Dave was an attorney with a big law firm. His dream was to move into a corporate counsel role with a big corporation. When he first hired me to write his resume and coach him, he spent a lot of time telling me about how underappreciated he was at his current firm.
When we would brainstorm ideas on how he could transition into his chosen industry, he constantly repeated that he “already tried that.” In fact, Dave spent a lot of time shooting down most ideas I knew would help him tremendously.

When we talked about job search strategies, he shared with me that he didn’t have any time. “Surely you understand,” he would say.” I am an attorney and I work incredibly long hours. Plus I have a family.” I had worked with dozens of attorneys before so I indeed understood and was experienced in helping attorneys with successful time management – but Dave wouldn’t hear it.

When we discussed his salary goals he said he had to make at least 30% more than what he currently made to “justify the move.”

Despite the building complexities Dave was creating for himself, he maintained he wanted to be in a new position in less that 60 days. When I attempted to share with Dave that it appeared that he was neither ready nor willing to do what it would take to move forward, he simply ignored my comments.

Dave never did make his corporate counsel move. He took a job with another firm… A job that a recruiter had called to pitch him over the phone. It was the first and only opportunity Dave ever explored.

The story above illustrates how brilliant professionals can undermine their own career progress through not taking responsibility for their job search goals, not being willing to step outside their comfort zone and refusing to accept new ideas.

And then there was Brian.

Brian hired me as a career coach during a major transition in his life. He drove all the way from Houston to San Antonio to meet with me in person and discuss his situation.

He was a SVP for a mid size company in Houston and he was really ready for a CMO position with a large firm. He had done his research and picked two industries he was interested in exploring further.

He knew he had one chance to make a great first impression and he wanted to do it right. He wanted help researching particular companies, identifying what job search strategies would give him the most leverage and he wanted to make sure his resume was written to best position him for a CMO title.

I will always remember how positive Brian was. He always seemed to see the glass as half full. He took responsibility for his ultimate success, and he stayed focused on the strategies I showed him to get quality interviews. He knew the power of a team approach.

Brian was busy and had a family too, but he made his career transition a priority during that window of time by creating a weekly schedule he could manage and staying committed to it.

He landed several high quality interviews and accepted an offer from a company he was truly excited about – at the compensation level that met his goals (nearly 20% more than his previous position). It didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen within four months of our working together.

One of his goals was to work out of his home one day per week. We developed a strategy and Brian successfully negotiated this into his compensation package. He and his wife were thrilled.

Brian invested in himself and in his career move because as he put it, he knew that “for every $100 he put in, he would get $1000 back.” And indeed he did.

Brian was willing to listen. That was not true for Dave.

Being “successful” has so much to do with one’s mindset. And coupled with an industry expert’s guidance, moving forward happens much more quickly and easily.

So if you want to get yourself and your job search “unstuck,” it’s a wise move to first make sure you are committed to doing what it takes to reach your goals before you hire a job search coach or resume writer. However once you are certain about your commitment to your own success, these partnerships can make getting there faster and easier and your confidence, clarity and motivation will soar.

I was recently interviewed by C.M. Russell, (webmaster, blogger and podcaster for the online job search)
on his Secrets of the Jobhunt Podcast which is sponsored by JobRadioFM.

I love this topic: how to tell if you need a job search coach. You can listen to the 20 minute podcast here:

http://chrisr2.hipcast.com/deluge/18b89df9-76cc-139b-da74-a8dc7b486066.mp3

Are you in a full-time job search? Many job seekers who are find that supplementing their income until they land their next job takes a lot of pressure and anxiety off of them and helps to build their confidence and keep their energy and motivation up.

It’s actually not difficult to create one or more temporary income streams using the following strategies:

# 1. Management Consulting – jobs in management consulting (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) have DOUBLED over the last 10 years. If you are experienced in your niche, this can make exceptional additional income! Guru and Elance are great sites for getting the word out and giving you the ability to instantly bid on projects. www.flexjobs.com has an annual fee of $49 or you can sign up by the month – word from my clients is that this is an excellent site and resource.www.realmatch.com is yet another option.

