Lost My Job Now What?
I’ve Lost My Job, Now What?
Patrick Summers
Suffering the loss of employment can be one of the most emotional experiences that one has to endure. Most experience a range of emotions from anger to embarrassment in accepting the news.
In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a Swiss-American psychiatrist and a pioneer in near-death studies, published her theory of the five stages of grief which became known as DABDA (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance). She later expanded her model to include any form of personal loss, such as the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship or divorce and the loss of a job.
She noted later in life that not everyone experienced these stages linearly, and some people might not experience them at all and that she regretted writing them in a way that was misunderstood. But she theorized that these five are a collation of five common experiences for the bereaved that can occur in any order and that most of us experience some version of them when faced with a life changing event.
But outside of one’s personal dealing with some form of DABDA there is a financial trauma that can come with the loss of employment that can lead to severe financial hardship. DABDA is theoretical but one’s financial resources are finite and defined on our savings, retirement and investment account statements.
If you are lucky enough to receive a severance package then the effects may be limited. Unemployment is not enough to offset most workers expenses and is limited to 26 weeks so obviously the goal is to replace your income before you run out of money and have to dig into your savings as replacing those savings will be hard to accomplish.
Unfortunately many US worker can’t or don’t save for the proverbial “rainy day”, so their safety net isn’t in place. In support of this challenge let’s look at where the typical US worker is when it comes to savings.
In early 2016 the Springleaf Financial Strength Survey of 2,010 US consumers showed that a full 43 percent of US households would not be able to pay their bills if they went one month without a paycheck. Essentially they were living on the verge of poverty with no savings.
Other findings from the poll reflected a very troubling situation and included:
• 26 percent admitted that they did not save money or rarely save money.
• 24 percent acknowledged they have less than $250 left in their bank account at the end of the pay period.
• 10 percent said they had less than $50 left by the time payday rolls around.
• 27 percent of those respondents with graduate degrees admitted they would have to sell property or borrow money to pay bills if they missed one paycheck.
Now let’s take a look at the strength of the labor market as reflected by the September 2016 employment statistics calculated by the United States Department of Labor. The U-3 unemployment number, which is accepted as the official unemployment number stood at 4.9% in October 2016 or an estimated 5+ million people out of work. But the U-6 unemployment number, which has been in the double digit range from June 2008 through September 2015, stood at 9.5% as for the same month.
The significance of the U-6 number is that it counts not only people who are without work seeking full-time employment, but also counts those working part-time. Some of these part-time workers counted as employed by U-3 could be working as little as an hour a week. The "marginally attached workers" include those who have gotten discouraged and stopped looking, but still want to work.
The U-6 number means that there could be potentially tens of millions of US workers out of work not the 5+ million as reported by U-3 and will have a major impact on your chances of finding another job or one that matches your previous rate of pay.
By combining saving habits with the current unemployment statistics one can see how devastating a loss of a job can truly be. So what are your options?
Whatever form of DABDA you experience, hopefully just the Acceptance part, start your job search immediately. Don’t feel that you deserve a short vacation and count on a severance package (as those are highly taxed on payout) or unemployment benefits. The sooner you get started on the search the less your situation will have on you emotionally and financially.
There are several different support systems that can be utilized with a varying level of success. Employment websites, recruiters, job placement centers, job fairs, unemployment offices, career consultants, resume writers the list of options varies.
The World Wide Web allowed us to plow and seed our job seeking efforts from the comfort of our living room, coffee house or wherever and we have responded by using that platform more than any other tool.
It has been estimated that upwards of 80% of todays job seekers use employment websites as their number one search platform. Obviously the U-6 number means that there are potentially far more people vying for and submitting applications than the number of jobs available.
Consider the challenges that today’s Employment Resource Departments face when they receive hundreds of resumes and inquiries for a single job. There isn’t enough time to thoroughly review and distinguish those that should be considered from all of the applications received. Many qualified applicants don’t even get an opportunity to get an interview do to the sheer number of respondents.
