Layoffs. They happen.

What can you do to survive being laid offand even thrive in the process.

Career Coach Karen Van Liew Creek and host Danna Redmond discuss this on The Career Cue.

Karen is the owner of Abet Consulting Services and experienced in providing career services and coaching to empower professionals for success and fulfillment, both on an individual basis as well as within organizations.  Her passion lies in building trusted relationships and partnering with people to be intentional, strategic and effective in their careers. 

Layoffs are common - How can someone get through the emotional side?

Getting laid off and losing a job is unfortunately a common occurrence and there are ways to come through a lay off and thrive afterwards.  First things first is handling the emotions about being laid off.  Whether an employee expected it or not, there will be hurt feelings, questions and possibly anger or shame. Feelings of loss of stability and disrespect are also common.  Understanding that there is a natural process that needs to occur to sort through those feelings will help lesson the feelings of isolation.  Listen to the episode to hear Karen recommends ways to help your self through the process like: 

• Build an inventory of all that was accomplished

• Get a sense of your financial situation

• Find a little bit of time to bring joy back into your life

• It's time to lean on others and not be independent.

How long do people generally take to recover from being laid off?

Everyone is different and an individual has to give themselves enough time that is right for them to recover from being laid off.  Timing can depend on how the lay off message was delivered - did it come as a complete shock, was the message something that had been rumored about or was it something that well known.  A person's financial situation also impacts the recovery time.   Listen in as Karen and Danna discuss other things to consider about recovering from a lay off. 

First things to consider when you get the lay off notice

It might be hard to have your wits about you when you first hear the notice because emotions could be running high. But be sure you put your business hat on and take care of things while you are on site.  In this episode of The Career Cue, Karen describes a good list of things to handle when you first hear of the lay off such as: 

• Get your personal information, files and photos from computers

• Say goodbye … if possible

• Get copies of performance metrics

• Get contact information of colleagues

Tactical parts of a layoff

Be prepared. When you hear the rumors of a lay off start looking around for what might be available.  Find the person in the company that you can contact to ask questions about the lay off.  Many times there might be leaks in the media or your colleagues might start talking about what they have heard.  Take those early warning signs to heart and see what you can find out so it isn't a totally shock and surprise to you. 

Next steps before finding your next job

So how do you find your next job after being laid off?  It is always a good idea to keep your resume updated and your LinkedIn profile updated with your latest experiences. But don't fret if you haven't kept everything up-to-date because on this episode Karen provides step by step action plan for looking for a job after a lay off, those steps include things like:

• Define your personal and professional objectives

• Define your value prop

• Update your resume

• Update LinkedIn info and status

• Identify your network and make a networking plan

• Prep for interviews

• Find a career coach, especially if you haven't been job searching for a while

Defining your professional objectives

As you start to define what you want to next, be sure to assess what you CAN do and what you WANT to do. You will find the most success in your career search when you can find the sweet spot where the "CAN do" and "WANT to do" intersect.  Ask yourself what is the right culture for you - what types of organizations do you want to work for, what environment do you work best in. 

How to talk about a layoff during an interview

It can be tricky to talk about being laid off because of the emotional response you have about it. But remember there is no shame or guilt in it - you can and should get back out there and find a job that you love.   In this episode of The Career Cue, Karen recommends saying to it loud, get comfortable with it.   Be excited for your next opportunity.   Listen in as Karen and Danna discuss more ways to answer questions about being laid off in an interview.