# 2. Higher Ed Adjunct Teaching – teach part-time in your area of expertise and get paid for it! Adjunct teaching is increasingly popular with state and local colleges as they do not have to cover benefits.

# 3. Ebay/Craiglist – the business you can do using these mediums is pretty phenomenal. I know many people who generate significant passive income off these sites.

# 4. Interim Executives – many companies are looking for interim executives for various reasons. Most of the largest recruitment firms in the U.S. including Heidrick and Struggles, Russell Reynolds, Spencer Stuart and Spherion now have specialized practice areas for interim executive placement.

# 5. Corporate Project Assignments – gear a version of your resume toward project assignments, highlighting the key skills/strengths you are really experienced in. This strategy appeals to companies (even for some full time positions) because these positions don’t require automatic long-term commitments, benefit packages and contracting projects can generally meet many corporate challenges at significant savings to them. The benefits to you are clear including getting your foot in the door for more permanent work and giving you a chance to see if you and said company are a fit!

# 6. Register With Your Local Temporary Agency – employers hire mid-level professionals for project assignments through temp firms.

# 7. Earn Income From Your Hobby – a few things I have seen people do in the past includes selling fresh baked bread or veggies at their local farmers market, dog boarding, day care, ghostwriting, graphic design, selling antiques, equestrian lessons and photography.

In searching for your ideal position are you taking what I call the “I’ll know it when I see it route?”

Well, if this is you, chances are you have been surfing around on the internet looking for that perfect position, submitting your resume to multiple jobs and you are still waiting for the phone to ring.

Although getting clear on the kind of jobs you are interested in can be a worthwhile activity, you don’t want to get stuck on the job surfing and job board treadmill.

Here are three steps you can take right now to take back control of your job search:

Step number one: Focus on what you want

Before you begin your job search you must know what your driving motivators are and what your ideal job looks like.

Think of these driving motivators as the top three things you must have in order for you to feel like your next move is one that meets your needs.

Sometimes your driving motivators will run counter to your dream job, and that is okay. Give yourself permission to define these because they will affect your job search and help you discern which way you need to go – both for your short and long term goals.

To identify your dream job start with a list of things you love to do best. Another way to look at it is to ask yourself – what you are doing when you are at your best.

Step Number Two: get your game plan down

You should know what your job search strategy is – namely the two or three strategies you are going to use in your job search.

Individual strategies include embarking on a direct mail campaign, working with recruiters, special networking techniques like informational interviews and social networking just to name a few.

Each job search demands its own special approach, and by fleshing out your game plan you’ll quickly see what you need to do and where you might need help figuring things out

Step Number Three: Make a commitment to begin

Now that you have a plan and you know where you need help you can start moving forward. A big mistake job seekers often make is to wait and wait and wait until they feel “ready” to move forward.

Rarely do we ever feel 100% ready. So break this cycle of procrastination by writing out one primary actively you can focus on each day. Writing it out in advance means not having to lie awake in bed at night worrying over what you are going to do tomorrow.

Make your goals doable and give yourself plenty of rest and relaxation time to recharge your batteries. Don’t forget to congratulate yourself for every effort and activity you take…because each step is a step forward…and one step closer to your goals!

With your driving motivators, ideal job description, pre planned activities and goals spelled out and crystal clear, you now have distinct areas of focus to build on. This is the first and most critical step to taking control of your job search, so you can land the job you really want.