The recruiter platform doesn’t provide the same level of support that it once did. I conducted a research project and contacted several recruiters to discuss how they separate what would be considered valued applicants. I was surprised to learn that due to the number of job seeking inquiries received they may accept your resume but do not make it a practice to schedule a face to face or even a telephone interview with you. As a practice your resume is placed into a database with everyone else. When an opportunity arises that matches up with your abilities and experiences you may hear from them.
Now some individuals write better than others and some individuals present themselves better than others. Not to disrespect any screenwriters but how many screenwriters do you see on the late night talk show circuit? Actors present while screenwriters create. So if a recruiter can’t meet or speak with you letting you separate yourself from the rest of their applicants, how can they match you up with an opportunity?
The job fair circuit allows you to place yourself in a room of talent managers and if you are looking for a franchise or entry level position these are an option but not for those looking for mid to upper management careers.
Unemployment offices are just posting sites for the government. Career consultants and resume writers, while offering professional support, can only get you ready they can’t find you a job.
The most promising option and the one that is considered to be the single most effective way to find a job is networking or the process of building positive, advantageous relationships, either by making a connection with someone in person or online.
But approaching the networking platform needs to be done strategically. Most people don’t want to be asked directly if they can help you get a job. Most can’t and will typically avoid the commitment out of fear of failure. It is better to state your need and ask someone for their advice on what you should do. Most people want to feel needed and are ready to assist if they can. From that point they may introduce you to someone that can be that important connection.
If you decide to network than you need to view every aspect of your life as an opportunity to make that one important connection that leads to employment. Whether it’s family, friends or neighbors, your place of worship, your kid’s school, social clubs, team sports or volunteer work you have to be ready to institute the effort to ask for advice whenever available. There are plenty of websites and consultants that can assist in preparing oneself for the implementation of this platform strategy but it really is pretty basic.
Unfortunately you don’t want be the one that everyone avoids because you appear to only want the connection not the association so tread lightly. Everyone is capable of networking but networking isn’t for everyone.
Patrick Summers is a contributing writer for JoblessandFaceless.com
Patrick Summers
Suffering the loss of employment can be one of the most emotional experiences that one has to endure. Most experience a range of emotions from anger to embarrassment in accepting the news.
In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a Swiss-American psychiatrist and a pioneer in near-death studies, published her theory of the five stages of grief which became known as DABDA (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance). She later expanded her model to include any form of personal loss, such as the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship or divorce and the loss of a job.
She noted later in life that not everyone experienced these stages linearly, and some people might not experience them at all and that she regretted writing them in a way that was misunderstood. But she theorized that these five are a collation of five common experiences for the bereaved that can occur in any order and that most of us experience some version of them when faced with a life changing event.
But outside of one’s personal dealing with some form of DABDA there is a financial trauma that can come with the loss of employment that can lead to severe financial hardship. DABDA is theoretical but one’s financial resources are finite and defined on our savings, retirement and investment account statements.
If you are lucky enough to receive a severance package then the effects may be limited. Unemployment is not enough to offset most workers expenses and is limited to 26 weeks so obviously the goal is to replace your income before you run out of money and have to dig into your savings as replacing those savings will be hard to accomplish.
Unfortunately many US worker can’t or don’t save for the proverbial “rainy day”, so their safety net isn’t in place. In support of this challenge let’s look at where the typical US worker is when it comes to savings.
In early 2016 the Springleaf Financial Strength Survey of 2,010 US consumers showed that a full 43 percent of US households would not be able to pay their bills if they went one month without a paycheck. Essentially they were living on the verge of poverty with no savings.
Other findings from the poll reflected a very troubling situation and included:
• 26 percent admitted that they did not save money or rarely save money.
• 24 percent acknowledged they have less than $250 left in their bank account at the end of the pay period.
• 10 percent said they had less than $50 left by the time payday rolls around.
• 27 percent of those respondents with graduate degrees admitted they would have to sell property or borrow money to pay bills if they missed one paycheck.
