6 Things To Do After (or Just Before) You’re Laid Off
Sometimes you can feel it coming and sometimes it’s a sudden surprise. For me, I had about a month before it happened to take some action. I had heard enough whispers to believe getting axed was a strong possibility, though I still had a delusional dose of denial (awesome alliteration, yes?) that it was going to happen. I held out hope that I’d be redeployed into some other role. At the same time, I took a few steps while I still had the chance. Some of these are obvious things you should do anyway whether or not you are in danger of losing your job, and some are maybe more subtle. Here’s the list I came up with for myself. Hope you find them useful:
- Formulate a Financial Plan
I’ve spent a lot of time churning on how long my family could last with me not working. I have spreadsheets and have made countless calculations. Creating a home budget to see what you really can afford is essential during this time. I also worked out what salary I really need to earn at my next job to make ends meet, and it’s actually a lot less than I was making. This really is freeing. I can look for a new job that interests me and not be motivated by just the salary. And don’t forget to include some modest amount for charity donations in your budget. The week I was fired, I wrote checks to three charities we support, even though I don’t have money to spare right now. One affirmation I always say to myself: “I can always afford to be generous.” It’s the right thing to do, and good karma too, at a time when I really need it!
One thing about making good money is that you just tend to spend more money, more freely, probably wasting a lot of it. When I looked at where our money was going, our monthly bills weren’t the big culprit. Eating out a lot, buying clothes and gifts, indulging in entertainment activities, coffee (!), travel… all this really adds up. Once you’re fired, obviously you can’t spend at the rate that you used to. But you don’t want to give up everything, so decide what’s most important to you and give up the rest.
One major activity I undertook immediately was to reduce our monthly bills. I called all the companies we send money to every month and asked to negotiate. When you start the conversation with, “I’m thinking about canceling my service,” you get immediately transferred to the customer loyalty department. I cut my bills in aggregate by several hundred dollars without giving up that much. I should have done this a long time ago. Other actions we took around the house: cut down on watering the garden, and electrical usage. I also sold one of the cars and took my daughter off the insurance, and that saved a lot.
If you were an involuntary termination, you can file for unemployment. Every source I read advises to do that immediately since the benefits can take a while to get started. It’s not going to be much. But it might pay for your health insurance, which is going to be a sudden new big bill you have to pay.
You’ll need to spend some time strategizing health care options. You can initiate COBRA, which allows you to keep the coverage you have for 18 months. But this is expensive, since you are now paying the full amount and your old company is no longer subsidizing the cost. You can also check out Affordable Health Care options if you qualify, which really are more affordable and a blessing for unemployed people. You may be able to get added to your spouse’s plan. Or you can work with a health-care broker and find a plan on the open market. It’s all very complicated and you have to compare all the plan benefits, especially if you have any on-going medical conditions. This will take some time.
You also need to figure out what you’re going to do with your 401K or retirement plan. You basically have three choices: Keep it where it is for the time being; Roll it over into a new employer’s plan if you’re lucky enough to land a job right away; Roll it into an IRA. There is a 4th option, to cash out some or all of it, but this will be very costly because there are huge penalties and tax implications. Don’t do this unless you are really strapped and need money now. One of your first calls should be to the company’s 401K broker to get some professional advice.
Consulting an investment professional could also make sense for you now, especially if your severance payout is large, which it might be if you’ve worked at the same place for a long time. I always say, “money makes money.” If your severance is significant, consider investing what you don’t need immediately so that it can grow, at least a little, until you do need it; in this way, maybe you can stretch your funds a little further out and can survive a little longer without a job.
2. Freshen-up Your Professional Persona
An obvious thing to do is to update your resume, and probably more important these days, your LinkedIn profile. I’d recommend you get some help, even if it’s just some friends making suggestions. I had a good scrub by a friend who can be brutally honest. That was painful, but useful. If you have an extensive on-line professional network, changing your profile summary to describe that you are looking for new work is good to do immediately; something like, “Sales Management Professional Seeking Full Time Employment.” You may want to spend some time crafting a story about your exit so that it comes off in the most positive light. But if you’re feeling gloomy, you may want to want a few days to pass the word until you’re in the right frame of mind.
Seeking career advice from a professional is a great idea. You need other voices now to get you out of your own head and thinking objectively. Really think about what you want to do now. Do you want to do the same job as you were doing or is it time to change careers, and what would that take? Do you need to take some training classes? Often when companies let you go they offer placement agency services for a period of time. I got one whole month! But still it’s worth doing it and taking advantage of everything offered. If you can latch on with a good headhunter/recruiter in your area, that’s really ideal. The more clarity you have on what type of position you want to land, the more likely you’ll get it.
If you have memberships in professional societies, this is the time to take advantage of whatever they offer. If you’re membership is coming close to the renewal period and you are still employed, sign up now and expense the cost while you still can.
Another great thing to do immediately is to get references and recommendations from as many colleagues as you can. In LinkedIn, there’s a function to record those that’s valuable. Your network is one of your biggest assets now. Referrals from colleagues are the best leads you can get for a new position. Less than 10% of new jobs come from finding positions on job boards. Working your contacts is probably a better use of your time than applying to on-line postings.
