You walk into the office Friday morning confident, self assured, and focused. Your workday seems to go by effortlessly and you find yourself planning what will seem to be an amazing weekend because after all it is "Pay Day"! As you complete your 8 hour shift your supervisor calls you into their office only to tell you that this will be your last day working for the company because your position is being eliminated. Now the same walk into work has turned into a daze of confusion followed by a bitter storm of emotions. You ask, "How can they do this to me?" or "How did I not see this coming" and "What am I going to do now?"
Life on a normal day flows at the speed of lightning but when you feel you have no options how much faster does it seem to go by? Has this been you or feel like it could be in the near future? If you see this coming or just as a way to safe guard yourself for Success:
1. Keep a strong network: A network is good for so many things but mostly so if anything does happen you have a circle of career oriented individuals that you can tap into for support and job leads.
2. Get your "Financial House" in order: Seek what your options are as far as refinancing, downsizing, and restructuring payments of your various bills/loans.
3. Never stop looking: No Employer ever commits to you for life so why should you? Never stop looking at other job opportunities. Not only will this keep you on top of your situation but it will also keep sharp about what employers are looking for.
How can this happen and You still come out on top? Lets outline the Dos and Dont's:
-
You are no one's pity party: Most likely your employer will be worse off after letting you go then you will. Many decisions to relieve employees of positions are rash decisions made due to a low sales day or sales quarter. Many instances can be worked out but lets be honest, if an employer doesn't see you as enough of an asset to keep you and try to work with your position or place you somewhere temporarily while the "hard times" pass. Then WHO NEEDS them! You keep your head held high!
-
Classy always wins over Stupidity: As much as you may want to flip every ones office desk over refrain from doing so and keep the classy you in tact. Don't give anyone any negative stories to use against you as an ex-employee. This employer may one day be able to hire you back. If the job is worth it you may want to keep that relationship door unlocked.
-
Pay me!: Don't be afraid to negotiate a parting payout such as severance, unused vacation pay, etc. The most anyone can ever say is No and we should never be afraid to ask for what we are worth! This goes also for filing for unemployment.
-
Take time to find out your next step: It may take a few days to get your head clear and get back on the motivation path. Take the time you need to rest, re-amp yourself, and develop what your next step is going to be.
