With the American economy (and many others in the world) potentially on the verge of collapse we are all subject to being out of a job any minute. One day we’re working, paying the bills and enjoying happy hour. The next day we are unemployed and panic is starting to set in. Don’t worry! Here is my Top 10 List of Things You Should Do When You Are Suddenly Unemployed. If you have extra tips for people who have lost their job or are going to lose their job, please add them in the comments.
If you were downsized or fired then go to your local unemployment office and apply. You may qualify for months of unemployment compensation. If you quit your job then it may be harder to collect but try anyway. They can also help you to write a resume and find a new job.
Make sure you can pay the rent and buy food until you find another job. If need be, cancel the fancy HBO cable TV package or start buying the no-name breakfast cereal. Get on a payment plan for other bills if you can. You don’t know when you will get a paycheck again so start hoarding the money you have. You may need to get a part-time job before you get a full-time job of your choice. Swallow your pride and do what needs to be done.
Include all skills and education you have and show potential employers what you have done in quantifiable and measurable terms. Never lie on a resume, but “puffing” your accomplishments within reason is acceptable. Only include references that you know will speak highly of you. Include key words that will get the future employers attention. Most resumes are scanned by computers so a good trick to use is customize the resume and cover letter for the specific job you are applying for. Use the same words companies use in the job description such as, “Self-Starter” or “Proven Results.” They will be picked up by the computer and get your resume moved to the top of the pile.
Ok, you want to stay low key and not let everyone know you are unemployed. You have to do just the opposite and let everyone know you are looking for a job. Networking is the #1 way people find jobs. Let your working friends and family know that you are looking for and need a job now. Everyone has been in your situation before and knows what it is like. Be honest and get them a copy of your resume. They can usually help you directly or refer you to someone else that is hiring.
Use this time to reassess your career choices, catch up on some reading or just veg in front of the TV for a few days. You don’t have to get up at 6am anymore to drive in rush hour traffic to get to work by 8am. Take a walk, smell the coffee, play with the kids. Give your mind a chance to recharge and re-evaluate your life. Maybe a new career is what you need. Maybe even a new city. The point is, take this down time to sit back and enjoy your vacation. You’ll be back to work soon enough and your next vacation will be a year away.
Your ex-boss or co-workers may be able to keep you abreast of re-hire opportunities at your former company. If the decision is made later to bring back former employees, you may be considered if you have kept in contact with with your bosses or peers.
You always used the excuse “I don’t have enough time to exercise or eat right.” Even though there was a state-of-the-art gym in your previous office building, you never used it. Now is the time to hit the treadmill or take a jog in the park. Use that neighborhood gym membership one more month (before you have to cancel it because you’re broke). Since you have less money you should be eating out less. Get the fast food out of your diet altogether. Set a goal and try to lose those pounds or inches off your waist so you look great for your next job.
Not only will volunteering help others in your community that need it, you can add that experience to your resume. It is also a form of networking. You may meet someone working at a hospital or homeless shelter that can offer you a paying gig.
While searching for jobs on sites such as Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com, you will no doubt stray into other areas of interest such as political news, sports, music, etc. That’s ok, but try to stay away from too many recreational sites (especially porn). It’s ok to be up to date on the latest music, fashions or other crazes, but don’t get sidetracked too often. However, I do recommend a daily dose of List Universe. The things you will learn on this site will enlighten you tremendously.
Don’t beat yourself up about your situation. It probably happened for a good reason. You know you didn’t like that old job anyway! Now it’s time to move on to the next phase of your life. Go to church, mosque or synagogue and pray on it. If you are not religious then just meditate and focus on the positive and don’t feel like you are worthless or a loser. This is a time in your life to build your character up and show the world what you are really made of!
Contributor: MT
Drink and be merry!
Just kidding! Try to start your own business. Its very rewarding.
number 2 is the reason i’m here…
listverse definitely takes up my time..
i love this site..
Most companies scan the resumés through computers? You’re mistaken there, that would actually be the exception. Furthermore, the resumé should be standard for all your job applications, and the cover letter being the changed item. Of course you could change this ages-old formula of success, but it’s a waste of time to change both the resumé and cover letter when you will fare just as well by changing solely the cover letter.
Volunteer work? Hmmm, I don’t think that being a volunteer really helps further your career. Employers almost always look for a dedicated employee. An employee continually taking leave doesn’t do anyone any good. This is one reason why pregnant women face a bit more adversity with finding employment.
What an awesome list, but what if you can’t afford any internet anymore?
Jono: I’ve just finished teaching a class on CV skills and I have to disagree with you on a few points. First, you SHOULD have a few different CVs (or resumes). Each employer is going to be looking for something different and it especially helps to have a different CV for different industries. Depending on the job, you will have to highlight different aspects of your career/educational history.
