How To Thrive After A Job Loss

If you've just lost your job or feel like you're about to, it can create a storm in your mind and in your life. Even if the current job market seems on a comeback going into 2022 any career setback jolts you and can upset your mind and life. What do you do if you lose your job for almost any reason? Most coaches, advisors, friends and family suggest you stow away your income, cut your expenses, cut back on travel and essentially enjoy life less. After all, they say, this isn't the time to take risks.

Be careful, conserve and don't take chances, they may say or you may hear it that way. Even your well-meaning network may want you to talk survival budgets, living on emergency funds, fending off creditors, cutting back on frilly coffee and a host of other fear-based ideas. It's okay. Take it all in and take care of yourself, including getting some help on the mental health side. But if you want to tweak the traditional response listen up. After a job loss you don't need to splurge of silly optional things but you may need to invest in yourself. Most of all you should try to take a setback as a set up for a come back. That may mean discovering new ideas, taking classes, investing in yourself and not staying in the negative moment.

When healthy moderation becomes panic, I find many people in career transitions often ignore the somewhat counterintuitive strategies that help you thrive during a time of job loss. Often, this kind of coaching takes a bit of time to seep into my client's minds because it's not quite as logical as going into a fear-based survival mode. I've heard from clients and others, "This?isn't fear; it's my?reality, and I need to cut back and slow down."

But the reality that I notice in clients who embrace a more faith-focused, positive outlook is that there really?can?be joy in losing a job and it can be an ironic time to thrive and prep for career advancement. They find ways to help others during the week, volunteer, spend more time with family, develop new habits, pick up certifications and improve their communication and emotional intelligence.

They Invest In Themselves (Now) And Self Improvement

Many of my most successful clients immediately invested in training after a job loss. Instead of begging their?previous company to help with their career,?certifications and trainings, they took?ownership of all that. Some always did it but many relied on other sources to dictate their career education. Have a job loss? Immediately invest in your education that may come in the form of classes, small seminars, online and offline training. Double and triple up. Look at the host of certifications that may propel a person to a hot career option just out of reach. If not you are engaging your mind at a time when you could be mourning. It's a tell-tale sign of job loss health when you immediately invest in you.

Even?if your proverbial portfolio takes a hit, don't react to the negative by cutting back on what's most important. Develop a little tighter survival budget on optional items and things that don't matter like new clothes, vehicles and entertainment. Pay for coaching, courses, events and even lunches and coffees with key contacts. Don't worry. Some who know you are in transition will often insist on paying for you. Lean on your network but be willing to take ownership of your career comeback.

Break Bad Habits And Create Positive Ones

Some of my clients who were so dedicated to their companies found out some surprising things after a job loss. They used the time to create good habits and take care of things that may have been neglected a bit with corporate commitments. They use time to get in better health, eat better, lose weight, build new friendships, connections and read both personally and professionally motivational material. Some clients of mine started and lead small groups and meetings on best practices in their fields, helped at volunteer events and participated in our coaching programs while being coached. Others consulted with small businesses and volunteer organizations?and provided their insight for pay or no pay. In essence they found ways to feel productive and give themselves away. Often we recorded those things and shared them to LinkedIn or on their resume. Even the so-called little things have gotten notice and indirectly led to new jobs and paid career options. You simply never know when you build positive habits based on faith.

Use this setback response time to do things you've never done or didn't make time for during work. Many of our clients started their own blogs, podcasts, created their first professional articles and published for the first time outside of their company newsletters. One client started a new habit of reading to homeless children every week. Seven years after landing a great role, he still kept up this reading habit. The list goes on.

If You Need Money, Do What You Have To Sans Ego

In a career transition, the shock of a job loss hurts the ego, and it's hard to ask for help. But the healthiest of my clients in this position either immediately embrace it or learn to realize it's not shameful to take a survival job. They take contract jobs, retail jobs and jobs below their skill level, or they start their own small business for a short time that may last past the job loss and often does.

One client who drove for Uber during a short stint said, "My friends and even spouse kind of pitied me. One person said that it would hurt my career. I didn't care. I did it to prove?something to myself: No job is below me. And you know what? I was pretty damn good at it too."?Two years later, he speaks to job seekers and executives in transition about humility and confidence, using the theme No Job Too Small. I think he's onto something. Others started their consultancies and landed bigger gigs that turned into full blown businesses or resulted in the contracting companies offering them a full career opportunity in weeks or months.

It's possible to go against the prevailing ennui and enjoy a setback. Give yourself time to mourn but don't stay there for long. Use any job loss setback as a springboard to become a better person, employee, entrepreneur and candidate. Own your own education and get help if you need it. Invest in the new product of you. Come out of any bad habits and add to your education, network and insight. People will notice in a positive way. People with a mindset focused on the future use this job loss setback to give and not just take at a time when our human default setting is to stay down. Do the opposite. Find creative ways to learn and share.?Start giving more, volunteering and acting like things are going well even before it seems like it is happening in reality. In reality it will get better and you may just not survive but thrive.