What to Do when You Lose Your Job: 100 Tips and Resources
Job Hunting Tips and Job Hunt Resources
Knowing what to do when you lose your job seems more important today than it’s been in our lifetimes. Millions of people who never imagined they would be unemployed or underemployed are now looking for jobs out there in the job market, so learning how to cope with being laid off, getting organized to send out resumes and acing those few interviews and callbacks we do receive is ultimately important right now.
So I’ve put together “100 Tips and Resources” for what you do when you have just lost your job or career.
Lost My Job
So you just got laid off or fired and you’re going through the emotional and financial devastation of being jobless. Know that there are legions of people out there just like yourself and many of them are willing to offer their advice and tips for what you do when you first lose your career.
1. Help! I Lost My Job! – For the jobless, unemployed and recently laid off, this blog covers all the emotions and ideas that goes through an unemployed person’s head: plan, positivity, bitterness, persistence, no panic and budgeting.
2. I Lost My Job – “Suburban Goddess” lost her job in 2008, so you can read about her process of searching for a new career while you search for yours.
3. I Just Lost My Job…Now What? – The writer created this blog for anyone out there who has lost their job, too. Offers free resume tips, free cover letter advice and job search questions answered.
4. Those Who Lost Their Job or Soon Will – How to survive losing your job and using the fear of career failure to find a new job and become a better employee.
5. You Just Lost Your Job – What’s Next? – Charles Apple blogs 7 tips for those people who were just laid off or fired, discussing how to keep your cool, along with how to handle finances, depression, insurance, thoughts of revenge, dealing with all that spare time and starting a job hunt.
6. Best Careers in 2010 – Marty Nemko offers his “Ten Best Carrers in 2010″, including one or two self-employment fields towards the bottom of the list.
7. Reduce Stress, Increase Joy – What the holidays can teach us about our work environment and why we should find a job we can enjoy and relax at, from “All Things Workplace” by Steve Roesler.
8. Job Search Marketing Toolkit – Career advice, job search advice and job search site reviews from “Career Alley”, a blog built to help people when they are searching for a new job.
9. Dream Your Job – Test Your Personality – There’s no reason you shouldn’t evaluate your own personality to see what the best job for you is. In fact, this might be one of the most important self-analysis you ever perform.
10. How To Figure Out What You Should Be Doing In Your Life – 7 tips for evaluating your career choices and what kind of a career you should choose to explore, from those just out of college to those who just lost their job.
Job Hunt Tips
A journey of a thousand miles begin with one footstep, so start thinking about how you’re going to conduct a job search. Hunting for a job is a real pain in the ass; there’s no getting around it. But the sooner you start job hunting and more information you have about jobs searches, the quicker you’ll this process will reach a successful conclusion. Procrastination is not your friend.
11. Secrets of the Job Hunt – A no-frills blog for job hunters which gives job leads in specific towns and states across America, as well as information and stats on the current recession.
12. Guerilla Job Hunting – From the author of Guerilla Marketing, Guerilla Job Hunting offers free job search tips. I know it looks salesy, but this job hunts blog offer good advice and videos.
13. Information Wants To Be Free – A writer, librarian and tech geek gives her thoughts on her own personal job search, which included over 200 rejection letters before success.
14. Job Hunt Blog – Safe and effective online job search tips, including advice on when they ask for your social security number and dealing with job search depression.
15. 7 Holiday Tips For Job Hunters – Alexandra Levitt’s Water Cooler Wisdom offers advice for job hunting during the holidays, most of which is good for job hunting year around.
16. Career and Job Hunting Blog – “Quint Careers” offers jobs and economic information, including what government leaders and businessmen are doing to get the economy going again, as well as the outlook for 2010.
17. Securing Your Career While Navigating the Winds of Change – “Sweet Careers” offers advice for changing careers. Just hope you can weather all those references to the wind.
18. Courting Your Career – This job search blog has such recent posts as “What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?”, “If you Want To Be More Enterprising, Think Plural” and “What Not To Wear (or Do) at MBA Admissions Fairs”.
19. Where the Jobs Are – 2009 and Beyond – “Career Solvers” leads a discussion of where the jobs are in 2009 and where they will be in the near future.
