Being laid off or in other ways losing a job can be one of the most stressful experiences in a person’s life.  Studies have shown that it can be nearly as stressful as losing a loved one. 

The following 10 pieces of lost work advice took this author many years and several lost jobs to acquire.  While they might not all be applicable for every situation, they have been personally tested in several painful situations..... <Smile>.    

1. Make sure you file for unemployment the day you leave the company.   This means you make a single phone call (or two if you call information first).  The unemployment office can help you in many ways so call them even if you think you're ineligible. 
2. Stop worrying, accept the worst case, adjust, & rebuilt.  Dale Carnegie lists 30 ways to stop worrying but one that works for this author is to accept the worst case, adjust, and rebuilt.  Blindly accepting worst case scenarios allow us to shift focus to how we can improve and rebuild into stronger individuals.   Visiting a counselor and focusing on positive aspects of the separation are two other techniques that might be used depending upon your situation.
3. Apply to jobs that are open first.  Send out cover letters and resumes to the best open job ads you find in the Sunday paper, internet job boards, and local company on-line job boards.  See over a hundred links at the bottom of our jobs page.
4. Apply to head hunters & temporary employment agencies.  If you send out 10 resumes to head hunters that each send out 10 resumes, you've just hit 100 companies.  Many of these don't charge you any fees.
5. Send our webmaster your profile.  We will post your profile on our website.  Several of our members have obtained new jobs and or job interviews through this avenue.  Hiring managers are reviewing these profiles.  See our job seek page above.  Use the submission form on our jobs page.
6. The easiest way to transition is by treating your first day away from your job as your first day on the new job. Your new job is to look for a new job.  Work a regular 8 hour day in and out of your home as if you were paid to accomplish this task.
7. Network in your spare time.  After you've applied to all the open jobs you can find, network by attending society functions, calling up old contacts, etc.  Social interaction is important to you and it's possible that you will talk to someone that knows of a position you don't know of.  It's also possible that one could be created for you.
8. Snail mail your best leads.  Snail mailing assures that your resume will be formatted properly.  It also tells the reader that the job you applied for is important to you as you took more time and expense than the typical email candidate.
9. Remember that the pain only lasts a few weeks so treat yourself well.  Try hard to get plenty of sleep, eat right, exercise, read or see a movie daily, take a trip to the beach to watch the sunset, or in other ways treat yourself special for all your hard work.
10. Pursuing a career or location change can be healthy but do it prudently.  Unless you never really need to work again, work towards getting back on your feet first.  You can always take classes and in other ways change your career or location after you get another job.

More here soon. 

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