Volunteer work IS a good idea, especially if you have just lost your job or (in the case of my boyfriend) just left college and trying to break into a difficult industry. First off, it will give you something to do instead of sitting on your ass all day. It gets you into some sort of routine, even if it is just a few hours a day. Depending on the area you are volunteering in, it may give you new skills. Finally, it does look good on a CV – it shows that you didn’t decide to sit around while you were unemployed, you were active and also that you have a caring side and are not just doing things for your own benefit.
I’m going to disagree with Jono as well with regards to volunteer experience. The career preparation program here in British Columbia is very clear on the fact that employers look for volunteer experience. It shows initiative and community spirit, and as ligeia said, that you found something to do while unemployed. It also helps networking as said above, both in terms of meeting work connections, and just making new friends, who would provide in the very least a support network for you while you are between jobs.
Very nice list, all very good advice!
Hemza: I know here in Ireland loads of places are only 1 euro an hour which is fierce handy.
Nice list but most of them would not apply to me should i find myself in such a situation. #2 is interesting…
what the ***** is praying going to do? nothing. a pair of hands at work do more than a million at prayer.
Praying is a type of meditation, relaxes your mind and soul. Makes you hopeful for your current situation even if you believe there is no God. Try it sometime, even if you dont believe.
peace and love
Should have put visit the listverse forums as number 1. Thats how i spent my 8 months of unemployment.
Obviously I have a job now since I am never there.
Should this be “if” you become unemployed?
I cant take any moment without a job. I certainly, cannot. I hope this would not happen to me.
Stay away from *****? With all that time on my hands, I may as well fill them with something useful. Sheesh talk about preachy!
Clouds advice at number #2 is probably better than anything in this list. Start your own business!
ringo: are you that sensitive that even the mention of prayer gets you angry? feel free to disagree with the list, but it do it in a mature fashion. present your arguments. we will listen and respond. that is what we do here.
Very nice list! And I’m sure it may come in handy for many… This info is also helpful, even if you don’t lose your job.
I especially like the idea of exercising when you’re out of work. Too many people lay around on the couch moping instead of staying positive and moving around.
Oh, and great picture for #1!
I quit my *****ty job last week. Told my manager to go ***** himself, went to my local head shop and bought some Salvia Divinorum. I proceeded to go home and explore my mind with a very strong hallucinogenic drug. Best decision I ever made!! I may have regrets when the money runs out but for now Im living to the max!!
lool it sounds funny,, especially the last one loooooool
does looooooool actually mean laugh out out out out out loud?
I like number 6, if I become un-employed this is what I will do, because Obama will take care of me and I won’t have to do anything.
you getting some of that obama money that the people in detroit keep talking about????? LMAO…
This List really sung out to me, I’m in the situation at the moment where I might lose my job, but I won’t find out for sure untill December 9th, Have no savings and no extra money. But on the bright side, I hate my job more than anything, I’m going to have to move back to my birth town as it’s cheaper, but I’ll get to see my friends and family everyday. And overall I’ll be more happy and relaxed
yawn
I appreciate that Listverse touches contemporary themes but enough with the credit crunch already!!!
Commit Suicide! hahaha that opposes tip number one.
# 15 I second you on that one.
# 17 You will come back to earth with a crash.
When I was in my early 20′s I was retrenched and single at the time. Igave up my rented flat, and moved into my trusty VW camper. I traveled for 18 months, working in sugar mills garages – you name it, just for enough bucks for fuel and something to eat. You meet some incredible people from all walks of life.
For a young couple, thats unemployed travel – in a camper – work – and enjoy the sights and move on again.
It gets harder when you are married, enjoyed the list thanks.
This is a very good list, but I would like to mention that you should be careful with volunteer work, depending on where you live. In the state that I live in, unemployment will only be paid for days that you are available for and able to work. If you are signed up for volunteer work with a committed schedule (as in, promising to spend a week building houses in New Orleans or such), you are technically disqualifying yourself for unemployment compensation for that week, since you are not available to work (at a paying job). If you claim it anyway and get caught, you can be cut off from ALL unemployment benefits for up to three years. This same situation can be a problem if you take a part-time job. If your employer decides that your “part-time” job is suddenly going to become thirty seven hours a week at minimum wage, inhibiting your ability to find a job in your field due to lack of time to interview, you will lose your unemployment benefits for the days on which you declined to work. No one is pleased to find out that they have been forced into a crappy, full-time job paying no more than their unemployment benefits were paying them to do nothing! Unemployment benefits is bureacracy at its finest here!
