Many of us have had to learn to deal with a job loss a time or two. You dust off the resume, send it to your network and start going on interviews, right?
Actually, this is not the way to move forward. In fact, if you follow that formula, you are not giving yourself time to recover from the trauma of losing your job and being separated from your co-workers.
This can lead to interviewing with a chip on your shoulder or persisting in a career path that is trending downward. I have had people tell me they updated their resume the night they lost their job and sent it to 20 employers the next day. Before you know it, you are scheduling interviews. But was such a quick return to interviewing the right move?
Take time to reflect before taking action
If you rush back into the job market without giving yourself a chance to recover from the loss, you can bring anger, denial and confusion with you.
For some perspective on this let’s take a quick look at the world of corporate outplacement. Executives that receive outplacement services are assigned a counselor who starts by listening to their client’s reaction to job loss and making sure there is nothing standing in the way of being successful on an interview.
Instead of updating their resume as the first step, these clients are put through a rigorous discovery process that has helps them evaluate their qualities and skills and matching them to a career path that makes sense in today’s rapidly changing world.
Once a new target is chosen, the resume process begins but with different keywords and different perspective depending on the path chosen.
Next, think about what you want to do
- Is it the same job you were doing or something different? Does it make sense to evaluate economic conditions that suggest another path?
- Does it make sense to see if there is another job out there that will use your best skills and qualities in a post-covid world? You bet it does.
Make a list of the jobs that interest you and go through your network to see if you can talk to people on how you might approach the new path. This is a great way to meet people that could impact your job campaign.
If it turns out the path you must take is the one you had before, what have you lost? Just a few days of introspection. And now you know your decision is based on an analysis. That analysis has given you the time and ability to get over the bad feelings and get excited about your new target. So, don’t rush in!
Happy Hunting!