5 Steps to Navigate Job Loss

Laid off. Fired. Pushed out. Voluntary exit. No matter the circumstance, losing a job is one of the top ten stressful events in a person’s life. Getting through that transition will inevitably be painful, but there are strategies to support you in regaining confidence and direction more quickly. As much as we want to jump into action, the first step will be simply to acknowledge the sadness, frustration, and pain of loss.

1. Set Aside Time to Grieve

Can we grieve a job transition or loss? Absolutely. Grief is not only reserved for the loss of a person. During any type of loss, we can experience similar emotions that we would in the grief cycle. Some universal feelings emerge when expectations are taken away, changed, or crushed - whether it be a person, an experience, or a dream. Just like the grief of a person, we need to let the universal feelings of grief be experienced and acknowledged in order to move through them. Let’s identify some of the big ones (and thoughts that may be connected to those feeling!) that may arise after job loss.

Denial (“I can’t believe they let me go”)

Anger (“How dare they do this to me”)

Bargaining (“If only I had done something differently, I would still have a job”)

Sadness (“I am going to miss the work I did and the colleagues I had”)

Acceptance (“I am ready to move on”)

All of these feelings are typical, even expected, if we lose a job. Some feelings we can feel more strongly, and last longer than others. Acknowledging these feelings of pain, and being patient with our experience of them, allow us to make space for the next phase of growth: inspiration and hope for something new.

2. Get Inspired

Inspiration does not require an expensive museum membership. Inspiration is what we create on our own terms with the resources we have. Below are (free!) activities we can pursue in order to get our inspiration flowing.

Read - Before you pull out a self help book, or dive into that “How to Get a Job” manual, consider this: maybe give yourself a break. How about read something you…enjoy! Something that allows you to escape. Slow down a bit. A novel can focus your mind on a new set of people, circumstances, challenges, mysteries or romances. Let yourself be immersed into something exciting, new, pleasurable, different. This is an extremely productive task, and will refresh your mind to focus on work-related research during other times of the day.

Move - All of those feelings of grief we identified above? They do not have to stay stuck inside of you. Exercise (or any movement based activity) helps to shift stuck tension in our body. Sore hips and back? Headache? Stomach aches or soreness in jaw? These are all physical signs that we have been tensing our muscles, and not releasing those contractions for long periods of time. We have actually made ourselves sore with stress! Movement gives our body the gift of release. Walking, stretching, swimming, heavy weight lifting - it does not matter the activity. The goal is to feel your heart rate increase, and increase your respiration to the point where we can actually hear breath moving in and out of your lungs.

Recreation - You know that thing you always said you wanted do, but could’t because “work”? It’s time to do it! If finances allow, take that leap. If finances do not allow, get excited about figuring out how to make it happen. Take on some home projects, pull up some “How To” YouTube videos. Start a new hobby, or see if you want to try an old hobby. Getting to know yourself in a new way is inspiring and builds confidence

3. Rediscover your Why

It’s quite possible the things you used to like to do no longer excite you. That’s normal! We all grow and change with time, and transitional periods bring out new parts of ourselves that need different things. These transitional periods are a helpful time to reevaluate who you are NOW and what you want moving forward. Remember WHY you do the work you do supports new opportunities that align with your purpose, not just a paycheck.

Ask yourself the following questions to tap into your purpose:

• What drew you to your previous positions in the first place?

• What elements of the job connected you to authenticity and ease?

• In what ways did the job align with your values?

Answering these questions is an important step in any transition, because the reasons that drew you to the job may have changed. It’s quite possible the job did not align with who you are NOW.

Understanding what you valued about the job (outside of financial stability) may give you a new perspective on what types of roles to search for. Below is a link to a book that may help inspire new ideas about how to move forward in your career.

Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team by Simon Sinek

4. Create a Schedule

Before you launch into your Google Calendar, let’s make one thing clear. If you do not have your calendar filled YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE. Let’s say it again: you are not a failure if you do not fill every waking moment with job searches, resume building and networking. Our brains needs to REST! Intentional rest is necessary in order to harness focused energy for career moves. Creating a schedule during a time of job loss is going to be equal parts “looking for a job” and “creating the life I want right now”.

Now that we have our priorities straight, let’s consider opportunities to start considering the schedule you actually want, instead of the one that was forced onto you because of work obligations. How can the day be chunked so you feel productive, confidence, and effortful while supporting your health, healing and time to rediscover yourself?

Below is a list of activities to include in your daily schedule. You get to decide how much time to allot to each, but all must be included!

• Active Rest

• Movement

• Job Search

• Reach out to one person (friend or family member)

• One personal skill or hobby (recreation)

• Read (one skill based book or one recreation book)

• Eat regularly

• Reach out to one person (professional contact)

• Go outside

• Research for professional opportunities (outside of what you “should” apply for)

5. Connect with your People

Networking will help us find a job, and our friends will help us through the transition.

Professional contacts can provide us with optimism, hope and support related to specific job research that would be difficult on our own. Connecting to friends and family is going to give us the levity, emotional support, outlet and perspective that we matter outside of our work. So many of us have experienced similar loss, and you are not alone in this process.

As difficult as it is to reach out to others in times of loss, we need to prioritize our community of care.

If you find that it is difficult to accept support from others, consider meeting with a mental health professional or coach to give you support. An objective perspective can free us from thought and behavior patterns that may be holding us back.