By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter
Losing your job often comes on suddenly. Even if you had seen signs of your job’s demise and were planning an escape hatch, the actual dissolution of your job still can feel like a smack in the face. In many cases, losing a job is like a death.
As such, many people find themselves grappling with unfamiliar emotions while they also must gear up for and conduct a job search, quickly. Feelings of unworthiness, fear, insecurity and even anger may circulate, leading to tears, aggressive behavior, reclusiveness, over-sharing, desperation, paralysis by analysis and more.
All the while, the drumbeat of finding a new job marches on, with or without your positive energy. And each day that passes without a job offer feels like weeks, weeks feel like months. Figuring out how to wrangle down bills until the next paycheck spurs further anxiety.
However, examining and unwinding from the negativity that has you all knotted up—if done well–can allow you to move ahead while also creating residual gains only possible from such a loss.
Some of the potential gains of job loss follow.
You can:
1. Reconnect with and sharpen your goals. Encapsulated in the borders of a day-to-day job, you kept your mind on the company goal but had no time to focus on personal aspirations. Your own goals, therefore, began to fade. With more time to examine and percolate on your next steps, you are now free to create a new picture ‘target’ that helps you aim your arrow.
2. Build a new story punctuated with the exclamation points of your achievements, including the nuances of your unique value. Take time to articulate your resume in a way that not only makes your future employer’s heart race, but also makes your own heart sing.
Follow this link for 3 more ways to empower yourself following job loss: Unemployed? Here Are 5 Things You Should Do.
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