Tips for Making the Transition After Losing a Job

JOB MARKET

Getting fired doesn’t mean the end of a career, but it does mean that it might be time for a new direction.

It also creates opportunities for introspection and soul-searching — as well as, potentially, depression and desperation.

To ensure that workers experience a revitalized career and a recovered spirit after losing a job, recruiters, career counselors, and nonprofit workers who have lost their jobs recommend following these steps in the long days after a layoff:

Take time to think. While many people might want to rush right back into the work force — and some have to because of financial emergencies — job counselors recommend that people take a brief period to realize that their firing is not the end of the world.

“Privately, you need to be able to acknowledge the range of feelings,” says Barbara Frankel, a career counselor with the Strickland Group, in New York, who has worked with nonprofit clients. “You may be excited at the new opportunities you have ahead, you may be relieved. On the other side, you may be angry, you may be shocked, depressed, scared, or feel a sense of guilt.”

In addition to sorting through one’s feelings, it is important to evaluate one’s skills, and financial needs, says Susan Patton, a career counselor in Manhattan who has worked with many clients from the nonprofit world.

“What I tell them to do is devise a clear assessment of their own skills, their own contributions that they could bring to any potential employer,” she says. “Your self-esteem is a huge concern. But you can also regard a firing as a test of commitment to the nonprofit sector itself.”

Seek help. When George Maynard was fired several years ago after his employer, United Health Services, in Binghamton, N.Y., underwent a restructuring, he was lucky enough to have a good friend who was a career counselor to supply support and counsel. But other people, he says, might need to seek help out.

“Don’t go through it in isolation,” advises Mr. Maynard, who now is vice president of philanthropy and partnership at the Greenville Hospital System, in South Carolina. “Get with somebody who can give you professional help. It may be psychological, but it also might be practical, the ‘What do you need to do to get back into the work force? ‘ type of help.” Don’t forget to call on friends and peers in the nonprofit world, he adds, especially those who do similar work.

Career counselors can be helpful for some people who have been fired and are seeking new jobs, says Mary Heideman, a recruiter in Kansas City, Mo., who works for nonprofit clients nationwide. “If you haven’t searched for a while, they can give you all sorts of tips,” she says. “They can tell you what Internet resources are the most helpful for job searches, how to rework your résumé, and they can even set up mock interviews.”

When looking for a career counselor, says Ms. Frankel, try to find someone with a compassionate ear, a lot of experience working with people in transition, a background in assessing a client’s skills, and familiarity with the field of interest. “They should have a strong understanding of the sector,” she says. “Both the one you’re coming from and the one you’re considering.”

Keep active. Losing a job doesn’t mean losing a profession, says Colette M. Murray, chairwoman of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and a recruiter in San Diego who works with nonprofit clients.

To stay visible and keep one’s skills up, she says, “you need to be active in the same conferences and organizations that you were active in before. It’s important that people can see you making presentations and attending meetings.”

It also might be a time to make new connections, she notes, especially for those who have not made many contacts in the past.

Another good way people keep their skills in shape is through volunteering at another organization in a way that highlights their areas of expertise. “I’ve had people volunteer for six months as a major-gifts officer,” Ms. Murray says. “It was unpaid, but it was active, and it built a whole new group of references who could support them.”

Stay rooted. People define themselves through their professional responsibilities, notes Mr. Maynard, and losing those duties can send them into a tailspin.

“You need to have another anchor, be it church, family, friends, hobbies,” he says. “If you’re just anchored in your job, you’re going to have a pretty hard time. But if you have a substitute anchor, then a job loss is much more bearable. I was amazed at the number of people who started talking to me about what else they realized they had in their lives soon after a job loss.”

It is also important for the newly fired to make sure their families feel secure. Ms. Frankel suggests that early on, parents reassure their children. “Communicate a positive attitude to your family members,” she says. “Children may feel even more anxiety about your job loss than you do. A person who’s been let go needs space, but they have to be mindful that people close to them will experience anxiety themselves. Be realistic, but communicate a positive attitude.”

Be honest. When it’s finally time to get back into the job hunt, don’t be afraid to talk about the dismissal. Mr. Maynard suggests that potential employees think of it as a chance to show the quality of their character.

“There’s a tendency to initial suspicion, but if you’ve gone through being fired, and you know what happens to you, then you know it’s not an uncommon happening,” he says. Job seekers should carefully frame the tale, he says: “If their explanation is all about ‘What happened to me, ‘ they’re probably not going to get a second interview. But if they’re upfront, if they can tell the story and tell what they learned from it, that is the best indicator they’ve learned from the experience.” — Jeffrey Klineman