20. Job Seekers: Come Monday, It’ll Be Alright – An article on the Career Hub Blog for people about to start a job search. Another great article on Career Hub is “How To Get the Support of Partners and Parents Through a Career Transition”.
Online Job Searches
When you get tired of pounding the pavement and searching newspapers, local career centers and businesses, you can continue your job search at home on the Internet. If you haven’t hunted for a job in over ten years, you have a whole lot more resources at your disposal than you ever did before: social networks, jobs sites and even online employment opportunities.
21. How To Use Twitter For Your Job Search – Say goodbye to the job boards and hello to social networks when it’s time to find your next job.
22. 10 Ways To Use LinkedIn To Find a Job – Many online social networkers think social network sites can help you find a job, but most of those discuss Twitter. Here’s an article about using LinkedIn in your jobs search.
23. Network Your Way Into a Home Career – Teaching you to transition from college to the career world, “Classes & Jobs” discusses the best ways to make the connections that will help you make a career outside of a cubicle.
24. How To Lose a Job Through Twitter or Facebook – “What Not To Do” article from ITGS Online, about the likelihood potential employers search your social network homepages for deal makers or deal breakers when deciding to hire you.
25. Career Diva Eva Tahmincioglu – An author, MSNBC columnist and web journalist maintains this thinking man’s and woman’s career blog, discussing everything from career news to job Tweeting to finding the proper ergonomic chair.
26. Five Ways Google Can Save You Money – Google doesn’t just make searching the Internet easier or help you organize your emails. Google has five tools you might not know about that can make your life easier.
27. Microsoft Job Blog – Microsoft offers advice for job hunting, resume building and intervewin, whether you plan on working at MSFT or you’re just looking for job hunt suggestions.
28. Ten New Commandments For Career Success – The Hidden Job Market Secrets Blog discusses ten new concepts you’ll need to understand to succeed in the evolving career market.
29. The Future of Work Webblog – An interesting discussion of the future of the work environment and the jobs market, including this blog post about how the Internet is affecting people and their jobs.
30. Newton’s Quick Job Search Blog – Offers links to the most successful job search sites on the net, from the massive to the obscure, including “Wet Feet”, “Job Hunt”, “Dice” and “Groovejob”.
Resume Tips
It’s time to dust off the resume, because the more resumes and applications you send out, the better the chances are you’ll find a job which you’ll find contentment and fulfillment in and, most importantly, start earning some money from. The following resume resources covering everything from resume strategies to what the resume should look like to what needs to be in your resume.
31. 10 Tips for a Great Resume – The “Bargaineering blog” offers ten suggestions for building a kickass resume when you start looking for a new job.
32. Job Search Blueprint – For a place to start, you can look at this outline for how to conduct your grueling jobs search.
33. Resume Template – This “Word Templates” website includes templates for all kinds of business world templates, including this useful, no-nonsense resume template for sending out jobs inquiries.
34. Getting Hired When You Don’t Have a Degree – Finding the career path that’s right for you through “Career Solvers Blog”, by exploring all angles and avenues into a work environment and maximizing your life experiences on your resume.
35. 10 Tips For a (Slightly) Less Awful Resume – Stevey from Stevey’s Blog Rants offers ten resume tips that are entertaining to read, slightly cynical and absolutely useful.
36. 7 Principles For Writing a Letter – The key to writing sales letters, letters of introductions and otherwise introducing yoursef through the written word. You can use some of this for your resumes and job applications.
37. Evolving into the In-Demand Professional of Tomorrow – Adapting to the new work environment and becoming a sought-after employee in the 21st centuring, from the Resume Writing Blog.
38. Jobseekers Advice – Jobseekers is a career advice website with sections on career development, CV and resume writing advice, employment issues, working abroad, career education, training and the job seeker centre.
39. The Key To Securing Your Future Career – “An Elite Resource” gives advice and seminars on resume writing for professionals, helping you secure the job you always wanted.
40. Blue Sky Resumes Blog – Blue Sky offers the inside scoop on getting and keeping a great job, including self-defeating job search behaviors, polishing your personal brand and the value-added resume.
