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Job Loss Survival Kit

9 Essential Actions to Restore Your Cash Flow

by Suzann Kale

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Instead of panicking or hosting a hurricane party, we're going to get right back to work - without missing a beat. And our new work is full-time: it's finding a new job. There will be no sleeping in.

1. Get Back Up On the Horse

Before you even sit down to think, get up, get dressed, and go to a local face-to-face networking meeting. It might be a happy hour, a power breakfast, or a general meet and greet. what to do if you lose your job Even if you've never been to one before, go to one today. Find the networking groups in your local newspaper, on the website of a local paper or tv station, through Googling and following links, or by calling friends, acquaintances, ex-bosses and colleagues, and getting the times and locations. Obviously you want to go to a free group, because you're just doing emergency bridge-building for now, but the good news is many of the happy hour type groups are totally free. Call first, if you can, to let them know you're coming. If you can't contact them, just show up.

Why such an immediate push to rush back out into the cruel world that just lost you your job? Because you want to get in the habit of meeting new people, working full-time on getting a new job, seeing what opportunities are out there in what fields, and opening your mind to new possibilities. Going to a face-to-face networking group will also get rid of any latent shyness or social discomfort right from the start, so that won't be an issue later on when you're doing serious job interviews or meeting people crucial to your career. Think of networking as practice in a)getting out there, b)taking yourself and your goals seriously, and c)working out any social problems you may have.

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To Do: Any time you meet someone new, follow it up within 24-hours with a nice-to-meet-you card or email.

2. Serious Internet Networking

If you haven't already, join a national group that represents your skills, and put at least half an hour to an hour a day into their forum. This way you will get your name and skills known. Don't spread yourself too thin by joining too many groups. You have to join one or two important groups and saturate them with your knowledge and helpfulness.

3. Make 3 Versions of Your Resume

Have 2 or 3 versions of your resume updated, printed out, and ready to be sent either by snail mail, email, or through a company's website job application page.

Why 3 versions? The idea is to have each version stress a different aspect of your work career. You need as many resume versions as you have aspects to your skill sets. If they're ready to go, you don't have to angst out every time a company has an opening in something you could do but perhaps haven't done yet.

Here's what I mean. Sondra was a software engineer for a video game company before she got laid off. Her three resume titles are: Video Software Engineer, Video Game Designer, and Project Manager. She also wrote up three more resumes for jobs outside of her field, but for which she had the skills. They were 1) a software developer, 2) a software tool developer, and 3) a position in a graphics design company.

4. Look at Your Cross Skills

Can you create a career or get a job doing something else with the skills you have? Sondra might consider going into web design and creation. She might look into being a programmer for an advertising agency. A receptionist at a brokerage firm who is laid off might consider taking a crash course in day trading, or she could apply for receptionist positions at legal offices or building contractors. She might have the skills to go into secretarial work, and if so she'd have a resume written up for that.

Continue to page 2 of Job Loss Survival Kit