So, you just received notice that you are being terminated from your job. What are your plans? What to do next? Read our helpful suggestions.

When people are terminated from their jobs, they tend to experience similar emotions, and tend to go through the same type of stages. We noticed that our most successful clients follow these steps below to help them get through the post-employ stage, and find a job.

Take some time

When people leave a job, they have tend to encounter a range of emotions, including elation, sadness, anger, betrayal, excitement, indifference, etc. But most people have one item in common and that was routine. Getting up in the morning, commuting to work, working, ending the day etc. Breaking this routine can be unsettling, so we recommend a) get up at the same time as you normally would have b) eat breakfast c) and do something (such as complete some errands, clean the house, grab a coffee and go for a walk). The purpose of this process is to take a day to decompress, and to clear your head. Sleeping in until late morning may be counterproductive and may make you feel worse. Now it’s ready to make some decisions.

Get back to work

Most people when given a termination/severance pay, tend to take longer to get back to the workforce, and the more money received, the longer they delay to get back to work. We recommend starting to look for employment within a month of being terminated. Realistically it can take a minimum of two weeks (depending on the role) and up to four weeks or more.

Review your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, and assess your comfort level

We recommend setting aside some time to review your resume and ensure all details are up-to-date. Has it been two, five or 15 years since you had to update your resume? Do you have a resume? You may need to book more time for this one. Check over the details, and input all information that is pertinent. You will also want to pull up your cover letter and update/create a LinkedIn profile (optimize and ensure all details are searchable and or relevant). If you are like most people, the resume has been mushrooming over the years, and it’s a good idea to strip it down and re write it.

Start applying to jobs!

Set some time each day to apply to jobs. We recommend doing this when you feel most productive and motivated and we recommend setting a certain amount of time to do this, for example one hour per day to collect job postings (copy and paste to a Word doc or Excel sheet), and then set another hour to apply to the jobs. Catering to each job will increase your chances of being shortlisted and contacted for an interview.

Stay positive

It can take some time to get calls back from applying to jobs. From our experience, our clients tend to be contacted within the first week or two, so keep applying, and if you get an interview, keep up the momentum and keep applying to jobs until you have an offer in hand.

We hope you enjoyed our tips and suggestions, and if you know someone that needs some extra help, please forward to them, and don’t forget to click on our share buttons.

Good luck!