Personal Finance Blogs
Somewhere in the middle of your job hunting, you’re personal funds are likely to start dwindling. If so, search these online resources to learn ways to make your dollar stretch. Remember, just because you have to take these measures at the moment, it doesn’t mean you’ll be living like this the rest of your life.
41. Personal Finance Blogs – A whole host of personal finance blogs from real people talking about real finances, including the 2010 finanical plans, money challenges and how to cope with Christmas.
42. Living Large on a Small Budget – “Wise Bread” talks about the best non-traditional jobs, the best ways to avoid the worst financial problems and what you should and shouldn’t buy at Wal-Mart.
43. Bargaineering Personal Finance Blog – Discusses everything from debt consolidation and FICO scores to finding the best online checking accounts and why dividends stocks rock.
44. Six Ideas For Future Directions For the Simple Dollar – Trent’s “the Simple Dollar” blog is financial talk for the rest of us, which covers “Trent’s 14 Money Rules” and other ways to live financially secure.
45. Money Saving Mom’s Giveaway Post – The “Money Saving Mom” blog has a list of people willing to give away things. Add your name to the list or take advantage of all this free stuff from the “Giveaways Galore”.
46. How To Become a Substitute Teacher – One way to keep your head above water while you’re looking for a full-time job is to become a substitute teacher and here are tips for acting as a teaching substitute.
47. Moolanomy Personal Finance – Advice for saving time and money by shopping online, with the “Essential Toolkit for Shopping Online”. Other topics on Moolanomy include credit cards, debt, freebies, insurance, investing, real estate, banking and taxes.
48. How To Find Good Deals on Christmas Gifts – “Duel Income No Kids” may not sound like a financial blog for cutting corners, but it gives all kinds of economics, jobs and career tips.
49. Why Do Immigrants Save So Much More Money Than We Do – You see the success stories of immigrants to our great country. Now here’s budget-saving advice from an immigrant that reveals how they do it.
50. My Money Blog – Personal Finance and Investing Blog – With a little heavier emphasis on investment, this blog still finds time to discuss saving money with coupons, the best prepaid minutes plans and finding other good deals online.
Career Skills
While you’re searching for a new career, consider building your skill set to make yourself a more attractive potential employee. The more skills you can bring to a job, the more job possibilities will be open to you. Open some doors by unlocking your job potential.
51. Online Graduate School Tips – Advice for selecting the right online graduate school, so you can work on your masters at night and at your own convenience.
52. Finding the Best Online University – Online college degrees are huge these days and this how-to guide helps you select the best Online U. for the career you’ve chosen.
53. How To Get The Great Sales Job – Education, inspiration and motivation from Gavin Manningham, who gives specific advice on how to get a great sales job by maintaining a positive attitude, taking proactive measures, believing in yourself and being prepared.
54. Helping Multi-Talented Professionals Create Exciting Lives and Careers – Career advice for the jack-of-all-trades who is a master of none, from the “Career Branches” blog.
55. Tips For a More Productive Workday – These principles are solid for that brutal job search, while helping you keep that job once you finally get back to work.
56. Getting the Edge in the Sport of Business – The latest post on Mark Cuban’s “Sport of Business Blog”, where he talks about getting an edge in the 24/7 game that is the business world.
57. The Seven Beliefs of Success – Excellence in life enrichment from the “I Need Motivation” blog, including 7 secrets to becoming a successful person.
58. Making Money in a Bad Economy – How to make money during the economic downturn through investment. It sounds crazy, the market has gained nearly 4,000 points in the last year.
59. Thrive and Not Just Survive in This Economy – Workers don’t have to just survive the work environment, so “Career Trend’s Blog” gives tips for thriving in the current economy.
60. How To Be Happy With Your Job – Tips for measuring your own job satisfaction and learning the secrets of being happy in your career.
Job Hunt Community
Don’t feel discouraged if you start to feel like your opportunities are limited because of you age, race, gender or location. People every day just like yourself find good jobs. If you don’t believe me, click on the ten job hunter blogs below. If you don’t fit into these groups, I guarantee that you can find plenty of examples of your demographic online and some will be happy to share their advice and experiences. You’re not alone.
61. Job Search Resources for Boomers via Civic Ventures – For those more mature job seekers on the market, here are a few unemployment tips from Keppie Careers you can use when starting your job hunt.