Why not take up a hobby? There MUST be something that you’ve wanted to do, but never had the time.
Alternatively, try your hand at some DIY.
Mathilda – Really? I find that awful considering that it basically means they are discouraging you from volunteering. I guess they expect that by volunteering, you are just trying to get unemployment pay while not really trying to find a job…?
My husband lost his job two months ago. He took #4 (Get Healthy) to heart and lost over 20 lbs. Even though he is 3″ taller than me, he only weights 10 lbs more than me! Hehe… He also took #2 (Surf the Web) to heart as well, as he spends most of his day looking around the internet.
All good info, MT!
I worked in the film biz, a basically free-lance world, for over 15 years. At the end of every job, unless something was already lined up to start in a day or two, it was like the end of the world. You were out of work! Everyone immediately hit the unemployment office.
I was rarely out of work long enough to be eligible for that first check, but went through all of the steps anyway. Networking like mad mad a huge difference! I got to work for directors I’d never have gotten to work with otherwise.
I know it applies in other sectors as well, because I’ve talked to people in other jobs, and they report the same results.
When I went into the book/publicity/ pr gig it was similar, but at least there I always had someone in my hip pocket.
MT has put together a list of what I can attest to as tried and true methods.
I really like this list even though I do not have a job nor will I be getting one anytime soon (I am still in school :} ). However, what I wanted to ask is : how do you actually meditate? I don’t mean just relaxing completely while listening to calm music but serious meditating?
Cheers
I am hoping that this list will be very handy in the future for people who do lose their jobs – particularly as the recession is biting everywhere! I enjoyed the list and, thankfully, have never been unemployed (except when I wanted to be).
11 – Buy lots and lots of Lottery tickets. Go on.
But in all seriousness, very handy list.
I’m crossing my fingers we won’t need this list (all of us, in general), but there are certainly some handy tips up there.
you should have Prostitute, ho, *****, slag, sket, bimbo, jigallo!!!
@ comment #10 – lol I always love the random angry athiest remark. And their defense is always that the religious are the ones who look down on people and think they’re better. Its quite the contrary in fact. I can’t believe how bitter some people are.
oh and nice list btw lol. I agree with the guy right above me tho. Hit the corner!
Or you could depend on social security for a while, while looking for a new job (this is only for countries that actually *have* social security).
30. Fairy: how do you actually meditate?
****
Get your surroundings very, very quiet. Get your body very, very quiet. Get your mind very, very quiet.
When you have achieved quiet, as perfectly as possible, start unfolding the layers of your mind, one thin layer at a time. If it’s too soon, usually your mind will fold back on itself, because you haven’t achieved perfect quiet yet.
I started doing this very young. So I know it can be done by almost anyone. But the getting quiet part is getting harder for people. Everyone is plugged into so much stuff. You mentioned music in your post. You shouldn’t have music going if you really meditate.
True meditation, learning true meditation, requires as close to absolute quiet as you can get. You can learn to tune out normal background noise. That’s enough.
Get a good book on it. It really is easy. It really is helpful.
Christine – Presumably. I’m sure that not paying unemployment to people doing volunteer work was one of those ideas that sounded good on paper. If I remember correctly, there was an issue several years ago where a gentleman was cutting firewood while on unemployment and became pinned under a tree. After several days, he amputated his own leg, crawled to his truck, drove to town, and eventually was recovering (as much as possible) in the hospital. His story was in the newspaper, whereupon his unemployment was cut off as he was not able and available to work, since, you know, he was in the hospital after cutting off his own leg! Sometimes I really hope that there is some special hell for bureaucrats.
cant prevent #2 because of this site lol
Another item I think should be included in this list – expand your skills. This could mean taking a few short courses, or even going to university to undertake that degree you never finished. Have a good think about your current career and whether you were happy in your old job. Nothing like getting the sack to give you the time to overhaul your life
Also, I thought that the picture for #1 was excellent! Good advice too, and not just for being unemployed. Staying positive can be tough but I find it to be quite helpful in dealing with the stress of everyday life.
Great list! I will keep these tips in mind – in fact I should try out all of them except for #10.
I like #1…
On the list that is!
Where’s “smoke weed and go hiking/walking in the park”?
So..the old chinese guy, of the street, has his own routine
and I have been crossing his path, with my own, for some time.
He has his fill of belongings in large black plastic garbage bags that form the alcove security bedding surrounding him.
On around him.
He reads from tossed newspapers.
he always seems to be reading.
Sometimes, I have had to go out away from where I usually go
and I see him picking from metal mesh trashcans on corners
“hole’ling” up in other alcoves, back exit docks, ect.
