For most people, a job not only ensures that food is on the table, it also means that they are important to someone who finds their talents and skills useful. In short, a job is a great self-esteem booster. It's a great way to meet new people, and possibly new friends, plus it's one of the best ways to gain knowledge that is so important to a person's emotional and intellectual growth. The lessons learned on the job are plenty: discipline, initiative, time management, resourcefulness, honesty, ability to rise above trials, or simple people skills.
So if you are one of the unlucky ones hit by a recent layoff, what should you do? Must you lose your dignity and self-respect? Should you just sit on the couch and sulk? Well unless you want you and your family to starve to death, you have to learn to pick up the pieces and rose above your dilemma. Here are some ways you can use to find a new job:
Join online job hunting groups, and send out your well-written resume. With you out of a job, it is very likely that your internet connection has been cut… but that doesn't mean that you are no longer online-accessible. Visit cyber cafes and computer shops daily and sell yourself to the business world online. First, start writing a concise but impressive resume. Indicate your past experiences (if you have 15, don't include them all!
Pick only the ones where you spent at least a year on.) and include a brief description of your duties - this enables the employer to determine if you will be happy in the position he is offering or not. Next, join or visit job hunting sites and classifieds. Remember to be discerning though - choose the companies to which you will send out your resumes to very well. You may be jobless, and a bit desperate, but it doesn't give anyone any license to abuse or exploit your abilities. Once you agree to be hired by a scrupulous employer, your credibility as an effective employee is compromised too. Remember to indicate an email address, contact number or address where you future employer can reach you.
Before your company lets you go, ask for a recommendation letter. A recommendation letter is like a stamp of approval from a previous employer. It must indicate the reason why you were let go by your previous company. But of course, this letter is only recommended for those who were honourably dismissed. If you were dismissed because of dishonesty, tardiness, insubordination or sexual harassment, you may very well just transfer to another industry or country (kidding). The moral is, no employer wants to hire a potentially troublesome employee. Of course, people should always be given second chances, but it always pays to be perceived as a possible asset to a company, rather than a potential disability.
If you are part of those, however who are highly recommended by your previous company (that has folded up, for example), the recommendation letter will get one foot inside your next office. Ask for it, because it really does help.
Ask your credible and reliable contacts for referrals, and don't be too picky! You just may be the victim of a poor economy, but most of your other associates may still be lucky enough to provide you with a referral into their own companies - so, swallow your pride and ask. A lot of unemployed people are so because of their pride - they refuse to get down from their already-nonexistent pedestal. Sure, you may have been a former manager or vice president, but as a currently unemployed individual, you are no longer one. Consider taking positions and salaries lower than your previous one. Be willing to work your way up from the bottom. Of course, this is a huge kick in the gut, but if you were given a second chance, you can prove your worth and work towards that position you really deserve. Be prepared to make compromises.
Apply at ready vacancies in other industries/niches/line of business or expertise. Don't fully discount the possibilities in these so-called unrelated fields - they might open new opportunities for employment for you. If you know there are vacancies in another field, why not take these opportunities and find out how they can make use of your talents and expertise? Don't take these job descriptions at face value, because they may be written by someone who was not good with words.
There is even that slight possibility that they wanted YOU, and not someone else. Oftentimes, these jobs lead you to your desired position. For example, you took in a job as an assistant of the sales manager, simply out of desperation. You were a former manager yourself, and initially, you didn't want to be just an ordinary manager's go-to girl. What you didn't know is that the manager is eyeing you for that unpublished and vacant marketing manager's position…and she simply hired a faux assistant to test if she will be a viable hire for that very demanding job (which you really wanted in the first place). Sometimes, this is the way some people do business - they test you before they believe your raving claims in your resume.
Pay someone to be your agent. Of course, this option is for those who were not really laid-off, but those who are in between careers and still have much money to get what they want and need. If you are too lazy, hesitant, out-of-touch, and impatient, the best way is to hire someone to look for a job you would really like. See what money can do? It's no guarantee, though that you will get hired…but just pay your agent more and he could find something else for you. But if you had any of the characteristics first mentioned in this paragraph, then maybe you should get a year's paycheck ready for your agent - because no one really wants to hire a person who's too lazy to do his own work.
When all else fails, you can think of plunking down your remaining resources into putting up a small business. That way, you become your own boss, get to manage your own people, do something you like, and work at your own pace.
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Michael Griffiths is the CEO and Founder of Secrets Of A Super Life, providing individuals with personal development strategies to increase their purpose, passion, happiness and life fulfilment. For your free life success pack please visit http://www.mysuperlifetoday.com
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