Husband got laid off

[EricDavis73]

As someone who’s also been looking for work, I can offer some practical advice for your hubby that a good friend gave to me.

Monster.com, careerbuilder, etc. are good for seeing where the jobs are, but the odds of landing one through them have really gone in the toilet since the recession deepened. Don’t neglect posting your resume on them, but don’t waste a lot of time chasing the leads there either.

He needs to get in the mindset of looking for jobs that haven’t even been advertised yet. The key to this is networking. I recommend LinkedIn as a great way to build a professional network. The other tools are your local job clubs. Call your diocese and see what churches are hosting them and have him start attending. They will vary greatly and it may take several meetings before finding the one with the right mix of people and leaders. I hadn’t put a resume together in over 11 years and the rules had changed a lot since then and job club helped me get it polished up.

He should resolve to do one tangible task related to the job search each day. Send a resume/cover letter. Respond to a post. Make a cold call. At least one thing - can be more, but he should get in the mindset that his new job is looking for a job.

Whenever someone helps in any way (whether giving him a lead, making phone calls or especially after an interview), send a thank you note. Go to the dollar store and pick up a pack of blank Thank You cards and put them by the phone/computer along with a stamp. Right after his conversation/email/message, he can write the thank you, address it, stamp it and put it in the mail.

Finally, he should also feel entitled to take a mental health day when the stress builds up. I won’t pull any punches - looking for a job right now stinks (keeping it PG - replace with your own colorful metaphor as desired) and the stress can build up. Make sure he blows some of it off by going to play a round of golf, working in the yard, hanging out with his buddies, going to a ball game, whatever. I can’t emphasize it enough that he has to keep on keepin’ on and sometimes you have to recharge your batteries.

That’s about it. Praying for you and everyone else out of work right now.

 

[23eagle23]

Ericdavis73

Excellent advise, I can’t agree more.

I went back to school, Univ. Phoenix, and have completed 1 of my ceritfications in addition to attending college.

The job site advise is spot on. Everything today is networking,

As far as dealing wiht the stress, I leave the house everyday for a short time, shopping, coffee, to see a friends, something so these four walls stop closing in on me…

great post…

 

[whatevergirl]

My son-in-law went to work as usual one morning, was met by security, who would not let him in, was told by some manager that he no longer worked there, and was not even allowed to pack up his office. They packed his stuff and shipped it to him. He was given some severence, though. No reason given except they were letting people go. There was not even a rumor going around ahead of time.

*That’s awful. And disgraceful. I work in the corporate insurance side of things, and we have been seeing a lot of our clients being sued because they are letting people go without any notice…without giving severance…and in many cases the clients are settling, because so many employees are coming forth at one shot, if there was a massive layoff …and they can’t afford the court costs…so…these employers better have good insurance policies in place, because what they are doing, while not unlawful maybe, is unethical. And people are suing. I’m not suggesting to you Christina that your husband sues, but I’m just sharing what my company (insurance broker) has been seeing with our own clients when companies let their ee’s go like this. We live in a very litigious society, and we are also seeing companies (our clients) being sued because they have stopped offering a match for the 401k. One can sue for any reason, doesn’t mean they will win…but if an employee or ex employee feels he/she can recoup some of what he/she lost, then he/she will go for it. *

 

[whatevergirl]

As someone who’s also been looking for work, I can offer some practical advice for your hubby that a good friend gave to me.

Monster.com, careerbuilder, etc. are good for seeing where the jobs are, but the odds of landing one through them have really gone in the toilet since the recession deepened. Don’t neglect posting your resume on them, but don’t waste a lot of time chasing the leads there either.

He needs to get in the mindset of looking for jobs that haven’t even been advertised yet. The key to this is networking. I recommend LinkedIn as a great way to build a professional network. The other tools are your local job clubs. Call your diocese and see what churches are hosting them and have him start attending. They will vary greatly and it may take several meetings before finding the one with the right mix of people and leaders. I hadn’t put a resume together in over 11 years and the rules had changed a lot since then and job club helped me get it polished up.