·     What industries are hiring

·     Two powerful strategies to quickly and easily get in front of hiring managers

·     How to get past gatekeepers when making follow up phone calls

·     What to say if the hiring manager says “Were not hiring right now”

·     What most people leave out of their resumes that are must-haves

·     How many pages a resume should be and the difference between chronological and functional styles

·     Vital tips to compete in todays job market

Listen to the 20 minute interview here:

http://www.totalpicture.com/shows/success-strategies/mary-elizabeth-bradford-the-career-artisan.html

Program Overview

The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), funded under Title V of the Older Americans Act, serves persons with low incomes who are 55 years old or over and have poor employment prospects. The program has two purposes: to provide useful community services and to foster individual economic self sufficiency through training and job placement in unsubsidized jobs. Services provided include:

up to 20 hours a week of part-time employment in community service assignments
job training and related educational opportunities
opportunities for placement into unsubsidized jobs

Community service assignments include the following activities:

social, health, welfare, and educational services (particularly literacy tutoring)
personal assistance, including tax counseling and assistance and financial counseling
library, recreational, and other similar services
conservation, maintenance, or restoration of natural resources
community betterment or beautification
anti-pollution and environmental quality efforts
weatherization activities
economic development; and
such other services essential and necessary to the community as the Secretary of the Department of Labor, by regulation, may prescribe.

To locate a program near you, please call Louis C. Stone at (615) 741-8777.

Source: Changing Course/ by Valerie Young

Part 1 of a 2 Part Series

In his hour-long interview with Charlie Rose, Bill Gates said something that made me grab for my pen. He said, “This is the best time ever to be someone who is curious.” How true. There are so many fascinating ways to make a living without a job. To see them, though, requires a certain amount of curiosity.

Like Barbara Winter, I’m constantly “interrogating” people about their work. When I spent the night in the hospital last year, I asked a (very taken aback) physician, “Why did you decide to become a hospitalist?”

Then last month I spoke at a gathering of women optometrists meeting at a hotel in Atlanta. While I was testing out the microphone system, the hotel was setting up for a chocolate fondue and martini reception. When I saw a nice young man from a local company wheeling in vats of liquid chocolate, I pounced. I’m sure the hotel staff thought I was a bit odd, but I was curious to learn how someone would dive into chocolate – as a business, that is.

I’m not the only one who is curious. I recently held an “Opportunity Detective” contest where aspiring entrepreneurs competed for a spot in my Outside the Job Box Career Expert course. Contestants were asked to submit 10 unique small business ideas. Here are just a few of the many fascinating ideas I received. Sprinkled among the business ideas are some lessons from me on how you, too, can break outside of the job box!

For Creative Entrepreneurs, Problem = Opportunity

When you view the world from the eyes of an entrepreneur, you understand that some opportunities come disguised as problems – and all the more so in these challenging economic times. For example, there’s a company in California that (and don’t ask me how) somehow sprays green coloring onto brown lawns so homes that are For Sale or bank-owned look lived in.

Not long ago, a cooking show featuring recipes from the Great Depression would have gone largely unnoticed. But today, 91 year old Clara Cannuciari’s Great Depression Cooking segments have been picked up by all the major news outlets. The videos, shot in her kitchen by her grandson, were such a hit on YouTube that he’s packaged up the DVD to sell. They’re also monetizing the site with Google ads, but I could easily see getting big time corporate sponsors like Ronzoni or Idaho potatoes. If you could use a smile check out Clara’s site or track her down on YouTube.

Try the problem = opportunity technique yourself. Think of something challenging or stressful, then find a way to address it. Take for example, weddings. You already know about professional wedding planners. But perhaps the only thing more stressful than planning a wedding is cancelling one. It was Opportunity Detective contestant Erika Harris who turned me on to an actual business someone started as a professional event canceller. What is especially noteworthy about this business is that, like many enterprises (mine included), it started with a personal crisis.

In 2008, Lindsay Riggin went through the painful process of cancelling her own wedding. Obviously it was tough. But it also made her realize that she may be able to put her social work degree to work by helping others in the same position.

Today, this Chicago-based entrepreneur helps her clients by doing everything from notifying guests, calling vendors, re-negotiating contracts, and answering etiquette questions. Obviously, handling all these details takes someone who likes organizing things and has good people skills. But Lindsay also puts her counseling background to good use by offering therapeutic support and advice to individuals or couples.

