Dealing with Job Loss

“Oh, my friend, it’s not what they take away from you that counts. It’s what you do with what you have left.” – Hubert Humphrey, 38th Vice President of the United States

Job loss is not easy to deal with. Whether you knew it was going to happen or you were surprised. My post “I Lost My Job, Now What” covers the stages (which are similar to losing a loved one) as well as what to do first. And while somewhat of a cliche, it is very much like falling off of a horse. Once you’ve get past the pain, it’s time to get back in the saddle. One more cliche, but there is truth to it – when you are out of work, looking for a new job is your job. It is very easy to do the 100 other things there are to do rather than looking for a job, but you must focus your efforts on the future. In a slightly different order than my post referenced at the beginning of this paragraph, some links to Next Steps.

Make a Plan:
- How to Create a Job Search Action Plan – A great article from About.com
- Writing a Career Action Plan – Another great article from About.com with additional links at the bottom of the page.

Positive Attitude:
- The Silver Lining of Losing Your Job – A very good article from dreamthisday.com
- Maintaining a Positive Attitude in the Face of Disappointment – Keep your chin up, from hotjobs.com

Resumes – If you don’t already have an updated resume, now is the time. If you do have one, time to update.
- HOW TO BUILD A BETTER RÉSUMÉ – 10 Rules Professional Résumé Writers (Almost) Always Follow – This article, provided by Careerdirectors.com, provides 10 tips for your resume writing. This is a short and concise list and is definitely worth the read. Some of these tips/questions (such as #1 – “Is your format attractive”) are hard to answer without seeing what others are doing (so I’ve provided a link below for examples), but this basic list is a great place to start in the evaluation of your resume.
- Resume Examples – from resume-resource.com

Cover Letters:
- How to Write a Cover Letter – This article is provided by wikiHow.com
- Cover Letter Samples for Resumes – No “how to” link would be complete if there was not at least one reference to advice from About.com.

Business Social Networks:
- LinkedIn – THE business social network.
- 20 Social Networking Sites for Business Professionals – In case you need more

Good luck in your search.