First Aid Kit for the Newly Unemployed
Becoming suddenly unemployed – no matter how it happens – is traumatic. We’re thrust from a comfortable routine into the unknown. Financial uncertainty compounds the stress. And we don’t always realize, until we’re in this situation, just how much of our self-identity is wrapped up in the job we hold. If you’re in this situation right now, I am very truly sorry. You’re grieving a loss, and there will be some tough days yet to come.
The best possible way to overcome (or at least lessen) what you’re feeling now is to start doing things that will shorten the time to full recovery: the first day of your next job. And that’s what I’d like to share with you here: a four-step ‘first aid’ plan that will get you back on your feet sooner.
get this out of the way first: I hate trick questions. In all cases, but particularly in interviews. I don’t like them, I don’t ask them, and I don’t like it when people ask them of me. I have a strongly-held belief that an interview should be an honest, professional conversation between two people, with the intent of determining whether a given job could be a good fit for the person. Trick questions turn that into a sort of game, and it’s the worst kind of game because only one of the players knows the rules.