Rays of Hope in a dark world

Photo by notsogoodphotography

Christine Livingston’s blog, A Different Kind of Work, Christine’s post is titled: “How the Threat of Layoff Can Scare You Sh*tless (and what to do about it) In her post, she gives firm steps on “how to get a grip.” Here’s part of her post:

Get The Facts

Detail can be thin on the ground during times of restructuring. Part of that is because leadership is often genuinely uncertain about exactly how things will pan out. But while good leaders will be confident about sharing what they do and don’t know, others will add to the air of suspicion and uncertainty by hiding in a cupboard for the next four weeks, or avoiding eye contact with you at all costs.

And scary monsters breed in silence.

You absolutely must put yourself in the driving seat here and make sure you know as many of the facts as you can. How many jobs are going? How many from your team? What processes are going to be used to select in or out? Will you have to apply or interview for your job? What’s that going to look like? What are the timescales? Is there any practical or emotional support being offered to you during this time? How would you be able to access it?

When we are done here, you go read the rest. I wanted to talk about what I said back in the comments:

Everyone who is on the edge should read this and take the steps because I have seen unemployment last a very long time here. Most of the time, it has more to do with the unwillingness to invest in help. But even with help, it can be a long struggle.

Listen to these rays of hope success stories:

• HOPE – Last week, I heard that one of my clients who came to me in the middle of his unemployment is now back to work as a Purchasing Manager after 21 months off of work. The bigger miracle was that his unemployment ended just 2 days before he started his new position.
• HOPE – Another client who took a year off after being let go from a major bank out east and met with me in February, is re-employed as of July 30 and has already been promoted to Assistant Vice President in a regional bank.
• HOPE – Other transitions are happening. I just had a client move from a smaller cafe General Manager position to a larger restaurant within a hotel as the General Manager to better use her hospitality management degree.
• HOPE – also had a post from a young new college graduate on my Design Resumes Facebook page that said: “just got my first job this week, thank you for all your help, miss Julie and Design Resumes!”

You need to hear the success stories and have hope. I know, if you are unemployed, you wish it was you. But knowing that people are getting new positions, making career changes and successfully being promoted to new and better positions does this:

It give rays of hope in a dark world. And we all need that.