Don’t Be Lazy and Keep an Eye on Finance When You’re Fired

Summary: Some people start taking things for granted once they are fired. Rather than strategizing on what’s next, they become lazy and their efforts towards finding the next job start decreasing which is not good. Ultimately that thing is going to hamper your financial reserves which were not meant to be kept for this time.

Working inefficiently



Because of the amount of work job hunting can how effectively you're organized can make a lot of difference. You'll be working in a "foreign" environment. You might not have anyone to help you with the details (take phone messages, type letters, do your filing and record keeping). Low productivity in this area can greatly hamper your search.

Your routine will involve writing letters you hope will bring interviews, answering ads, doing research (on companies, industries, and individuals), phoning (for interviews, information, and following up), and interviews (for actual jobs, for information, and for referrals). Your principal needs are a place to work, a phone, someone to take phone messages, and a typist. Find a base other than your home-it's too distracting. Depending on circumstances, maybe your former employer might let you use an office. Ask for it. As a second choice, try to get office space from a friend-a professional or someone who runs a small business (all you really need is a desk and access to a phone). A less desirable alternative is a library. Actually you'll need a library with good business services for research-and it's a quiet place to work. But if you have to use pay phones, make sure the operator won't interrupt-charge toll calls to your home number. Get an answering service or have a friend take phone messages for you.

Don't do your own typing-your time is far more valuable doing things that nobody can do for you. Find a good typist-you'll need that service- and the more you can do with form letters and dictating the better.

The old adage that you have to spend money to make money applies doubly to job hunting because each day's pay lost far exceeds the costs of services you may have to pay for. Outside salespeople are experts at operating in this kind of environment-their tips on working habits, how to get in to see people, and developing effectiveness in interviewing can be helpful. Finally-and this is critical-establish a carefully disciplined work routine and stick to it. Out of the house every day by eight o'clock and home by six. You have no one checking on you. You have no deadlines. Good salespeople learn how to deal with this effectively.

In addition, in all your campaign activities apply the principle of overlapping.

You have already learned that far too many jobs don't work out over a period of time. A key reason for this is that too many job hunters take mediocre jobs because they panic. It is quite easy to make this mistake, particularly when friends urge you to accept a job thinking, as you may be, that you probably won't get a better offer. You can greatly reduce the chances of panic by carefully following the procedures described later for analyzing an offer against your job requirements and for upgrading mediocre offers.

Watch your financial management

Having a major reduction in income is a new situation for you. To deal with it, you must be realistic about your finances from the start.

1. Prepare a budget anticipating you'll be out of work for a minimum of six months.
    
2. If possible, defer the payment of major bills (i.e., mortgage, utilities, etc.). Be candid with your creditors before a crisis comes up. You can also refinance your home or borrow on your life insurance. Try to avoid more drastic steps like selling your home or taking a child out of college-the upset can adversely affect your campaign.
    
3. Apply for unemployment compensation.
    
4. Don't short-change your campaign expenses. A revised printing of your resume or an extensive mailing are really fairly cheap in view of the stakes involved.
    
5. Keep track of your job-hunting expenses-some are tax-deductible.

On the whole, your reduction in income is probably less than you might think, providing you have severance pay and unemployment compensation (which is not taxed), and your federal and state income taxes are lower.

We have seen many of the traps and problems that can arise in a job campaign and how to avoid them. Now let's look at the general principles of a good campaign.

There are 10 principles of job hunting applicable to all and at any time. They are:

1. Often a job hunter goes looking for a job and can't find one-until he or she finds a way to uncover the original source of all jobs-identifying an employer's need that the job hunter can fill.
    
2. Perhaps a job hunter's greatest assets are knowing what he or she wants to do and having the motivation to find a way to do it.
    
3. Many employers have certain needs that they will hire to fill (even though they're not actively hiring) if the right candidate comes along.
    
4. A successful job hunter must get the serious attention of someone in a position to hire- someone who often has set up defenses to guard against the superficial approaches of most job hunters.
    
5. Effective job hunters are made and not born. They find good jobs in any economic climate, while ineffective ones often have great difficulty in even the best of times.
    
6. Everyone has liabilities, but the skillful job hunter knows how to sell his or her assets so that any liabilities are minimized in perspective.
    
7. An effective job hunter understands an employer's likely needs, what assets have the greatest appeal to prospective employers, and how to present them effectively.
    
8. There are numerous ways to present your credentials-and you may have to experiment with a number of them to see what works best for you.
    
9. Being turned down may present you with a unique opportunity, if used skillfully, to show that you are an outstanding candidate.
    
10. Everything you do in your campaign is judged as your best.