How to Survive a Layoff

Every time I tune my TV to the news (my favorite news channel is CNN) someone is commenting on the economy and the total number of job losses. It's depressing news and I can empathize with those who are out of work. It triggers a time when I was laid off during a recession period in 2001.

I was seeking a career with a company that would have a strong business plan and provided an unique service to consumers. I found my ideal company 20 minutes from home. It was a start up company that was in business 2 years prior to me joining. The company offered resume writing, job search and job placement services to people who were long termed unemployed or laid off. Goal -- get people back to work. My recruiting experience and background was a perfect fit.

It was the summer of 2001. It was a Friday and I wanted to get an early start on the day. I arrived at work an hour before anyone else. Activity during the day was normal. It was also payday. All of us were looking forward to getting paid before going into the weekend. As he normally did the President of the company had our payroll checks prepared in the morning and would come by our desk with our checks right after everyone came back from lunch. He would always spend a few minutes talking with each employee (only 7). It was his 1:1 connect time with his staff. But the conversation on this day was different. We got the news that the company would be closing it's doors (going out of business) at the end of the day. Talk about a shock! No one saw it coming. We were instructed to contact every one of our clients before the end of the day and inform them that the business was closing due to lack of funding. We were about to find ourselves in the same population as our clients. Our clients relied on us for support and assistance in getting back to work. How ironic and weird!

I collected unemployment insurance for 3 months while looking for work everyday. I got up every day the same time I did when I was working and I focused on finding my next career. I planned my day and I was deliberate in executing my plan.

1. I would get up every morning confident I would find another job. I kept reminding myself that I have skills!
2. I started my job search the following Monday. If you can afford to take a couple of days off before searching use that time to rest, refocus your energy, reassess your career goals and strategize your search.
3. I made a list of targeted companies, searched their career sites for openings and tailored my resume to fit the opened position(s).
4. Not only did I post my resume to national job boards like Careerbuilder, Monster, and Yahoo!Hotjobs but I also subscribed to their email alerts so openings would come to me.
5. I contacted my references let them know that I was back in the job market and that I was counting on them. I provided them with a copy of my resume.
6. I asked my ex-boss to write a recommendation letter that also explained why the job loss occurred and how it was not my fault.
7. I practiced my interviewing everyday to keep my confidence level up.
8. I applied to temp positions. Sometimes they can lead to a permanent position.
9. I filled out at least 5 applications per day and/or passed out 5 resumes per day.
10. I attended local job fairs with a list of companies that I wanted to target. I arrived before the doors opened. My strategy was to speak with the recruiters/hiring managers before they were bombarded by other applicants. Having attended hundreds of career fairs as a recruiter I could remember how drained I was after 2 hours into the event. I made it a point to stop by the booths of those companies I was interested in before I left the fair.
11. Network - I was always networking. If I shopping, getting my car repaired, or eating at a restaurant I was always asking people if they knew of anyone needing my skill sets.
12. Newspaper - I did not limit my search to the classifieds. I searched the Business News section and (this may sound morbid) the obituaries. Sometimes I would find job leads.

My plan paid off. I secured a job in the first week of September the same year. And I successfully negotiated my salary increasing it 50% more than my previous salary.
I shared some methods that I would agree sound desperate but these are dire times. You must have a creative and aggressive job search plan in order to secure a job in these volatile times. And just as important you must keep your chin up and stay positive.

If you decide to use any of these methods please come back and post your success so others can benefit.