He should resolve to do one tangible task related to the job search each day. Send a resume/cover letter. Respond to a post. Make a cold call. At least one thing - can be more, but he should get in the mindset that his new job is looking for a job.

Whenever someone helps in any way (whether giving him a lead, making phone calls or especially after an interview), send a thank you note. Go to the dollar store and pick up a pack of blank Thank You cards and put them by the phone/computer along with a stamp. Right after his conversation/email/message, he can write the thank you, address it, stamp it and put it in the mail.

Finally, he should also feel entitled to take a mental health day when the stress builds up. I won’t pull any punches - looking for a job right now stinks (keeping it PG - replace with your own colorful metaphor as desired) and the stress can build up. Make sure he blows some of it off by going to play a round of golf, working in the yard, hanging out with his buddies, going to a ball game, whatever. I can’t emphasize it enough that he has to keep on keepin’ on and sometimes you have to recharge your batteries.

That’s about it. Praying for you and everyone else out of work right now.

---

That is a great post…and I’m sorry you are out of work, also. You sound like you would be very good in sales, were you in that, have you considered it? I am in sales, and in a recession, if you are ‘producing’ it’s relatively recession proof, depending on the product you sell. Retail, no…but business to business sales, can be very productive.

If any of you have never considered sales, and are looking for work right now, it can be a good way to reinvent yourself, so to speak. ***

 

[EricDavis73]

---

That is a great post…and I’m sorry you are out of work, also. You sound like you would be very good in sales, were you in that, have you considered it? I am in sales, and in a recession, if you are ‘producing’ it’s relatively recession proof, depending on the product you sell. Retail, no…but business to business sales, can be very productive.

If any of you have never considered sales, and are looking for work right now, it can be a good way to reinvent yourself, so to speak. ***

I’m a Landscape Architect - have been on my own for 5+ years now but the business has just stopped producing since about the first of the year and things have deteriorated to the point where I decided to shut it down (I guess I laid myself off, now that I think about it) in February and have been looking for a place to land ever since. Thankfully, I may have found it. My post was first-hand experience as it (the new position) was unadvertised and one that I found entirely by networking.

Sales isn’t really my thing but I agree that it’s one segment of the market where you can find work right now.

 

[ChristinaM]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your wonderful posts, prayers and support. CAF is an amazing place! I will pray for all of you who are on the job hunt, too.

My son-in-law went to work as usual one morning, was met by security, who would not let him in, was told by some manager that he no longer worked there, and was not even allowed to pack up his office. They packed his stuff and shipped it to him. He was given some severence, though. No reason given except they were letting people go. There was not even a rumor going around ahead of time.

Wow, that sounds familiar. DH did at least get to pack up his office…but not much more than that. He was given notice at 12 noon and was off the plant by 1 pm.

His company has been going through some really rough times. Their major customer is the auto industry, and well, you know how that is going. They shut down most of their other plants and sent everything to the plant where DH was working. A bunch of people were laid off back in March…but DH didn’t get the pink slip that time. We stupidly let ourselves be lulled into a false sense of security. I feel so mad that we didn’t even see this one coming.

Sounds like your mothers a real cool lady

Yeah, she’s awesome. Our relationship hasn’t always been smooth sailing but I will say this - she always comes through when I need her.

Eric, thank you especially for that great advice. I agree that networking is where it’s at. DH had a number of good job leads through contacts with his professors the first time he was job hunting - he’s been in this job only a year and two months. I’m going to ask my professors if they know of anything - some of the profs in my departments have good contacts with industry so maybe we can find something that way. We’re also checking out job boards at our professional societies.

Monster and Careerbuilder are nothing but frustrating. Some companies are hiring engineers all right - but they only are interested in people with 5-15 years experience. DH didn’t particularly care for this company he was working for, but he and I were so hoping that this job he was in could be a real resume builder. And they let him go because he had the least seniority.