Breaking News

Saturday, June 25, 2016

I Lost My Job - What Do I Do?


The first and most important thing is to understand and firmly believe that this isn’t really about you. It’s not personal – it really isn’t – but it may be hard for you to accept that at first.


This situation has arisen because your company is insecure, it’s owners/bosses/senior managers are uncertain about the company’s future, they feel the company is not strong within its market in the current world economic downturn. It could also have something to do with your salary – you cost too much and your bosses think they can replace you by chopping up your workload and adding it to other people’s tasks. But it’s not you – the person.


You’re simply part of the fall-out from a decision your bosses have made. Your name won’t have come up because of who you are. Bosses talk about roles not names – it makes laying people off easier for them. It’s very impersonal but, people become the function they fulfilled at work. What’s important for you is that you believe it’s not personal because you’ll find it much harder to recover if you don’t and that won’t help you one bit.


You haven’t changed at all, you still have the great skills and valuable abilities. In fact, you now have additional life experiences which bring with them even more skills – now you know how it is to lose your job and that can help in the future.


What should you do? Firstly, don’t panic. You have to think hard and work out a strategy to manage over the next few months. If you’re desperate, take any job you can get – right now – to bring in some money and to give you the time you need to think. Find a job which doesn’t mean you’re worn out at the end of every day so worn out, all you can do is crash out when you get home. It would be useful if the work is routine and doesn’t totally absorb you to enable you to continue to think about other things.


This truly is a time of opportunity. You won’t think so right now but so many people who have been in this situation before you, look back and say it was the best thing that happened to them but that’s not easy to see at the moment.


What do you enjoy? What do you want to do? What have you been told you were valued for in previous jobs? What you WANT to do is the most important thing.


One strategy is to consider what can you offer other companies and the people being directly affected by the downturn.


We know of one manager – G – whose company went bankrupt. He’d been with them 7 years. He was told on the 24th of a month that he wouldn’t get paid on the 28th and there would be no more money from the company. They had no money and had huge debts. He got to work as usual at 8:30 am on the 24th and at 9:30am he got told the news. He was asked for his company cell phone and keys for his company car and at 10am he was on a bus on his way home.


He was devastated and in panic. His mortgage payments came out of his bank account on the 1st of every month and he had a wife at home looking after their 10 month old child.


He did everything he could to get him through the coming month.


It was real hard to ask, but he and his wife M, asked their parents and relatives for help with paying the mortgage for the coming 2 months. Between them, they got the money and their family will be repaid as soon as possible.


Next, G and M sorted out all their unwanted/un-needed/could-do-without items – baby equipment, baby clothes, garden furniture, i-pod, bread maker, 2nd TV and a whole bunch of other stuff and they sold them on eBay – that got them instant cash – enough for food for 2 months if they trimmed down and some money towards their utility bills.


One mom suggested she give now to G, M and the baby, the money she would have spent on their birthday and Christmas gifts. G and M put sentimentality aside and accepted – the baby would never know he’s had a car payment for a combined Christmas and first birthday gift. They asked the same of their other parents and the relations who usually bought them gifts. Family were glad to be able to help in a practical way that wasn’t embarrassing to anyone.


G took a 4 day a week driving job and that covered the rest of the known expenses.


1 of the other 3 days a week, G took care of his baby son while M worked at a local store. It helped M to feel she was contributing and it got her out of the home and away from the worry for a day. G enjoyed his son and it cheered G up to play and care for his son.


The remaining 2 days of the week G worked hard at thinking about his future, doing a thorough job search, applying for jobs and deciding what to do next.


Every evening they went for a walk as a family – just half an hour – to the park or around the block and they deliberately talked about fun things and great things to look forward to – a holiday they would take in a couple of years when things were good, what they would do for Christmas 2 years from now when the baby would be 3 years old.


You do whatever you have to do and you do it immediately. Don’t feel sorry for yourself for more than a day. It’s about survival. If you work at it, it won’t last long.


What emerged for G was a decision to go into business for himself and he’s now 6 months into building his own company. He’s working for clients who were let down when his original company went bankrupt. Those clients were left high and dry and needed help – G jumped in. He had the knowledge, the expertise and the contacts. Just last month he had so much work, he had to employ a former co-worker to help him keep up with the new work he was getting.


He’s working harder than he’s ever worked before but it’s all for him and his family. Sometimes it’s tough on M and the baby but for now G works from home and there are bonuses to that – he sees his family a lot more. He has to be very strict with himself and not get sidetracked into domestic things but G and M are working together as a team to get them through the coming year.




Designed By