Like the organizing/detail part, but don’t have a counseling degree? Here’s a work-around: Partner with a therapist in your area to deal with the emotional fall out and you handle the practical side of things!

Finally, sometimes other people see our gifts before we do. When a friend saw John having lots of fun with women at a conference, he encouraged John to create a training guide on “Dating For Over 40 for Men.” John’s friend even offered to market it for him!

This business may turn out to be a great funnel for John’s other idea. He even has a name for it: “No More Nervousness – Complete Confidence for The Best Man – Prewritten Toasts and Speeches for Everyone Who Has to Talk at a Wedding or Reception.” (Personally I think John could start a little side business helping people come up with catchy book and product titles… he’s obviously got a knack for it!)

There are lots of benefits to surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs. For instance, John has another friend who is a Wedding DJ, and this is one of many add-on services John and he are considering. If you don’t know other entrepreneurs, then make it your plan to seek them out.

And in these challenging economic times, it is all the more important to look beyond – or at least in addition to – the traditional job path.

“Growing” Teen Entrepreneurs

A lot of people share my passion for reaching out and helping teens start a business. When I was at Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Marketing seminar in Washington, DC last month, the entire first row was reserved for young entrepreneurs. One came as far away as the UK – by himself!

Supervising and advising all of those teens at the event was a dynamic woman named Shonika Proctor. According to her business card, Shonika is the “speaker, author, consultant, and doer” at RenegadeCEOs.com. (That’s her to the right of me in the photo.) Her organization focuses exclusively on training, coaching and promoting entrepreneurial teens across socioeconomic backgrounds and across the globe. Virtual coaching (via phone & Skype) is available for those outside of the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

I just revisited RenegadeCEOs.com and learned that MTV is seeking contestants for a Teen CEO Reality Television Show. Obviously you would have to be a REALLY cool parent to put your family out there on national TV, but if you’re a bit of ham, it’s a great way to get exposure for your teen’s entrepreneurial dream. Unfortunately, the deadline is April 10th so go to www.RenegadeCEOs.com ASAP for details and to learn about this and the other cool things they’re doing to support teen entrepreneurs.

Teens and children were another popular theme amongst Opportunity Detective contestants. For example, David’s dream is to help fathers and children spend more time together by teaching families how to start businesses together. “I want to take teenagers and get them involved in entrepreneurship [as a way to give] the vast majority who will not go to college a different option than ‘just a j-o-b.’”

Here are examples of seven cool full-time businesses David says were all started by teens:

“Popsy Cakes” — Cupcakes on a stick! The brainchild of an 18-year-old girl enrolled in an entrepreneur program

Creating videos and music for special occasions and events

Eco Dog Treats – vegetarian dog treats

E&E Basket Company – gift baskets for all occasions

Tutoring and strategy business for college students

Online SAT preparation

Selling imported Peruvian jewelry

Walter from Canada shared this enterprising example of an even younger entrepreneur. “Grade eight Ottawa student Charlie Sobcov invented a painted, plastic window decal to save migratory birds from ‘skyscraper slaughter.’ Birds can see the ‘stop signs,’ but the paint color makes the removable decals invisible to humans. Although he’s still only testing the decals, he already has orders coming in.”

Remember how I said problems are an entrepreneur’s best friend? Walter shared another neat example of the problem-opportunity approach in action. After waiting 15 minutes in the icy cold for his bus, only to discover that he had missed it, 16 year-old student entrepreneur Eric Forkosh decided, “There has to be a better way…” So Walter reports, Erik created a hand-held Bus Alert that uses radio signals to alert him when the school bus is coming. How many kids, and parents, would love that!

