From a Curse to a Blessing
Events in life are sometimes unforeseen, unplanned and sometimes not in anyway your fault.
For instance, let's say you walk into work and you’re working away. Then someone says you are to go to a conference room. You walk in and they begin by saying, "Unfortunately,...". From there you know this is not going to be good news. The end result is you get a termination letter because you have been laid off.
Now, for most of us that is a devastating situation because, provided you are responsible for others in your household, how do you tell your significant other especially if you are the sole source of income? What do you do now? Imagine this happening when you are 50+ years old and it was already tight with the money you were bringing in? This is a situation no one wants to find themselves in but happens every day to people throughout our country and the world. What do people do?
Well, the first thing one must do is wrap your head around this news psychologically, emotionally and physically. Once you are over the initial shock, you usually reach for your resume and start sending it out to all the usual places on the internet hoping beyond all hope that you are able to secure employment elsewhere and quick. But the reality is that it can take weeks or months to secure another position especially if your salary was close to or over six figures. I heard one estimate that it can take 11 months to find a new job for anyone over 50.
All situations are different but this is a very sobering figure. Hopefully you have some kind of savings and can borrow against your retirement accounts to keep things going until you are on someone else’s payroll.
This situation is what I would definitely call a curse. It can be devastating and has resulted in more than a few becoming homeless. So, how does this become a blessing? It depends on your situation. If you have sufficient savings or optimally a very gracious severance package, you can take some time off to regroup and chart a different course for your life. If you are with a company for 10 years or more you have developed relationships that can be helpful during this time of transition.
Fortunately at this time more jobs are available so the pressure is not on to take the first job you are offered. In fact, it would be better in the long run if you took a leisurely pace looking for a job. Not to say that you aren’t sending out resumes, going to job fairs and the like. It just means that you consider many options before committing to the next job. This next job may last as long as the previous one or it may not. It really is a matter of finding where you fit in and being adequately compensated for your time and efforts.
Looking back you should be able to say, I made the best decision given my situation. My hope is that anyone faced with the loss of a job is able to recover quickly and be better than they were before the forced departure.
For instance, let's say you walk into work and you’re working away. Then someone says you are to go to a conference room. You walk in and they begin by saying, "Unfortunately,...". From there you know this is not going to be good news. The end result is you get a termination letter because you have been laid off.
Now, for most of us that is a devastating situation because, provided you are responsible for others in your household, how do you tell your significant other especially if you are the sole source of income? What do you do now? Imagine this happening when you are 50+ years old and it was already tight with the money you were bringing in? This is a situation no one wants to find themselves in but happens every day to people throughout our country and the world. What do people do?
Well, the first thing one must do is wrap your head around this news psychologically, emotionally and physically. Once you are over the initial shock, you usually reach for your resume and start sending it out to all the usual places on the internet hoping beyond all hope that you are able to secure employment elsewhere and quick. But the reality is that it can take weeks or months to secure another position especially if your salary was close to or over six figures. I heard one estimate that it can take 11 months to find a new job for anyone over 50.
All situations are different but this is a very sobering figure. Hopefully you have some kind of savings and can borrow against your retirement accounts to keep things going until you are on someone else’s payroll.
This situation is what I would definitely call a curse. It can be devastating and has resulted in more than a few becoming homeless. So, how does this become a blessing? It depends on your situation. If you have sufficient savings or optimally a very gracious severance package, you can take some time off to regroup and chart a different course for your life. If you are with a company for 10 years or more you have developed relationships that can be helpful during this time of transition.
Fortunately at this time more jobs are available so the pressure is not on to take the first job you are offered. In fact, it would be better in the long run if you took a leisurely pace looking for a job. Not to say that you aren’t sending out resumes, going to job fairs and the like. It just means that you consider many options before committing to the next job. This next job may last as long as the previous one or it may not. It really is a matter of finding where you fit in and being adequately compensated for your time and efforts.
Looking back you should be able to say, I made the best decision given my situation. My hope is that anyone faced with the loss of a job is able to recover quickly and be better than they were before the forced departure.
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