62. Gen Y Career & Workplace Expert Lindsey Pollak – Offers career tips for the “Lost Generation” who came of serious job age during the recession or building your career pyramid.
63. Will This Tough Job Market Change Generation Y? – Blog discussion for the latest working generation on Anita Bruzzese’s “On The Job” site. Other useful posts include “How To Survive Working for a Jerk” and “4 Ways to Keep Your Confidence During a Job Hunt”.
64. The Black Factor – For those working or job hunting while black, the Black Factor provides strategies for coping with on-the-job racism, which may be no stronger than in the hiring process.
65. How Do I Get Back in the I.T. Job Market – Tips for getting back into the information technology jobs market from Harold Miller of “The Matrix Wall” blog.
66. Job Finding Tips For Teens – For those looking for their first job who don’t know how to even start, here is some first time job tips for teenagers.
67. Networking in New York City – Five tips for building a network of friend, business acquaintances and job contacts in New York City.
68. Where the Green Jobs Are – Find the job you love with “The Emerging Profession”, who gives tips to the green-oriented for being happier in their work environment and for finding jobs that fit their outlook on life. /the_emerging_professional/2009/11/where-the-green-jobs-are.html
69. Myths That Keep Black People Unemployed – The blog at the Grio website looks at black unemployment from a different perspective, listing traps that black men and women can fall into when job-hunting.
70. Dress For Success – Career Fashion Tips – Discussion on the types of clothing women should wear when preparing to be a successful careerist.
Interview Tips
Once you start to get positive replies back from companies and potential employers, you’ll need to focus on what you need to know and say and how you need to look and act while you’re interviewing. The interview process is a tense situation for just about anyone and, for some people, figuring out how to stand out from the crowd and win the interview process is a complete mystery. So do your homework and be prepared to impress when you start interviewing. If you aren’t surprised by the interview, you’re likely to have more confidence and presence in the interview process. So prepare for the interviewing process and learn some interview skills.
71. Break All The Rules In Resume Writing to Land the Interview – Discussing how to break the resume rules to stand out from all the other applicants, including bold colors, quotes from satisfied customers and even those dreaded charts and graphs.
72. 4 Tips For Relieving Job Interview Stress – Learning the art of landing the job with job interview tips, including these suggestions for avoiding the common stresses of interviewing for a job. /
73. Phone Interview Not To’s – The Interview Guru is full of interview tips and suggestions, including “what not to do” during and after job interviews.
74. Job Hunting May Be Tax Deductible – Tips for deflecting some of the costs of a job hunt, because travel to job interviews and other job hunt expensions are tax deductions.
75. 4 Actions That Got People Jobs in this Recession – If you’re looking for ideas on how to stand out in the interview process and get the job you’re looking for, these are four common actions that wil help you get a new job.
76. Career Slave: The Career Advice Blog – Advice for using your local career center, preparing for an interview, 6 steps for making a positive career change and 41 questions to ask at a job interview.
77. 100 Great Interview Questions – Cheezhead jobhunters blog offers 100 interview questions to ask when being interviewed, so you should be able to find a handful you can tailor for your needs.
78. Should You Accept the Job Offer? – Read these tips for when you finally receive a job offer. Or read these tips for when you don’t get the job you wanted, but a lower-paying offer.
79. 10 Steps for Landing an Entry-Level Job – “Heather R. Huhman” gives you ten secrets to learning more about the job search process and becoming a better job searcher.
80. Will the Closing Line In Your Interview Get You Hired – Good first impressions are important, but so are good last impressions. Learn how to finish off your job interview with a flourish.
Becoming an Entrepreneur
Maybe you decide you’re sick of working for someone else and jumping through hoops for the right to work. If so, you might consider becoming becoming an entrepreneur, so you can be your own boss. This might seem crazy if you don’t have the money to pay your credit card bills, but starting your own business doesn’t necessarily have to be a money-intensive experience, if you know the possibilities and have a little imagination. So read about becoming an online entrepreneur or a small-time business owner out of your own home and take the future into your own hands.
81. Turn Unemployment Into Entrepreneurship – Suggestions for turning lemons into lemonade by becoming your own boss after you’ve lost your long term job.
