This is the time when this task can no longer be postponed. Your priority should be to update all materials and channels that represent your unique identity, in accordance with industry standards. Your second stop after the CV should be your LinkedIn profile or a similar network relevant to your industry and niche. If relevant for your profession, a website, blog, or a portfolio on what you are an expert in is also helpful. This creates benefits for you in two ways – presenting your expertise and keeping you engaged in meaningful work that delivers results for your most valuable customer, yourself. All these materials and channels are the tools helping you to succeed. The more invested you are in creating them, the better results they will deliver for you.
4. Activate and Expand Your Professional Network
Involving themselves in the daily routine, many people often skip the time with their already built network. But what was once a colleague at work or a colleague from the university may be a good prospect for your next job. Reaching out to your current network is the first step in taking direct action to find a job. Don’t be embarrassed to ask for help. You may need to ask several times; some people may not respond, others may not have the time or a suitable opportunity for you. However, with that wide communication, you can build new connections, reconnect with old ones, some of which may have been forgotten over time, and even find the right contact to connect you to your next job opportunity. The thing here is that you may need to be more active. If you haven’t added much value in the connections you already have, you will need to do something to show them that you care about them as you expect them to care for you. This elevates the connection to a new level, creating genuine engagement from you to them and from them to you and your situation.
5. Create a Strategic Job Search Plan
I don’t like clichés, but unfortunately, I have to use one here. You know why so many people fail when trying to find a new job? The answer is simple – They treat the job search like a side activity that they don’t need to invest much in. Unfortunately, this is what makes them fail. The job search is a complex activity that requires attention, planning, setting the right, measurable objectives, and defined and clearly communicated milestones. This means defining a deadline for preparing a work draft on your resume or CV, setting a weekly goal of researching possible options, analyzing them, adapting your Resume or CV, and sending it. It may sound like an easy job, but you will be surprised by how much time it takes to make all the actions. It is like a full-time job. Now, add time to your agenda to connect with new people and network with both new and existing connections. Another step is to learn from what you missed when you received a rejection. Is there a skill that you should plan to further develop for your next attempt? And, to stay in the loop of the process and make progress, you need to allocate time to track your progress and build momentum around the results.
6. Truly Invest in Skill Development and Future Growth
Another obvious thing – right? According to the RBL learning survey, some forty-six percent of people do not plan and execute what they have already stated. It is the same with learning. We want results fast. When building an online skill course, using a preferred supplier is the fastest way. But ask yourself if an hour or two course builds fundamental skills. If truly investing in your skills development means investing more time. A good supplier, certification in the area you are interested in, and some opportunity to show in practice the new skills you have built are crucial to make the new skill viable for others. That may mean creating a list of learning new skills, technologies, building a new mindset, and elevating your understanding and way of thinking, among other things. This focused investment not only builds your skill set but also helps you change your image.
7. Moving Forward with Renewed Strength
This last step is your attitude. You may choose how to feel. A job loss may make you feel like a loser, or work as a catalyst for a change you never thought was possible. It is up to you. The first moments filled with grief should be acknowledged, but then it is an individual decision if you are going to make yourself the next winner or continue to build your image as a loser. The new energy that comes after the grief helps you discover new career paths, build your professional skills, and even find a better work-life balance. The challenging experiences come to test if you can restore inner balance and work continuously toward new goals, or sit in one place and don’t move forward. Every situation we fall into is temporary and requires attention to build a new level of consistency, devise a new strategy, and emerge from that situation stronger, more focused, and more effective than before.
Final Words
Many people see job loss as a lost battle for survival. But the truth is that job loss doesn’t reflect your worth as a person and professional. In life, there are various setbacks that everyone should encounter. However, building the right strategy and continuously reviewing and upgrading it is what an individual should aim for if they want to move forward to the next best chapter of their lives.
The Human place - a path from you to yourself 