Losing your job, can render you powerless and impotent, filled with all the emotions attributed to death – and as such you need to give yourself time to GRIEVE and MOURN your job lose. The 5 stages of grief you may feel are;
1. Sadness
2. Anger
3. Denial
4. Depression
5. Acceptance
As part of the process, you can seek help from your community counsellor, family or friends. Going through the stages of grief allows you to re-evaluate your priorities in life. Such as what is important to you? what have you always wanted to do but were too time poor to achieve? where do you want to take your career? and are you content in your personal life?
Take this time to answer these questions for yourself; work out what it is that you want. If you can afford it go on a little holiday, and if dollars are a little tight, then arrange a sleep over at a friends place for a few days. The point of this is to change your environment and to regain control of your life, confidence and self-esteem after it was shockingly taken away from you.
You are at our most vulnerable and as such are highly sensitive and therefore susceptible to all forms of positive and negative input. Try to encase yourself with those whom you trust who will support you through the grieving and healing process. Take the time needed to heal your self esteem and confidence to wellness. There is no time limit and you shouldn’t be pressured into running to the first pay check. Remind yourself that you are more than a pay check and as such are worthy of self consideration.
When you are ready to re-enter the workforce, either as an employee or self employed, draft an action plan with an acceptable timeline of when YOU want to start working again. Here is an example;
1. Draft Action Plan
2. Set Time Line
3. Expand Your Horizon, for the challenge and diversity
4. Review & Amend Resume
5. Create a Business & Marketing Plan
6. Re-access Your Financial Position & Goal
7. Join Networking & Social Sites
8. Investigate the types of organizations you would like to work for
9. Review Personal Appearance, such as haircut, wardrobe, (which will do wonders for your self confidence and esteem)
10. Practice interview or meeting new clients techniques with friends or family
Ok, you have followed YOUR plan of action, and you are now in control of what you want after your experience. You have maintained (hopefully) a good relationship with your former employer, who will provide you with a great reference.
As the candidate, you will have spent weeks and months if required on perfecting the right resume and presentation to sell to a prospective employer or client. Be prepared for some rejection. It happens to us all. However remind yourself that finding the right employer or client is like finding the right spouse or partner, you would never agree to marry the first person you see, and the same can be said for the right employer or client.
How do you convince an employer (recruitment agency especially) to see beyond the "norm", that you are unique, funny, highly skilled and desirous of learning and re-entering the workforce?
You breathe, you remind yourself of your strengths, about what makes you the best person for the job. You remind your self that you have experienced triumphs that took your former employer to the stratosphere for a day and it had been achieved with your input. You remind your self that along your career path, you were guided by the best mentors, who inspired you to stretch yourself and reach as high as you can whilst maintaining your integrity, honesty and humour. You breathe!
For some finding the next job can take a matter of weeks, others it can takes months. However long it takes, we remind ourselves we have something to offer that is unique and special and therefore only the “right” employer or client will see it.
If you encounter hidden discrimination, (usually found among top tier recruitment agencies), be mindful and manage the amounts of “rejection emails” you receive from them. It could be that either your resume is not marking the impression you want or that you are applying for jobs you are not suitable for. Therefore have a friend or former employer review your resume and provide the feedback necessary to make the required amendments. If however; after you have made all the changes and you are still not getting anywhere with the recruiters, then it’s not YOU it is THEM.
A recruiter has an invested interested in finding the right candidate for the job as they are paid thousands of dollars as top tier recruiters and they may not be the only preferred supplier, to find the right candidate for their client (employer), therefore recruiters become overly selective to the point of over looking your experience based on what they hear and see. If you have fallen into the listed below criteria then it's a hidden form of discrimination based on;
1. Weight
2. Appearance
3. Employment History
4. Multiple Retrenchments
These are discriminatory and illegal and yet recruiters apply these tac tics daily by not providing the necessary and required feedback on why your application has not made it either for the selection stage or interview, or even after the interview.
Recruiters are also notorious for planting “fake” job advertisements to build their pool of staff, but rarely will you ever receive a call from an agency saying that you have been pooled from their databank. If you have encountered this silent and hidden form of discrimination I would be interested to hear from you.
To ensure that the job you are applying for is “real” ring the recruiter, speak to the consultant, if you don’t hear back within a reasonable 24 hours, then DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME. It is a FAKE!
You have endured too much and have worked too hard to have a consultant who isn’t interested in helping you find the right job. Remember they need you, more than you need them.
Remember recruiters are only as powerful as we make them. They are not smarter, or necessarily specialized or highly skilled in their fields. They are ordinary sales people paid to do a job and find new clients who will pay them large amounts of money to have YOU. If you find that you have been ignored, calls that have not been returned, after YOU have taken the time to call the consultant, then YOU have to ask your self, one question - WHY? And if you don’t receive the answer you seek, then speak to their manager that is what they are there for, ACCOUNTABILITY and blog the agency/s.
Let other’s like yourself know of the recruiters who have not only met your expectations through exceptional service delivery, such as returning phone calls, been available to help you, friendly and approachable, professional with integrity in attaining a job, but also those who have neither delivered in service, professionalism, or integrity. We live in an age of technology where transparency is required not only by candidates but also with employers and recruiters. It is your right not to be discriminated against for any reason. It is illegal and recruiters must be held accountable, and lack of responses or feedback equates to poor service and even possibly discrimination!.
Remember if YOU can recommend a restaurant, holiday destination or even a trades person to your friends, family or online, then so can a recruitment agency be held on recommendations based on their success or failure of assisting you to find that new job. YOU are their clients and as such deserve no less consideration.
Good Luck and let me know how you go….
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