3. Prepare for the Call
If you know it’s going to come at some point, you might want to prepare for that final meeting or phone call when they lay you off. What questions do you want to ask? Write them down ahead of time because you are going to be emotional and brain fogged and you may forget. You may also want to tape the meeting because you might not be listening very well, and they are going to cover a lot of ground about benefits and severance. Questions you might consider asking: Why wasn’t I considered for redeployment to another position? Why did so-and-so get to stay but I am being cut? What feedback can you give me on my performance that may have led to this?
You can also ask if severance is negotiable. It may not be, but what’s it going to hurt to ask? You’re already fired! The amount of money you get may not be in play, but maybe things like the length of the placement service, health benefits, and what sort of reference letter you can get could be possible to negotiate. You typically will get a severance amount that is contingent on you signing a wavier agreement where you essentially sign all your rights away to sue the company for just about anything. By law you get 45 days to sign that. Take all the time you need and seek legal advice to review it. Of course, you won’t get that severance amount until you sign. Companies are diabolical like that.
Last thing, and this is important. Be professional. Your instinct may be to lash out, especially if your boss is delivering the script. Just don’t. There’s no useful purpose to that, and you’re most likely going to burn any possible future bridges should you cross paths with these people again.
4. Separate Personal Computing from Work Activities
Now a-days having both a work email and a personal email address is common place. For me, I was with the same company for 23 years. When I started there, the internet wasn’t anything like it is now. So, I just had my work email for decades, and I used that for all my personal business. Big mistake! It’s taken me a lot of effort to untangle my life from the company I used to work for. Since being let go, I’ve had to change email contact information at countless retail sites, professional societies, social media sites, and even my Apple ID.
I also never had my own personal computer and kept all my personal stuff in a folder on my company laptop. I know, I’m an idiot. My resume, my photos, my music, all of that and more was on my work laptop. Lucky right before I was fired I had the foresight to buy an inexpensive laptop at Best Buy and build a personal PC for myself, copying all my personal files off my company laptop just in time. I spent $500 for a decent Dell laptop plus the MS Office suite. The morning I was let go, my computer resources were turned off while I was on that ten-minute phone call. Not only did I lose on-line access immediately, as soon as my screen saver popped on later that day, I couldn’t even log back onto my laptop hard drive! If I had anything personal on there, including my resume, I would have been screwed. Fortunately, I had stripped the laptop clean of my personal belongings the day before. Lesson: always keep business and personal separate.
Here’s an unethical action some people might think about doing: downloading company material you think you can use at your next firm. Don’t do it. You’re better than this. Besides the fact that it’s unethical, and probably illegal, it also opens the possibility that your next company will perceive you negatively if they see you using any confidential materials from a previous firm. And don’t go raiding the supply cabinet either. Have some class.
If you have an office space at work, you also might want to start gathering your personal belongings and bring them home. Just tell everyone you’re cleaning up a little and getting organized. When you’re let go, the company typically has a representative walk you to your desk so you can gather your things and then get walked out the door. Better to have very little to gather so you can walk out of there with a little dignity.
5. Take Care of Yourself
Getting fired is devastating. I’m still reeling and trying to find my footing on solid ground. To help, I made a long list of self-improvement actions I could take since now that I have time. My self-improvement campaign includes getting in shape, going to the gym regularly, eating better, and not drinking adult beverages (this is a work in progress so far). My job was stressful and travel intensive, and though I enjoyed the pay check, it actually wasn’t all that healthy. For the last several years I was eating very poorly, not sleeping, letting anxiety consume me with worry, etc. Now I can focus on me for a little while and get in shape again.
The other thing I’m doing is taking of the four EAP sessions I was offer in the severance package and seeking emotional help. I recognize that this transition is traumatic and I need to navigate the journey in a way that gets me out of this and back to my old self. Write angry venting entries in my notebook is also satisfying to a point. I just have to be careful not to post them. As that brutally honest friend told me, prospective employers will find everything you post on line, so be careful and don’t do stupid stuff.
I also set up a doctor’s appointment one more time before I was let go and my insurance situation became cloudy. Turns out I have some weird results in my labs and now need to work through that at the same time I deal with this career transition. I guess it’s just time for me to deal with everything at once.
I also am spending some time planning activities I will do in this time between jobs. I’m trying to think of this period as a blessing and have faith I will find something good in my future. So in the meant time, I want to take advantage of the available time I suddenly have, and I’m making a real action plan. Some thoughts on what anyone in this situation can do?
Volunteer. Spend time with family. Take courses or go back to school (especially important if you want to change careers). Write your novel, or paint, or play music in a band, etc. Start your own business. Travel. Teach. Take care of all those nagging To-Do list items around the house. It will feel great when you go back to work and everything is done!
6. Find Your New Tribe
This one is a challenge for me. My community for the last 23 years has been at work: dozens of colleagues across the global enterprise, connecting every day. And many of these folks are reaching out and connecting now on FB and LinkedIn, and we’ll stay in touch. That’s great. But that built-in community is suddenly gone. I’m a prototypical introvert, and was completely focused on work without any real social interactions at home. No church community, no neighborhood friends, no golf buddies, and a small family. I’m feeling suddenly alone. I’ve got to find a tribe and rebuild a team.
The lesson here is to ensure you have a tribe outside of work! Even if you never have to go through getting laid off, you will retire someday and say goodbye to your work friends, and you’ll need a community to engage with at home. Start now if you don’t have it. You can build it slowly, through volunteer activities, your church, a social club, a neighborhood watch, whatever. This whole process has brought this into focus for me, and I know I need to get on it right now. It’s not really in my nature though to reach out. I need to come up with a strategy to deal with that.