Surviving Job Loss
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Mergers, acquisitions and a competitive and constantly evolving marketplace can often prompt organisations to implement reshuffling, restructuring or downsizing initiatives, which unfortunately results in staff layoffs.
The one job for life principle rarely exists in today’s workplace, with workers told to expect at least 3, 4 or even more job and career changes throughout their working lives, whether voluntary (through their own choice) or involuntary (through corporate downsizing and staff redundancies).
Whether you have been downsized, are among those who have received redundancy packages, or have been dismissed from your employer, losing your job can be a traumatic experience. In fact due to the significant levels of stress that job loss can cause and the resultant profound impact on your emotional wellbeing, it is rated among other life-altering situations such as death of a family member, serious illness and divorce.
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Here are four steps to support you in surviving job loss.
Reflect – Why me?
The loss of one’s job can have a significant effect on your emotional state and trying to move forward without dealing with arising feelings and emotions can make your job search quite difficult.
With any change comes loss, and as with any loss you may also experience varying degrees of grief and sadness. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (a psychiatrist) undertook extensive research on the topic of loss and identified five stages that people go through after experiencing loss, which can also be applied to someone who has experienced job loss.
Denial (and Isolation): “They’re going to call me back when they realise just how much I contributed to their organisation.” “They can’t do without me, just you wait and see.”
Anger: “It’s all the manager’s/company’s fault.” “I gave them 10 years of my life and for what – I am furious at them.” “They owe me. I’ll show them, just you wait and see.”
Depression/Low self-esteem (self-blame): where people say, “If only….” “It’s my entire fault; I should have seen it coming.” “I’m never going to be able to find another job.” “I don’t know what else to do besides that job. I don’t have any other skills.” “I’m worthless; I really don’t feel like getting out of bed.” “At my age, how am I going to get another position with all those younger job seekers in the job market?”
Struggle: “I suppose that I have to face the reality that I may have to lower my expectations.” “I’ve not been able to find a role that will pay the same as I was getting before.” “All the jobs in that field are extremely rare so I may have to look at another industry.” “I’m trying to maintain a positive outlook – but it is difficult.” “I am sometimes at a loss about what I am going to do.”
Acceptance (New Hope): “What can I learn from this experience?” “I am ready to accept the facts as they really are and am ready to move forward.” “My old position is not there. However I have excellent skills, competencies and talents that can add value to an employer. I’ll find an opportunity that may be even better than my last position.”
It is important to understand that this cycle is not linear and therefore does not mean that you have to experience the first stage before going onto the next. Everyone’s experience is different – you may not experience the denial stage however be angry at the company’s decision to let you go, and then move into struggle stage as you begin to weigh up your options, then onto acceptance and new hope. So while these are the general stages of the grief and loss process everyone’s experience can be quite different in comparison to others’ experience of the five stages.
Job loss can also bring about other losses, such as changes to income, to your lifestyle, changes to your personal and collegial relationships and your sense of security.
One of the things that you have to realise is that you are not the only person who is experiencing change and therefore losses, but that this is also impacting those close to you, such as your family. So it’s important to foster open lines of communication so that everyone feels heard and appreciated, and that you can be a support for one another.
Evaluate – What now?
While it is important that you allow yourself time to grieve over the loss of your job, it is also important to consider how you are going to more forward, particularly in relation to your future career choices.
- Do you want to remain in the industry or is this industry in general going through significant changes prompting other workers to be downsized?
- Do you want to continue to perform the same role, or would you prefer a complete role and career change?
- If you do prefer a complete change, what do you prefer to target instead?
- You may consider undergoing further professional or personal development to enhance your skills and knowledge.
Some people - and this may be true for you - can experience almost a sense of relief as they weren’t really happy or really fulfilled in the role, with this now providing an opportunity to change their career direction, undertaking additional study, part-time work, or perhaps even self-employment.
Prepare – What do I need to do?
Update your résumé
Gone are the days of a tasked-based résumé with an inventory of a position’s responsibilities, coupled with a standard (and boring) list of personal aptitudes. This has been replaced with an achievement /accomplishment-driven document that depicts you as a proactive candidate who demands results and demonstrates the significant value on offer to the organisation.
Your résumé is your initial handshake and must therefore not be second-guessed, so the aim is to demonstrate your ability to fulfil their requirements and to build an interest in the benefits and value you bring to the organisation. Strive toward developing a document that will motivate the reader into action by requesting an interview.
Practice your interviewing skills
Preparing for and practicing your interviewing skills is vital - particularly on how to answer the question, “Why did you leave your previous role”. If you are still feeling bitter towards your previous employer it is important that this does not come through in your interview, particularly if you are questioned about your previous employer. Negative comments about how unprofessional an organisation they are will not come across well to an interviewer, so it is important that you consider how best to respond to any potential questions about your previous place of employment that will support your application rather than hinder it.
Activate your circle of influence
Your network is a valuable resource and building/nurturing your network should already be an important part of your career management plan. Now is the time to reconnect with your network to let them know you in the job market.
Ensure your job search plan incorporates multiple methods
This includes responding to advertisements, recruitment agents, direct contact with potential companies, and most important of all – networking. Considering that between 70-80% of job opportunities are never advertised it is important to activate your contacts in order to seek out these unadvertised job opportunities thus positioning yourself in front of key decision makers.
Develop your personal promotional statement
This is a powerful response which can be used in networking events and in response to that question “Why should I hire you?”
How you respond to that question can either pique the other person’s interest with an invitation to tell them more OR it can be an absolute failure allowing no further opportunity for discussion.
For instance, here are two examples of the same person. Imagine that I’ve just been asked “What do you do for a living?”
“I support my clients in maximising their returns so that they can be confident of living comfortably during their retirement years. In fact one of my clients recently quadrupled his initial investment and is now cruising on his 20ft luxury yacht somewhere in the Caribbean.”
Or I could say:
“I’m an investment broker specialising in retirement plans.”
Q: Which do you think has more kick in it, is more compelling and could invite further interest and questioning? Who would like to comment?
Q: And why do you think that?
Exactly, because the first example incorporates the WIIFM factor. Who doesn’t want to live comfortably in their retirement years, or want to quadruple their money, or want to sail off into the sunset on their luxury yacht?
Implement – How do I get there?
Write down your goals
Studies have proven that only 3% of people take the time to write down their goals. If you are not among this 3%, then I strongly encourage you to begin writing down your goals and planned action steps to achieve them.
Here is a previous article on how to establish powerful goals.
Get an accountability partner
Establish a strong support system to sustain you during difficult times. Having support will allow you to overcome any obstacles and challenges that may arise.
Establishing and securing your career goals will largely depend on you, and can be impacted (both positively and negatively) on your attitude, drive and overall level of commitment.
Here are some additional steps to keep you focused and motivated towards securing new employment.
- Keep track of your progress as this should motivate you to continue charging on toward your goal.
- Remember to give yourself a big pat on the back. You may consider establishing a reward system along the way.
All the very best!
Till next fortnight!
To your success!
Annemarie
I’ve been attending various networking events over the past few weeks and have not been surprised at all by the number of people commenting how tired they are of hearing about the ‘doom and gloom’ about the economy and the job market in the media. I have to agree. 
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