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When a layoff happens

When a layoff happens

Layoffs happen to most people at some point in their lives, and they’ve been happening more and more frequently lately. As I mentioned previously, my husband was laid off recently, so we came up with a list of things to do when a layoff happens. Here’s our list:

  1. First, take a couple of days just to take in what’s happened. But don’t get into the habit of laying in bed or staring blankly at the TV. That’s exactly what you don’t need right now. Instead, just let yourself get over the shock a little. Even if you’ve been expecting it, it’s likely to be a shock, and of course it will feel worse if you weren’t expecting it.
  2. Follow the advice in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Don’t Panic! Instead, try to evaluate your situation rationally. Do you have an emergency fund? Will you get severance? If so, how much? What are your current bare-minimum expenses, and how long can you make it on those?
  3. If the numbers look bleak, brainstorm ways to bring in some income quickly. Can you babysit? Sell things on Craigslist? Mow lawns or do yard cleanup? Get a temporary job through an agency or at a local business? Decide on things to cut back on as well.
  4. If you have some breathing room before you’ll run out of money, consider doing all or part of the previous item anyway.
  5. Call your contacts and let them know you’re looking. Ask if they know anyone who is hiring or know any recruiters. Follow up on the results from those calls.
  6. Get your resume updated. Have a friend or relative proofread it and give you feedback. Post it on sites like Monster, Dice, Jobing.com, Careerbuilder, etc. and begin applying for jobs. Keep careful records of where you apply and what the job descriptions said.
  7. Update sites like Linkedin with your personal (and professional sounding!) email address instead of your work email if you had used that previously. You don’t want to miss out on opportunities former coworkers send you because they don’t have your personal email address.
  8. Join career-related mailing lists, or general mailing lists in your field if you are not on them already.
  9. Contact your former Human Resources department for potential leads. Those people work in HR — they may know people who are hiring!
  10. If you will be getting severance, have your severance package information reviewed by a professional before signing any agreements. Be sure you understand everything involved.
  11. Apply for unemployment.

All of the above items should be done the first week you are laid off for optimum results. (And you definitely don’t want to wait on applying for unemployment, as it can take a long time to receive benefits. If you wait, you just plain miss out on those weeks.)

The items below should be done as well:

  1. Arrange for health insurance coverage to continue. This might be through COBRA, through your spouse’s employer (being laid off is a qualifying event), or through independent coverage. You may want to look at high-deductible policies at the very least. Try to avoid having a break in insurance coverage if it’s even remotely possible.
  2. If you normally work out, keep doing it regularly. You’ll probably feel a little depressed about the situation, and exercise is important to help stave that off. If you don’t normally work out, consider at least taking a daily walk.
  3. Develop a productive daily routine. Look at job sites (and your local newspaper) at a certain time each day for potential jobs to apply to and apply for them.
  4. Schedule calls to touch base regularly with contacts & recruiters.
  5. Attend career fairs if there are some in your area
  6. Do a direct rollover of 401k funds to an IRA if necessary or advantageous to do so.

Most of all, try not to take being laid off personally. Work on keeping a positive attitude and taking care of yourself.

View Comments (4)
  • Thank you for addressing the psychology of getting laidoff. Your advice on continuing exercise after a layoff is very sound. This was very well written.

  • Sound advice. Only thing I’d like to point out is that it’s not a bad idea to adopt a “consultant’s” habit: update your resume every 3 months. Even if you’re positive you’ll be employed forever (and we all know how well that worked out for so many), it’s a good exercise. And please, visit some job sites that explain how to write a proper resume. It is the first thing (after the cover letter) your potentially new employer will see. It is so important, I can’t stress it enough.

    Also, you touch upon it a little, but having a good daily routine will help a lot. Don’t drive yourself crazy thinking you should spend 8 hours a day full time looking for work. 4 hours is more than enough to visit all the job sites, do some research, etc. Spend the other 4 hours doing all the things around the house that you haven’t had time to do. It’ll give you a much-needed sense of accomplishment without feeling guilty about not spending more time job-hunting. If possible, try to expand your skills during those times you’re not looking for work by visiting websites discussing how to program websites, how to quilt, how to create macros in Excel, etc. There are a lot of free resources out there.

  • Good tips, layoffs are extremely tough to deal with, but could be spun as new opportunities in other areas. Evaluate situation and see options.

  • Great post — a few thoughts of my own:

    1) About staying in touch — online sites like LinkedIn are great, but I’ve also found that unemployment social networks are a great way to keep your pulse on what other people are doing in the job search world. Its nice to know where people are finding success, and also good to network with people that don’t have jobs. At the very least, its a good place to go with any general questions you have about the process or when you need encouragement.

    2) Regarding your severance and termination agreements – they will want you to sign an agreement that states what you can and can’t do with regards to competitors, old customers, etc before you can begin getting your severance. READ THIS CLOSELY, especially if you are planning on finding a new job in the same field. Might even be worthwhile to have a lawyer check it out, especially if you have a decent amount of severance riding on it.

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