June 3rd, 2009 
Vijaianand These are tough times to many families and individuals. Millions of jobs have been lost in the past year or so leaving many people depend just on their unemployement insurance to support their families. I know how hard it is without a job if only one person brings home the bread. I have experienced myself. It gets even tougher for self employed who can’t even claim the unemployment insurance.
Some what of a good news is , it has slowed down quite a bit in the past month or so. Obviously, it has to slow down because companies can’t throw out every body otherwise they cannot survive. Also slowing of layoff’s doesn’t means jobs are getting created. It just companies reached a saturation point stripping down so much and they cannot do anymore job cuts.
Many youngsters who never faced this kinda recession is facing tough times handling this current situation. First off, it is really hard to take it in when you get laid off after working your butt off(excuse my language) for the company.
You tend to think, they will call you back again. No, they are not going atleast for a year. They just moved on without you so you should consider moving on too. It sucks practicaly but you shouldn’t loose hope and lose heart. Things change and you should change as well and continue your path to persue your dreams.
This blog might seem bit late but it is not. I intentionally want to wait and weigh in on the options so I can give some useful pointers from my experience. It is easy to just make a blog copying from other websites but I don’t want to do that(I never do that) because Jobloss is a tough one and I want to share the same feelings when I talk about it.
So here go my 5 good Survival tips which might help you.
1. Unemployement Insurance – If you previous employed (not self employed), you are eligible for unemployment insurance from your state. If you havn’t claimed it, go ahead and do it. You are wasting the money you are eligible to get since your employer paid for it. Sorry self employed folks, we don’t have this liberty and I know it sucks.
2. Cut all your unwanted expenses. Whether you used to go to movies every week or restaurant for family dinner, just think about cutting it for a while. It will help to survive with your funds for longer time until you find a good job.
3. Just say to yourself “I can’t afford at this time” if you and impulse buyer. These strong words will help you stay away from things which you really don’t need to survive at this moment.
4. Don’t dip into your credit card and make things worse. Use your emergency funds which is especially meant to tackle this situation. Especially self employed like me, you should have atleast 6 months of built up funds to take care of this jobless period.
5. Exercise and Hobbies – Try not to keep thinking about the lost job. It will let you down and you won’t be able to attend interviews propertly. Add a positive attitude and go to Gym to catch up on your work out schedule. Try to spend time on your hobbies or passion to invent yourself and reenergize your thoughts. It will sure come handy during interviews.
Here is my 5 Success Tips which might help you to get out of the loss.
1. Leave no stone unturned. Always open to meet people. Attend Job Fairs, call your recruiter and friends to check on the job openings and opportunities.
2. Don’t hesitate to follow up and stay on top of your contacts. Everybody got their own priorities. For you, getting a job is the first priority but it might not be the case of your recruiter or contact. So try to call them up for any updates or latest job openings. Don’t feel embraced to keep calling. Perseverance pays off over time.
3. Always Stay connnected – Use LinkedIn, Facebook or Myspace to stay in touch with your previous coworkers, friends, college mates, chruck groups or religious groups. A lead can come from anywhere. By staying connected with as many as possible helps you get as many leads as possible. In this bad job market, Staying connected with many people is very important.
4. Take a temporary contract job or consultant position if you are not getting permanent job offers. I know many don’t like to go this route but it helps to pay bills and at same time you are not sitting idle. It might even turn out to be a good project you never know. No harm in trying.
5. Revaluate yourself – This might be a better time to revaluate yourself and do something different if you are forced in this career. I have seen real examples from people who got laid changed their career from IT consultant to Entreprenuer or small business owner. If its too late and want to stick with same career. Try to Brush up your skills and take up some petty projects during the downtime from sites like getFreelancer.com, 99design.com. It helps to keep your skills shining instead of getting rusty.
These are some of my own practical tips. I also came across an interesting and optimistic writeup by a job loser. It’s a “Thank you for layoff” note to the employer by the laid off employee. Check it out. It might add a different perspective to your thoughts.
Never ever give up and Keep trying!!
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