Recently, he has taken to wear a small plastic bag, twisted tight over his bald head.
He has seen me / looked at me- I know.
I have heard him moan in pain when getting up off the sidewalk
BAKE COOKIES!!!! i swear it is the only thing keeping me sane since i have been working my whole life
Excellent list and excellent advice..
ligeia:
Yes, different industries require different CVs. But you don’t apply to Retail, Education, Manufacturing and Accounting jobs all at the same time. So it should stay the same. If you change CAREER you change your CV, a job change is not a career change.
Volunteer work depends on the employer, a hippier employer might be ecstatic that you volunteer. But as another poster pointed out sometimes it disqualifies you from unemployment benefit. It also doesn’t compare to proper work experience. Not flooding your CV with crap is the first CV lesson in the book. Or would your 6 page CV with “1995 second best in art in 3rd grade award” disagree with me? I think not.
Jono
I’m not going to get into an argument about CVs, so I’ll say this and then leave it. Yes, you could use the same CV for different jobs within the same industry but when I was unemployed I was applying for almost every job I was even vaguely qualified for.
I don’t know where you live but I’m sure there are probably different rules for different countries but where I live (as far as I’m aware and I stand open to correction) volunteer work doesn’t affect your ability to claim benefits. Besides, if you have a good CV already you won’t need to put it on but if your CV is a bit sparse it’s good to have something to fill it out a bit.
And finally, my CV is one page long and it got me the job I have today.
Mathilda (#38)- That is truly awful… and very sad..
Great list, really lifted my spirits. I made the mistake of quitting my job 5 months ago before the economy really got bad, because I figured my career field was in high-demand and I could find another job within 2 weeks. I am still out of work. I don’t regret quitting my job because my co-workers were treating me very badly and taking advantage of me, but at the same time I regret quitting my job because the money was good and was coming in all the time and paying for my bills.
Now I am living back with my parents and going online daily for jobs and checking the newspaper. But the good thing about being unemployed is that I am completely re-evaluating my life and changing careers. I am starting nursing school next Fall, exercising daily, and helping my parents take care of their house and groceries; which was sort of being neglected because they both work so much. Unemployment definitely has its cons, but there are also a lot of pros that people don’t see.
Hemza(5) The local job service and/or library should have computers available – you should be able to use them freely, and they’ll even help you with good searches to get you moving in the right direction.
Astraya(12) I used to think ‘IF’… but that was before having two companies I worked for go out of business. It’s always a matter of ‘WHEN’ in this day and age.
Mullaccio(17) About the worst thing you can do is burn bridges behind you… Something only slightly worse is to pour gasoline on a smoldering bridge. Regardless of what you are doing right now, your best bet is to pause, take a good deep breath, and decide what you really want to do (or what you feel comforable doing) within the next 6 months – and the next 5 years. This might give a few sobering moments to consider the situation in which you presently reside.
Choosilicious(24) Umm, yeah… that will solve only one problem and create many more – interesting to think that someone would be so selfish and self-absorbed as to take THAT avenue. I know you were being flippant in your comment, but come on… think about the consequences.
Great timing! I read this yesterday… today I get fired
Aaah, well. Stay positive =]
One thing I always did when one job ended and I didn’t yet have a new job lined up was to give $20 to someone needy. Someone I’d just run into on the street, but not someone who looked like they were going to go spend it on drugs or drink.
I know giving away $20 didn’t do anything for me as far as getting me a job, but it did put things into perspective. I may have been temporarily out of a job, but the operative word was “temporarily”. The person to whom I was giving the $20 may very well be permanently on the skids, my small donation might be the difference between eating that day and not eating. It just felt good. It made a positive mental difference in my own attitude, and that meant I was in a more positive frame of mind when job searching. That positive attitude shows, and goes a long way, especially when 2 or 3 people are equally equipped for the same post. The one with the positive attitude is more likely to be awarded the job than one with a sad-sack countenance or a neutral facade.
Oh lame list… sorry but it shuold be named the nine more obvious things one should do when out of work,cuz volunteer??? C’mon man nobody have the time for that when they ARE working and a bit happy, much less when you are depressed thinking how whorthless you are that you can even get a job, yeah sure why not go help some people since I’m such a good for nothing that nobody want’s to pay I do some work for nothing
Gee Gus(59), don’t be so hard on yourself. There is a difference between being fired and being laid off. In either case, don’t get down – get a plan. If doing things for others helps you put things into perspective and get your plan flowing in your head, so much the better. The key is to try (and it IS tough) to stay positive and not dwell on the negatives – good attitudes help tons more in landing you a new job than *****-poor ones. Been there, done that.