Expedite your re-employment after a layoff

You have been working without pretense for a number of years and one fine day you are told that your services are no longer required. Shocked, you would be; but what do you propose to do? How will you ensure that your job security in your next employment is assured?

Today, retrenchments are common occurrences. Just as a lawn is mowed to keep the grass fresh and green, strength reduction in organizations is periodically down to fuel efficiency. But since you are at the receiving end, you undergo a major setback. The mantras for coping with it are involvement, introspection and dedication.

·   Involvement:  This is a three-pronged activity; you need to be involved with yourself, your career support team and recruiters. A pink slip can be very upsetting and calls for a deep understanding of your sentiments. You will have to undergo distress, rejection, haggling, despair and approval. Unless you go through them, you will never achieve a stability of mind that is essential to get into any other job. To be able to pull through the stun, you need to provided encouragement and guidance in your new job hunt. And as you recuperate, new recruiters will emerge as the hub of your involvement. Reaching them will turn out to be your prime aim. At this juncture, your research and homework will count. You should be thoroughly familiar with what you have done and how it contributed towards the achievement of your last company’s objectives. You should devise ways and means of communicating them lucidly in your resume, interview sessions or other forums.

·   Explaining: You ought to know aspects that need to be explained as ingredients of your new job search. Retrenchment provides you an opportunity to introspect your contributions, road map and objectives. You need to be convinced that your principles and standards are in harmony with your career. If they are not, you will never be able to derive job contentment. Unless your ideals and ethics interconnect with those of your company, you will not derive professional satisfaction. Your zeal and enthusiasm will serve as a great impelling factor for you to get to work. It is also necessary that you take stock of your inclinations and expertise. This will help you identify other avenues for exploration; the fact that you have slogged in a particular field could warrant reconsideration. You should mull over your interests and categorize new qualifications that you need to acquire, should you decide to go in for a career change. Remember that your inquisitiveness and interests, rather than any apprehension should prompt you in your move forward. You should learn to hug alterations; all organizations look for this attribute among their staff. It is only when you finish with all these aspects, that you should redraft your resume. After all, a resume is an important apparatus to project your USPs.

·   Dedication:  Having decided what to do, you need to formulate an arrangement and go ahead with all your steam for its attainment. You ought to evaluate company profiles, study job openings and expand your contact base so that you can apply for appropriate posts and also be able to monitor the progress. It is necessary that you remain upbeat at all times; the past will not be easy to forget, however, you can do so if you draw lessons from it. Your personal honesty has to be above board in this context. Job offers will come to you, but you will have to exercise due caution in your acceptance. If you fail to do so, you will be afflicted with a ricochet condition; and sooner or later, you will be out on the road looking for another job. Job contentment and security are a state of mind; you yourself are a fountainhead for them. Understand that it is not obligatory for anybody to offer you a job; you need to build up an image for yourself because your career is the most significant facet of your well-being.

The business environment and job market today may not be pleasant. Cutbacks, pay-cuts and layoffs have become common; and they do impose difficulties. But that does not imply that you have reached the end of the world. Your search for a job notwithstanding, remember that happiness is an inside job.