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The following is a ‘quick reference list’ of steps and actions you will want to consider if you have recently lost your job or have been notified of an upcoming layoff.
Attend to the Basics
- Carefully review any separation agreement/severance package before signing
- Obtain sound financial advice regarding severance payment, RRSP’s, tax implications, etc.
- File a claim for EI as soon as possible after obtaining Record of Employment
- Develop an interim personal budget
- Inquire regarding any continuation of benefits (healthcare, dental plan etc.)
- Request a letter of reference from employer or supervisor
Deal with the Impact of Loss
- Be aware of the emotional/physical impact the loss has had on you
- Identify ways that the loss has affected or may affect your outlook or behavior
- Examine the impact of the loss on your family
- Establish effective coping techniques and get support
Develop a Support Network
- Identify family and friends who are supportive and ask for support
- Identify and access community and public support services
Access books, programs/services and assistance for:
- Job loss/transition management, career exploration/planning, job search/resume writing, interview skills, evaluating training and school options, and Entrepreneurship/Self-employment
Moving On
- Explore all available options such as retraining, contract work, occupation change, entrepreneurship, or traditional job search.
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Here’s a practical list of my top 10 career strategies to employ if you want to advance your career this year.
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- Identify you strengths and manage your weaknesses. Put your emphasis on your strengths and look for opportunities to focus more on these skills.
- Create a career portfolio. Collect all of your certificates, credentials, résumé and any other papers that relate to your skills and put them in a binder
- Increase your profile. Volunteer to join committees, projects and special events to connect with people in other areas of the company. It shows your engagement with the company and the job will be more fun if you venture outside your cubicle.
- Help others succeed. It’s very satisfying to help someone out of a jam. You feel you’re contributing and it benefits someone directly.
- Build your network. Get to know people playing different roles in the company.
- Find a mentor. Look for a colleague who’s been with the company a long time — or someone in the same industry with another organization — you can safely talk to about your career aspirations and who will give you honest feedback.
- Talk to your manager or human resources department about your career. Discuss your long-term goals and seek advice about how you can improve your performance in your current job and what you could do now to prepare for a future role.
- Pursue professional development. Seek training to enhance your skills in your current role but also consider what skills would be useful to your department.
- Expand your horizons. Attend industry conferences and read journals and blogs about your profession and industry to find new ideas to bring to your job and organization. (https://africanarguments.org/)
- Be inquisitive..Ask lots of questions: How can I improve? How do you do that? What needs to be done? How can I help? Where do I go from here?
Related to Get Ahead at Work
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Let’s face it –there are high expectations in our society regarding our performance, professionalism, output and activities. It seems I’m supposed to be a high-output, multi-tasking entrepreneurial networker, who’s up-to-date on the latest advances in technology and trends in my sector, while also managing my many relationships and arriving at meetings on time. Whew!
But the reality is that I don’t do everything equally well. And it seems the harshest judge of my abilities or missing abilities, is the judge in my head. I want to do everything well, but I’m not ‘good’ at everything. We humans are miraculous beings with amazing capabilities. (Provigil) But the phrase “I’m only human” also applies, referring to the humbleness that comes from having, and admitting….can I say it?…….limitations. Yes, even weaknesses!
Like the flip side of a coin, or the Ying to the Yang, I have weaknesses that work in tandem with my strengths. My ability to retain and focus on details is also a weakness when I lose sight of the big picture. My entrepreneurial ability to see opportunities and create business ideas can also result in a fragmented business as I try to tackle too many projects at once. I also have weaknesses that stand on their own like my lack of artistic drawing skills or my inability to do complex math calculations.
In his book titled Go Put Your Strengths to Work, Marcus Buckingham makes the bold assertion that we should stop worrying about and focusing so much on our weaknesses. Instead he contends that we should spend our efforts and energy building on our strengths. Sure, some weaknesses can be overcome through learning or practice. But Buckingham asks the question, why spend all our energy identifying , thinking about, and working on our weak points, when we can experience far greater and faster results building on our natural gifts and strengths?
Imagine living day to day immersed in personal and work activities that play to your strengths rather than those that highlight your weaknesses. That idea is enough for me to start a Strengths Plan – a list of my greatest strengths and a plan to use and develop them more and more each day. If you need help with this and other career related challenges, call my office to learn how we can help.
