How to Become Gainfully Employed Again After Losing Your Job

We’re facing a lot of economic uncertainty and the days of going to a work for company, working for thirty years, then retiring and being sent home with a golden watch are over. The economy is always shifting and what might be a vibrant industry one day could be hurting severely the next. Jobs move around, people move around, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, you just need to know how to react to the situation. If you find yourself out of a job, don’t panic! A few months down the line, you may may have a much better position that allows you to pursue your dreams and look back and see getting laid off as the best thing that ever happened to you.

If you find yourself newly unemployed, here’s what to do:

Update your resume – This should be done on the very first day that you’re out of work or find out that you will be out of work. You need to get moving right away. Finding a new job is your full time job until you can find a new position. The first step is to get your resume in order. Add any details about your last job that might not be in there yet, add informational about professional groups you may be a member of, and contact your references and let them know that you’re on the job hunt again and that they might be receiving some calls. This way they won’t get caught off guard.

Start Networking – Most jobs are not found through the classifieds or through Monster.com. Fired up your LinkedIn account (if you have one) and let your old classmates, friends, and business associates know that you’re looking for a new position. In your messages, you should also let them know the type of work that you are interested in and when you will be available.

It doesn’t have to be much, simply something along the lines of “Hi ____, I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be ending my position with XYZ Company. I’m looking for a new position as a software engineer or a web developer. If you know of any openings, feel free to forward my contact information along. Thanks!”

Contact Companies You Want to Work For - Identity five to ten different companies that you want to work for. Send each of them a cover letter and a copy of your resume. It’s important to send the letter to a specific individual at the company. Letters written to ‘To whom this may concern’ are often quickly discarded. Make sure to let them know why you want to work for their company and why you would make or save their company more money than you would cost them. You should do this within one week of being unemployed or knowing that you will become unemployed.

Search the Open Job Market - Although contacting companies directly and using your personal connections are probably the best way to get a job that you want, you should also be looking on job sites such as Monster.com and Career Builder. You’ll have the opportunity to sift through hundreds of jobs in a short amount of time and find a few that are worth applying for. Watch out for things that are too good to be true, because they almost always are too good to be true. Write a cover letter individually for each company that you apply for and attach a copy of your resume as well.

Find a Way to Make Some Temporary Income - If you don’t have a large emergency fund built up or have other savings that you can rely on while you’re on a job hunt, it’s important that you generate some sort of income. If you don’t have a new job lined up within 3 weeks of being unemployed, you should seriously consider taking a temporary job to provide income while you work on landing “the big job.”

People who are extremely desperate for a job don’t exude the same confidence and message as those who really don’t need the money. More importantly, it’s important to have money to put food on the table and take care of other basic necessities (including food, transportation, lights and utilities). If there was a service level job you may have had when you were younger, go back to that business and see if you can work there temporarily. Otherwise it’s pretty easy to get a job on a short-term notice in the dining industry or at a hotel.

When the Time to Interview Comes – If you’re really pounding the payment and making “getting a full time job” your full time job, you shouldn’t have a problem lining up interviews, even if the market isn’t doing as well as it could. Search online for common interview questions. Practice your responses. Be able to tell the company why they should hire you and why you will make them more money than any of their other employees. You should also “dress for success” and wear something nice to the interview. Make sure to ask them questions as well, it’s one of the best ways that they know you’re interested in the job.

Comparing Job Offers – Hopefully after interviewing at several firms, you’ll be offered a job. You might even find yourself being offered more than one job. Find the one that will ultimately bring you the most happiness, and that might not always be the one that brings in the most money. Make sure to compare the benefits as well as the salary and find the position that will provide a good mix of doing something that you love and provide you and your family a reasonable income.

If You Still Can’t Find a Job – There are a lot of people who complain that “there’s just nothing available” after searching for a job for several months. This is a mentality of someone who has given up. There are always jobs available. You might not be able to get the perfect job right away, but there’s certainly something that you can do that will be reasonably fulfilling while you work toward ‘the big job.’ You might have to move to get the perfect job, you might have to work toward the perfect job, or you might need to try harder to get the perfect job, but eventually you can get it.

Starting the New Job - When you start your new job, you’re only beginning the journey. You aren’t just starting a new job–you’re starting the next phase of your career. Start thinking about “What’s the next step?” and “Where do I really want to be five years from today?” You don’t want to be in the same job for the rest of your life, you want to move up in the world, so start working on your plan to do just that.