Top Jobs 2008: A Guide to Layoff Survival

Pulling Yourself Together

Allow yourself to mourn: When you lose your job due to layoffs, you’ll feel as if you’ve been dumped by your employer. You’ll feel betrayed, hurt, dejected and angry, which are common emotions associated with grief. "Mourn the loss of your job so you can regain the strength to find a better one," advises Nick Lore, career coaching maverick and founder of the Rockport Institute. In fact, Challenger encourages his clients to take a few weeks off so they can get some emotional distance.

Be resilient: "You’re bound to encounter rejection in your job search, so you need to be resilient," offers Dr. Andrew Shatté, co-author of The Resilience Factor. He believes you can train yourself to be mentally stronger by knowing your own thinking patterns and counteracting against your natural inclinations. You can uncover your innate resilience factor online (click on "How resilient are you?").

Talk it out: From Lore's experience, women tend to refocus and start their job search faster than men. Why? "Because they’re more comfortable talking about their needs and anxieties to family and friends, and doing so helps them move beyond the shock and anger to start thinking about 'What’s next?'"

It’s not that men have nothing to say -- they just need to find the appropriate support group to open up to. When Test-Drive Your Dream Job author Kurth lost his dotcom job in 2001, he and a few other job seekers would meet every week to share job search experiences over coffee and bagels (a.k.a. "Unemployed Bagels"). He recalls how all the members in the group eventually managed to bounce back and find jobs they love.

Set a budget: You’ll need to put together a budget to reflect your newly unemployed status. "One thing I cannot stress enough is that it is very important you continue to make your [health] insurance [payments], especially when you’ve been laid off," says Kurth. Whether you go through COBRA or finance your own policy -- Kurth remembers financing his health insurance with his own unemployment insurance check -- make every effort to budget for this even if it means cutting your spending elsewhere.

Getting Back in The Game

Set goals: As Kurth was brainstorming on what to do next with his family and friends, he made sure he got his ideas down on paper "so I could stay organized and focused."

Make a list of all the things you loved, hated, and would like to change about your life and ex-job. From here, you can begin brainstorming about your short and long-term goals. What other careers have always intrigued you? Are you an entrepreneur at heart? Would switching fields require additional training? If so, where, and how much would it cost? Above all, share your plans, however preliminary, with your support group so your friends can keep you on your toes.

Network, network, network: In Challenger's opinion, you can learn a lot about being work-ready from politicians: "Be like a presidential candidate. Be upbeat and positive even if you're not feeling that great about yourself." Make a point of getting out of the house and interacting with people. The more people you meet, the better.

Create your own network in addition to attending professional networking events. A good way to ensure you get out there and do meaningful work is to volunteer your time for a charitable cause, according to Challenger. You never know who you will meet and what connections they may bring.

Both Kurth and Challenger recommend that you try to identify people whose work appeal to you in some way and make a point of meeting them. Offer to take them out to coffee or even lunch. You'd be surprised how helpful people can be.

And by all means, get up to speed with all the major social networking sites like LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook. Get reacquainted with your acquaintances. "Just don’t expect these tools to magically land you a job," cautions Challenger.

Through all your networking efforts, stay organized in order to make best use of your contacts. Kurth, during a year long hiatus after his layoff in 2001, conducted over 200 informational interviews; he organized all the contact information in a simple Excel spreadsheet.

Limit your computer use: Challenger believes you’re wasting your time if you devote all your time responding to online job ads. That is why he recommends that you "use your computer to search for jobs after dinner." You should spend your day meeting and interviewing with people, not in front of your computer.