Home-based businesses are very popular with the home schooling community. Another Opportunity Detective contestant named Olivia tells of homeschooled teen in her area who turned her love of plants and animals into a nature class for homeschoolers. “She teaches plant identification, how to track animals, animal and reptile habitats, etc., taking students on them on nature walks and has the class outdoors,” says Olivia. How cool is that!

Olivia has been teaching her own children to think outside the job box for a while now. Her 11-year-old even has a cake decorating business! Helping children is her passion. “I’m always looking for what their talent is and guiding them that way. After studying home-based businesses for 3 years (I’m a scanner), I’ve decided I want to help women find their uniqueness and how to profit from it. I was shocked when I found your website. It’s what my heart is! Teaching women to spot their children’s gifts and to help them think ‘outside of the box’ instead of just going down the same beaten path as everyone else is another area I want to help with.” Adding, “They’re our future!”

I couldn’t agree more! What I love about Olivia is she “gets” that there really is a way to take the thing she loves to do and share that with others who want to do the same thing. Don’t you wish you had a mother like Olivia? I’m also a huge fan of combining multiple interests into one or more income streams. For an interesting approach, one reader is taking that combines teen entrepreneurs and the green theme, go to the In the Garden section below.

The Opportunity Detective contest yielded dozens of other fascinating small business ideas. Proof that a curious mind is key to thinking outside the job box! What can you be curious about today? Practice flexing your Opportunity Detective muscles by making it your mission to chat it up with at least one business owner you come in contact with today. It could be the person who owns the corner store or the dry cleaners… or perhaps your chiropractor, yoga instructor, the trainer at your gym, the neighbor down the street. Entrepreneurs, like ideas, are everywhere. You just need to look.

P.S. I was supposed to pick just one winner of the Opportunity Detective contest. Note to self: Never run a contest where I have to choose! I ended up choosing 4 lucky winners. They are Erika, John, Jerry and Raghu. Their curious and creative minds have earned them a complimentary spot in the Outside the Job Box Career Expert Course. I feel fortunate that they will be joining this growing community of well over 125 Outside of the Job Box Career Experts!

Too many people waste time daydreaming about being rescued by “Mr. Job,” the career equivalent of waiting for Mr. or Ms. Right. This kind of passive approach is sure to disappoint. Face it: The only person who’s going to liberate you from job jail is you! If you want to be your own boss then take a proactive lesson from Jonathan Winters who said, “I couldn’t wait for success,” he reportedly said, “so I went ahead without it.”

P.P.S. To learn more about this career training and business launch program – and some free marketing tips anyone starting out in business can use – check out the Featured Resource below.

Add Your Two Cents

Want to comment on this article? Click here to hop over to the Changing Course Blog!

About the Author

“Turning Interests Into Income” expert, Valerie Young, abandoned her corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence at ChangingCourse.com offering resources to help you discover your life mission and live it. Her career change tips have been cited in Kiplinger’s, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today Weekend, Woman’s Day, and elsewhere and on-line at MSN, CareerBuilder, and iVillage.com. An expert on the Impostor Syndrome, Valerie has spoken on the topic of How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are to such diverse organizations as Daimler Chrysler, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Harvard, and American Women in Radio and Television.

Do you know someone who is looking for a new job? I bet you wish you could help them, but maybe you think you can’t because you don’t know of any open positions that would fit them? Well, there are lots of ways to help job seekers even if you can’t offer them their dream job. Here are seven tips you can use right now to help your friends and associates that may be in a job search:

Tip #1: Offer to give their resume to a key decision maker in your company
As long as your comfortable with it, why not pass along their resume? You never know when a position might come up or even be created to meet a need!

Tip #2: Invite them to join your network on LinkedIn
The bigger a job seeker’s LinkedIn network, the more chances they’ll have to find and connect with others! The tipping point on LinkedIn is about 65 connections, so you see, it doesn’t take much to quickly create a powerful network!

Tip#3: Endorse them (on LinkedIn), give them a recommendation or offer to be a reference
You don’t have to have been their boss to recommend or endorse them. So, if you can, why not brag a little on the strengths and skills you know they have?

