Looking for a New Job After a Loss

Layoffs Often Lead to Intense Job Searches and New Careers

Nov 16, 2009

Losing a job is a highly stressful event that a person can experience in life. Searching for a new job requires time, skills, and patience.

It is often a blow to the self esteem to lose a job. According to psychologists, job loss is at number eight and change of job is at number nine on the scale of the “top ten” most stressful life events. For most, financial insecurity is a concern looming on the horizon and the question of “what to do next” arises after unemployment runs out.

Initial Steps After Job Loss

Some initial steps after a job loss might include deciphering what went wrong in the loss (as there may be many reasons for the loss in which a person is not at fault), figuring out if the current job situation was one that is a passion or not, and finally, examining ways to improve in the future.

Getting Self Esteem Back

In the weeks following a job loss a person may begin to feel many stressors associated with the loss, which might include supporting a family, oneself, answering to others about the loss and the list can be extensive. Some ways to get self esteem back is to have a plan to get another great job and also have some hobbies on hand that will be useful in the time of unemployment. The hobbies, may in turn, serve as an eye opener to other passions and even make a person feel like they are being productive when in fact they are not “at work” but working on something.

Pounding the Pavement

Actual job searches can be done through the newspaper, internet job search websites, through headhunters, temp agencies, online postings, or word of mouth (friends and family). The state may also be constructive in assisting with job training or helping prospective job seekers get exposure to other fields including government jobs. Some people prefer to create their own opportunities and start a small business or create a unique opportunity that has not presented itself yet.

Being Mindful in Times of Turbulence

It is important to be mindful of not jumping at any job opportunity and making sure skills match job requirements for the most part. If a change is in fact needed, career coaching may aide a job seeker in discovering abilities and talents that may be suitable and then, a proper and seamless change may be made. Career coaches may be found in the yellow pages or online. Some career coaches believe in testing and some do not, but rather go with what a person is "most passionate” about.

The copyright of the article Looking for a New Job After a Loss in Job Search is owned by Rachel Ricucci . Permission to republish Looking for a New Job After a Loss in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.