Now let’s take a look at the strength of the labor market as reflected by the September 2016 employment statistics calculated by the United States Department of Labor. The U-3 unemployment number, which is accepted as the official unemployment number stood at 4.9% in October 2016 or an estimated 5+ million people out of work. But the U-6 unemployment number, which has been in the double digit range from June 2008 through September 2015, stood at 9.5% as for the same month.
The significance of the U-6 number is that it counts not only people who are without work seeking full-time employment, but also counts those working part-time. Some of these part-time workers counted as employed by U-3 could be working as little as an hour a week. The "marginally attached workers" include those who have gotten discouraged and stopped looking, but still want to work.
The U-6 number means that there could be potentially tens of millions of US workers out of work not the 5+ million as reported by U-3 and will have a major impact on your chances of finding another job or one that matches your previous rate of pay.
By combining saving habits with the current unemployment statistics one can see how devastating a loss of a job can truly be. So what are your options?
Whatever form of DABDA you experience, hopefully just the Acceptance part, start your job search immediately. Don’t feel that you deserve a short vacation and count on a severance package (as those are highly taxed on payout) or unemployment benefits. The sooner you get started on the search the less your situation will have on you emotionally and financially.
There are several different support systems that can be utilized with a varying level of success. Employment websites, recruiters, job placement centers, job fairs, unemployment offices, career consultants, resume writers the list of options varies.
The World Wide Web allowed us to plow and seed our job seeking efforts from the comfort of our living room, coffee house or wherever and we have responded by using that platform more than any other tool.
It has been estimated that upwards of 80% of todays job seekers use employment websites as their number one search platform. Obviously the U-6 number means that there are potentially far more people vying for and submitting applications than the number of jobs available.
Consider the challenges that today’s Employment Resource Departments face when they receive hundreds of resumes and inquiries for a single job. There isn’t enough time to thoroughly review and distinguish those that should be considered from all of the applications received. Many qualified applicants don’t even get an opportunity to get an interview do to the sheer number of respondents.
The recruiter platform doesn’t provide the same level of support that it once did. I conducted a research project and contacted several recruiters to discuss how they separate what would be considered valued applicants. I was surprised to learn that due to the number of job seeking inquiries received they may accept your resume but do not make it a practice to schedule a face to face or even a telephone interview with you. As a practice your resume is placed into a database with everyone else. When an opportunity arises that matches up with your abilities and experiences you may hear from them.
Now some individuals write better than others and some individuals present themselves better than others. Not to disrespect any screenwriters but how many screenwriters do you see on the late night talk show circuit? Actors present while screenwriters create. So if a recruiter can’t meet or speak with you letting you separate yourself from the rest of their applicants, how can they match you up with an opportunity?
The job fair circuit allows you to place yourself in a room of talent managers and if you are looking for a franchise or entry level position these are an option but not for those looking for mid to upper management careers.
Unemployment offices are just posting sites for the government. Career consultants and resume writers, while offering professional support, can only get you ready they can’t find you a job.
The most promising option and the one that is considered to be the single most effective way to find a job is networking or the process of building positive, advantageous relationships, either by making a connection with someone in person or online.
But approaching the networking platform needs to be done strategically. Most people don’t want to be asked directly if they can help you get a job. Most can’t and will typically avoid the commitment out of fear of failure. It is better to state your need and ask someone for their advice on what you should do. Most people want to feel needed and are ready to assist if they can. From that point they may introduce you to someone that can be that important connection.
If you decide to network than you need to view every aspect of your life as an opportunity to make that one important connection that leads to employment. Whether it’s family, friends or neighbors, your place of worship, your kid’s school, social clubs, team sports or volunteer work you have to be ready to institute the effort to ask for advice whenever available. There are plenty of websites and consultants that can assist in preparing oneself for the implementation of this platform strategy but it really is pretty basic.
Unfortunately you don’t want be the one that everyone avoids because you appear to only want the connection not the association so tread lightly. Everyone is capable of networking but networking isn’t for everyone.
Patrick Summers is a contributing writer for JoblessandFaceless.com
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