Tip #4: Tell them about my free ezine and article library!
They can sign up here: www.maryelizabethbradford.com.

Tip#5: Hear them out
Let them share what they are looking for with you in terms of ideal industries and positions. Do you know ANYONE in their industry of choice that they could network with? You don’t have to know if they are hiring or not – every connection counts and could potentially lead to something else!

Tip #6: Invite them out
Do you attend chamber events, church functions, fundraisers or association meetings? Why not invite them along? Job seekers benefit from the opportunity to make new contacts and connections, PLUS it’s good for them to get out of the house and stay involved!

Tip #7: Be positive
Job seekers need positive support and to keep focused on opportunities rather than bad economic conditions and negative news. This is one of the most powerful ways you can support them…with your positive attitude!

My clients are finding and landing jobs every day – the jobs ARE out there and so is help and support. Be sure to remind them of this.

So, do you have additional ways that you have been supporting and assisting your job seeking friends and associates? Please share your helpful ideas here!

Source: CareerProNews
There are many reasons people want to become lawyers. One of the most common reasons is a desire to help people. Elder law is a legal specialty that helps a rapidly growing segment of the population — the elderly.

Elder law is a pretty new field. It began only two decades ago. The American Bar Association recognized it as a distinct field in the early 1990s.

Although it’s a new field, it’s expanding quickly. There are now about 5,000 members of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) in the United States.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) predicts that demand for lawyers will grow at an average rate through 2014. However, the OOH predicts that elder law is one of the legal areas that will see the most growth.

Allan Bogutz practices elder law in Arizona. He says the recent development of elder law shouldn’t be surprising.

“In 1900, the average life expectancy was 46 years,” he says. “The causes of death were different. They were infection, industrial accidents and childbirth. People are living longer now. So when we talk about elder law being a new field, elders are kind of a new field as well. Law and aging is a new issue completely, because aging is a new issue.”

Shifting roles within families and social changes are also contributing to this need.

“Prior to World War II, we could expect that elder people would, for the most part, go to live with their families,” Bogutz says. “Care responsibilities for older people fell on daughters and daughters-in-law. Now, nobody’s home in two-income families, and also people retire to distant places and their family is not there. So contextually, elder law is a new field meeting a new need.”

What exactly do elder law attorneys do? Depending on their cases, elder law attorneys could work on issues such as age discrimination, elder abuse, long-term care planning and guardianship.

Bogutz says that within the field, some sub-specialties will likely be in high demand. These include family business succession (the logistics of passing on a family business), arrangements for disabled adult children, taxes and financial planning.

Ann Krauss is a spokesperson for the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA). She says that as the baby-boomer generation ages, more people will be looking for information and legal advice on these issues.

Hugh McLellan practices elder law. He says that when he and his partner started their firm in 1992, they practiced both elder and labor law.

“After a while, we just thought, ‘This is crazy. We don’t need to do labor law, there’s so much work in elder law,’” he says.

McLellan believe elder law will provide opportunities for at least the next 20 years. During this time period, the number of people aged 65 and up is expected to continually increase.

Like other lawyers, elder law attorneys must first attend university. Then they attend law school. Law school is three years of study. Students must then pass the bar exams for their state. After completing this education, they can practice law.

Elder law training is similar to other legal specialties, but those in the field say elder law can provide some unique opportunities.

“Elder law is different from other areas,” Krauss says. She says elder law is not adversarial, in contrast to the perception many people have of law. “Individuals attracted to elder law seem to have that caring and compassionate willingness to go above and beyond for their clients.”

Krauss gives examples of NAELA members holding their clients’ hands in hospital emergency rooms and finding new homes for dogs after the death of clients.

Bogutz says those unique aspects of elder law require a special set of skills.

