If you’ve experienced job loss or inlay after due to economic conditions with me, you’re not alone. As companies downsize and face the decisions to cut their costs and eliminate positions, anyone can be affected. Whether you’re a professional musician with a day job between gigs or were a career-minded individual, getting laid off still hurts. If it does happen to you, here are a few things you can do to ameliorate the problem and get back on your feet quickly.
Revive Your Resume
If it’s been a while since the last time, you dusted off your resume, then now is the ideal time to revisit and revamp it. The job market can be quite competitive in any field. Therefore, it’s vital to make your resume stand out. Make sure you customize the resume to the job you want to get in the industry in which you’re applying. Do not include unnecessary or extraneous information in your resume and it’s best not to lie or pad the resume in any way. Finally, you should try to keep it short and sweet. Focus on important career and experience stats instead of education for half. In this manner, you’re demonstrating you are qualified for the job and get straight to the point. Recruiters really like that. One of the services offered by outplacement agencies (more on those later in this piece) is a way to help you tweak and tailor your resume to the position you want – and to help it get past the automated resume parsing system some companies use to sort incoming resumes. That way, a recruiter will look at yours instead of sorting it to the slush pile.
Apply For Unemployment Benefits
Every company pays some form of unemployment insurance on its employees. When people are let go without cause, they are usually able to apply to receive those benefits. In the United States, the typical payout is supposed to replace approximately half of a worker’s wage (although this isn’t always the case) for up to 26 weeks while they look for a new job. Contrast that with Australia’s system, where everything is calculated based on your personal situation instead of previous earnings. Regardless of where you are, taking advantage of this resource during a tough time is useful for getting back on your feet as you seek new employment.
Use An Outplacement Service
If your former employer included outplacement services in your severance package, now is the time to take full advantage of the services they offer. Modern outplacement services are poised to help job seekers find new employment, often in the same field, very fast. do a mix of modern technology and the human touch, these services are a boon to anyone who has recently experienced a job loss or a recent lay-off. Here are a few of the ways these services can help you:
Outplacement is a safety net of sorts that you should absolutely use to its full potential.
Find Ways to Budget
When funds are tight and the guarantee of a paycheck isn’t forthcoming, it’s a good idea to try to find ways to stretch your budget. Try to allocate any severance or unemployment funds to the essential things like rent, insurance, and groceries. Then sit down with your family to discuss your plan. Start by trimming any unnecessary or superfluous expenses. That extra subscription you have? Maybe consider dropping it for a while. Avoid dining out. Focus on food, shelter, utilities, and transportation. See if there is a way to pause some payments and if you have an emergency fund, you can use it as a last resort to help cover expenses. If you have any severance or unemployment funds, you should use those before tapping into an emergency fund. Ultimately, try to see it as a temporary situation and do the best you can to hang in there while trying to find new employment.
Don’t Panic
At the risk of sounding like the latest edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the best advice anyone can offer is simply: don’t panic. Side hustles and gig work might be a viable option while you wait for the outplacement service to help you. The best thing to do is think about things and avoid wallowing in stress or depression. Job losses are often accompanied by negative emotions, a feeling of lost control/security, and plenty of stress. These are all perfectly natural, but it’s best to think of it as a temporary setback as you try to find new work. Use the resources outplacement provides and any other resources you can to help yourself get back on your feet in no time.
