Dealing with Job Loss: A Guide to Navigating Financial & Emotional Turmoil

Imagine this. You study well in college, graduate, and then land your dream job. You love everything about your job. You love the perks, the colleagues, the travels, and the meetings.

Every day, you dedicate your life to this company. You wake up early and arrive at your desk before everyone else. In your conversations, you only have the best things to say about the company.

Then, one day, you receive a letter that we all hate. The company has decided to end your contract. Broken, you rush to your boss for an explanation. ‘It must be a mistake!’, you shout.

No one loves losing a job. Other than death, it is probably the toughest phase in a person’s life.

Sadly, it happens all the time. How then are you supposed to move on?

File for Unemployment Benefits

If you lose your job because of no fault of your own, you should start by filing for unemployment benefits through the Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program.

If you are eligible, you will receive a small amount of money every month to help you start afresh. Of course, this money will be less than your usual salary, but it will be worth it.

Reflect

After losing your job, you should sit down and reflect. Was it because of your poor job performance? Because of your poor relationships with people? Or was it because you were adding no value to the company?

Or was it because the company was under performing?
Taking time to reflect will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses. If you were let go because of your poor performance, find ways to boost your skills. If the company was experiencing challenges, focus on your next job.

Rewrite Your Resume

You probably have your old resume that got you your previous job. Throw it away.

Times have changed, and recruiters have changed their approach to hiring. Your old resume will not get you another job.
Instead, you should start writing your resume from scratch. It should showcase your skills, experience, and educational qualifications.

You can either decide to write down the resume yourself or to subcontract a firm to do it for you. Regardless of the method you use, I recommend that you share your resume with former colleagues or friends. They will give you an honest opinion on the document and highlight areas you can improve. Additionally, you should redo your LinkedIn profile.

Here are the tips you should use when creating your profile:
Make your profile 100% complete.
Add a nice professional photo.
Update your Linkedin status regularly.
Request recommendations from past colleagues.
List all skills relevant to your job.
Write a clear description about your past experiences.

Send Applications

After perfecting your resume and LinkedIn profiles, you should now start making new job applications. Sadly, this is a boring job, but one that you must do if you want to find a new job.

To do this, I recommend that you go directly to the career section of the websites of the companies you desire to work for. After doing this, you can now use the popular job directory websites like Indeed and Monster to find new leads.

Next, you should touch base with your past networks. These are people you met while working in the previous company. There is a likelihood that such people could be better placed to show you fresh leads for a new job.

Finally, you should do your best to grow your network. An excellent way to do this is to attend conferences in your industry. In these conferences, you can meet and talk to senior executives who you have no access to without an appointment.

Adjust your Budget

Now that you are unemployed, you must adjust your spending. If you live in a $3000 a month house, you can move to a less expensive one. If you have several cars, you can sell them and remain with one. If you are used to dining in expensive hotels, it is time to cook at home.

Adjusting your budget is always going to be a hard thing. However, it is worth it because you want to do your best to avoid going into debt.

Find Gigs to Do

We live in very good times where you can easily make money by renting your spare room to strangers, transcribing, answering simple trivia questions, selling handcrafts through Etsy, and driving for Uber.

Here are a few other ways you can make money:
Social media marketing and software design using Upwork.
Starting a YouTube video channel.
Starting a blog.
Drop Shipping.
Graphic Design using DesignCrowd.
Financial research using Seeking Alpha.
Writing stories using Medium.
Answering surveys through Inbox Dollars.

Start a Business

As an employee, you likely had the desire to start a company but never had the guts to do it. Losing your job can be the fire that you need to start your business.

To do this, I recommend that you:
Start a company that interests you.
Have a solid business plan.
Start small.
Create a good team.
Don’t give up if the businesses make no sales or when you are discouraged.

Without a doubt, losing a job is always discouraging. However, I believe that nothing in life happens without a reason. In fact, some of the most successful people in business like JK Rowling, Oprah Winfrey, Katie Walsh, and Anna Wintour have attributed their success to the jobs they lost.

Clearly, this is a dark period in your life, but don’t let it distress you. Always believe in yourself, have faith, and let the job loss be the fire that propels you to success.