Related to Play to your Strengths
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Have you heard the term life-long learning a lot lately? It’s the catch phrase used in the career and education sectors to emphasize the need to stay up to date with the relevant knowledge and skills required in our fast paced knowledge based economy. Although I must agree with the underlying concept of staying ‘up-to-date’, it can all sound so overwhelming and disheartening. Life Loooooooong Learning – schooling for life, night courses forever – ugh!
So I have decided to come up with a new phrase to describe a workable training solution; Right Time – Right Type Training. You see, the key issue to staying competitive and employable is having the right skills and the right knowledge at the right time for the task or job at hand , not just taking training of any kind, all the time.
Whether I’m coaching people who have just lost their job, decided to change careers, or are looking to get promoted, my approach to re-training is the same. First of all, can we identify specific skills and knowledge that will be needed for moving forward? This is not always the case as many people identify re-training as their next step out of fear and self doubt, rather than on the facts of what employers want. If we can identify skills gaps, then the next step is to find an appropriate method of learning that will meet the requirements of the new job – not more, not less. While returning to school for a full degree, diploma, or certificate program may be the best option, there are many ways to gain new skills and knowledge. There are part-time and evening continuing education classes, on-line courses, in-house employer sponsored courses, industry conferences, on-the-job mentoring and job shadowing, training videos, reading books and journals, and many more.
So don’t get discouraged if the demand for life-long learning seems too much. Think of it instead as identifying the Right Time and Right Type of training for you and your goals throughout life. This is much more positive and purposeful!
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One of the first steps you should take when beginning your career exploration and planning process is undergoing a thorough self-awareness process that looks at your preferences, what motivates you, and your past successes. As a Career Coach/Counsellor, one of my key approaches is to ask probing questions to uncover clues to your ‘best fit career’. The following are a sample of the questions I use. Take time, have fun, and be open-minded…
Generally…
1. My greatest strength, gift or talent is . . .
2. When I have spare time I love to…
3. What I want more of in my work life is . . .
4. What I want less of in my work life is . . .
From my work background and other life experiences…
5. What gives me the greatest feeling of satisfaction is…
6. I’ve felt the most competent when I was….
7. I get most passionate about what I’m doing when…
8. This is what the “job from hell” would look like for me…
9. This is what the “job from heaven” would look like for me… (tip: reverse of the job from hell)
10. When I consider the world, business and community around me, the ‘causes’ and ‘issues’ I feel most passionate about are…
About the future and my potential…
11. If I knew I could/would not fail at something new, then I would try/do/be a …
12. If I could do or be anything I would be a …. doing….
13. The most important legacy I could leave, or the most important contribution I could make to the world is…
14. My five (or more!) greatest success stories or times when I was highly motivated and engaged in my life/work/education/volunteering are…
Review your answers and see if you can pick out any ideas, patterns, or clues that may point to a new career that you would find satisfying.
Related to Clues to your Strengths & Passions:
- Personal motivation | Finding personal motivation at work
- The services of a career coach
- Career Planning
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A great tool for developing your career, which is only now gaining popularity, is the career portfolio. A career portfolio is an evolving collection of documents showing your professional development, work history, qualifications and accomplishments. It can be used both as a self-marketing tool and as a personal reminder of your progress over time.
You can draw on your career portfolio for performance reviews, or when you are applying to an internal job posting, requesting a promotion or raise, searching for new employment or securing consulting contracts. It can also be used as a resource when preparing or updating your resume. Essentially, it is your career DNA — a visual, documented record of the evolution of your career.
You may want to keep the contents of your career portfolio in a binder, a “holding place” that can be continually added to as you progress through your career. Your career portfolio will become an excellent reference tool from which to draw, no matter what direction your career future takes.
Here’s a partial checklist of what to include in your portfolio:
- Resume(s)
- Detailed summaries of past work experiences, including key responsibilities, accomplishments and successes
- Copies of past job descriptions and project outlines
- A detailed list of your qualifications, education and training
- Copies of all certificates, degrees, professional designations and workshops
- Lists and details regarding volunteer and community activities
- Copies of reference letters, testimonials and performance reviews
- Samples of projects, reports, articles or publications
Use this checklist as a guide as you collect the information and documents needed to create your career portfolio. You may want to create tabs or dividers for your portfolio binder using some or all of the listed items. Collect the information and contents required for your portfolio from your files, personal documents and by requesting information from your current and past employers.
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