Perhaps the most important thing when we lose our jobs is to maintain a good attitude. Okay that is easier said than done when you are worried about how to pay the mortgage, car payment, and of course feed the family. It is normal to feel worried about these things however, we may have lost our jobs but we still have an important job to do, find a new job.
It is okay to take a week off when we lose our jobs in order to get our thoughts together. During this week, you should file for unemployment and apply for temporary work to get some cash coming in. I also recommend depositing any severance money received into savings as you may need it later on.
After our week of grieving, you need to start your new job. I recommend getting up at the time you were accustomed to when you were working. That is unless you worked night shift or graveyard, in which case I recommend getting up at 6 AM. You should also maintain your normal routine such as showering, eating breakfast, exercising, or anything else you were accustomed to doing when working.
It is now time to get to work. Your duties now include conducting research to find job leads, applying for jobs, following up on applications, interviewing, following up on interviews, and finally finding that new job. During the next few weeks I will be giving guidance on how to be more effective in each of these duties.
I recommend using a planner of some kind to schedule time for each of these duties. Ideally, you should spend as much, or more, looking for work as you did when working. Writing these items on a planner also lets you see that you are doing something positive each day towards finding employment.
Finally, you need to find a coach, cheerleader, and supervisor who you can trust. This may be a spouse, relative, close friend or former co-worker. Since your new job does not have a supervisor, you need to seek out someone who will keep you motivated, accountable, and positive during this challenging time in your life. The only thing that will keep you from finding a new job is if you quit your new job. This is one job that you cannot afford to quit so find someone to talk you out of quitting should you ever consider it.
I hope these few words will give you some encouragement. I am praying for each of you that your job search will be productive. I am also looking forward to sharing some tips in the next few weeks that will make you more effective and give you an edge during your job search. May God bless each one of you.
Commentary
This week I heard an economist that was excited about the jobless recovery we were experiencing. His recovery was because Wall Street was up over the month of April. The fallacy in his opinion is that Wall Street is not Main Street.
What the economy needs is a sustainable recovery. However, you cannot have a sustainable recovery without jobs. Sustainable economic recovery only happens with increased economic activity. Wall Street may be increasing but Main Street is not, leading to the continued loss of jobs and shrinking of the GDP.
Unemployed people do not have money to spend. As the economy continues to lose jobs there are fewer people with money to spend. As economic activity continues to decline, more jobs will be lost. This vicious cycle will only stop when the government stops its present policy of bailouts and nationalizing of industries like the auto industry and cuts it’s spending and taxes putting more money in the hands of individuals and businesses. This additional money will start increasing economic activity causing businesses to begin hiring back people they have laid-off.
What we need is a recovery on Main Street!!
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