82. How To Decide Whether To Be an Entrepreneur – Another rating system to decide whether starting a business and entrepreneurship is the financial choice for you.
83. How To Become an Entrepreneur – Read the “Toilet Paper Entrepreneur” to see 163 tips for starting your own business and controlling the future of your financial success directly.
84. SEO Fast Start – This SEO expert gives advice for those who, like himself, has left his job. SEO is a web marketing and search engine ranking profession, for those wanting to know what the heck an “SEO expert” is.
85. The Life of an Entrepreneur – “What Would Dad Say Blog” explores the question of whether entrepreneurship is for you and discusses the traits that make for great business owners.
86. Working From Home Tax Deductions – For the self-employed or those who work from home, five different ways you can save money through deducting from your taxes.
87. Self-Employed Health Insurance – If you choose to become an entreprenuer or to work for yourself, you’re going to need medical insurance. This article from “Health Insurance Info” should give you most of the basics.
88. Procrastination, Anxiety and the Ugly Truth “About Just Starting” – Relief for entrepreneurs and creative professionals and mindful time management advice from a blog about time management ideas.
89. Finding Prosperity in Your Adversity – “Motivational Memo Blog” offers up short blog post memos to help pick you up when your job loss has got you down, meanwhile offering helpful tips for job hunts.
90. Escape From Cubicle Nation – Entrepreneurship blog from Pamela, which includes discussions of business models and articles like “How To Choose a Business To Start”.
Personal Branding
The 21st century is a whole new business climate, where personal success often comes from personal marketing. Whether you hope to find a job in your old career field, start a new career or start your own business as an entrepreneur, personal branding might help you market yourself, your skills or your business. Whatever the case, learning a little bit about personal branding and see if it’s not worth your time.
91. 10 Personal Branding Predictions – The “Personal Branding Blog” discusses how to integrate your online presence and use all the tools (such as social networking, videos, blogging) and transparency to sell yourself to potential employers.
92. Personal PR – Building Relationships – Sharing Ideas – Tiffany Monhollon discusses personal branding and social media tools that can help you navigate the line between personal and work both online and off.
93. 5 Reasons Why People Will Spread Your Personal Brand – More personal branding advice from the Marketing Minute blog, including 5 traits that make other people sell you to employers.
94. Personal Branding Tips From the Hidden Vault – “The Personal Branding Blog” helps people build towards their future success by building their own personal brand name.
95. Why Just Growing Your Network is B.S. – This article gives the other side of the argument, because if you are selling yourself, you won’t be able to sell the product, if the product isn’t a good one. Build your good reputation and you have good brand name recognition.
96. Are You Waiting For the Right Time – “Get Your Success” gives advice for avoiding the procrastination and wrong-headed perfectionism of waiting for the right time to make a life change, whether it’s going to the gym or getting a new job.
97. Personality Traits and Traitors – Why Networking Isn’t a Personality Trait – The career consultant at the “Unlock the Hidden Job Market” blog discusses how introverts and technical people can and should use their people skills to find a job.
98. Five Mental Habits of Innovative People – “Entry-Level Rebel” highlights 5 traits that innovative people display: they are associating, questioning, observing, experimenting and networking people.
99. 5 Ways To Climb the Ladder Without Losing Your Soul – Great job keeping advice, for when you finally find that job you’re looking for. Tips include honing your skills to develop a personal brand, learning who does have the boss’s ear (so you know who “not to cross”) and being the kind of person people enjoy spending time around (even at work).
100. The Best Insurance Policy You Could Have in a Recession – The “Networking Effectively Blog” presents a long article with 5 ways to make yourself invaluable at your next job or worksite.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Career, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Thanks so much for the link, I’m proud to be included with some of the great blogs on this list.
Cheers,
Ryan
Excellent resource….I hope I never need it though
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[...] What to Do When You Lose Your Job [...]
[...] What to Do when You Lose Your Job: 100 Tips and Resources – This list of tips and resources is provided by askdeb.com, provides a long list of resources. From “Lost my Job” to resources and tips, this is a very comprehensive list and sort of a “one stop” list to get you going. And, once you’ve worked your way through the list, there are additional related links at the bottom of the page. [...]