“Elder law has two components,” he explains. “One involves the specific areas of law that affect older persons, which include things like retirement, pensions, planning for giving your business to your children, planning for possible disability needs, age discrimination, planning for housing as people’s needs change and planning for what’s going to happen at the time of your death.

“The second component of elder law is the lawyer’s knowledge of the specific needs of aging clients. That involves things like dealing with special furniture for people who have difficulty getting up or down — and special furniture might mean nothing more than chairs with arms — making sure that buildings are accessible for people with disabilities, using larger print for documents, being available to provide home visits if necessary. Also being sensitive to the issues that are around changes of life, such as retirement or facing the end of life.”

Bogutz adds that the practice of elder law can also have many benefits. “It’s an extremely rewarding practice, professionally and emotionally,” he says. “I think you learn more from working with older clients, and many of us don’t get to be close to older people too much.”

At the same time, he recognizes the potential emotional downfalls of working with aging — and eventually dying — clients.

“At some point you acknowledge that the end of life is a natural, normal component of life,” he says. “Helping people to address that in a professional way, and making certain that all of their wishes are carried out and end-of-life care is going to be given in the way they prefer, gives you a certain satisfaction as well.

“So it can be frustrating to lose clients, but at the same time you have a sense of accomplishment that you helped them do it their way.”

Bogutz adds that elder law can also show a more positive view of growing old.

“We sometimes make assumptions about older persons that simply aren’t true.A very small percentage have substantial hearing loss. A very small percentage have physical disabilities. A very small percentage go to nursing homes. Many people are healthy, active and vital until the last couple months of their lives.”

Bogutz says that if students are interested in elder law, they can begin by getting involved with older people right away. He adds there are always opportunities to volunteer. “There are retirement homes, nursing home, retirement communities that are looking for people to assist with sometimes just looking in on people, sometimes with delivering meals, sometimes simply providing socialization,” he says.

National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
Links to services and resources available to older people
http://www.n4a.org/

National Elder Law Foundation
Certifies experienced elder law attorneys in the U.S.
http://www.nelf.org/index.htm

National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
National organization of elder law attorneys
http://www.naela.com

• It may not have been fair, just or your fault, but don’t “go off” on your employer.

• Your experiencing a wide range of emotions – it’s a grieving process so give yourself time to do that. It may take a day, a week, a month.

• Give yourself a certain amount of time to decompress. Even if its just a day or two (though preferably longer) make it YOUR time to do nothing, do something fun, be with your family, etc…

• Make a list of ALL the things you are thankful for in your life. Sometimes during a traumatic event we have a tendency to forget these.

• Reach out for your friends and family – let them support you. Isolation is NOT what you need right now.

• Resist any temptation to jump right in to looking for your next job. Again, give yourself (even just a little) time.

• When you are ready, have a symbolic “moving on” ceremony. It could be a dinner, a day at the spa, a vacation, a day of golf, a conference you have been excited to attend or enrollment in a certification or MBA program. Whatever it is, big or small – it will help I promise! (2-years ago my “moving on ceremony” was a dinner with my husband, complete with a big cake, candlelight and  a notepad and pen. We had so much fun brainstorming on all of our goals for the next 12 months and it really helped us to get focused!)

• Be brave. It will be okay.

• If the TV is overflowing with negative news, turn it off. Every month millions of professionals are hired. It just doesn’t make the news. Surround yourself with positive reinforcements.

• Many people have been fired or laid off in their careers – many highly paid and otherwise successful people! Don’t get down on yourself or start interviewing if you feel unusually sad or bitter (this tends to come out in interviews). Look for a support group, a coaching group, a mastermind group, a church group or any group where you can get positive support which helps to keep the negative thoughts at bay.

By the way I am not talking about a group of people to commiserate with – steer clear of those people right now! This will help you more than you know. I speak from personal experience and as someone who is “not a joiner” Just take a deep breath and do it for yourself. I promise you will be glad you did!     

Got any tips to share? If you have ever been fired or laid off, what helped you get through it? Please feel free to add your comments!