Tag: fired

For millions of Americans, being out of work is an all too familiar situation. The jobs that people once had have been eliminated; bills are due, part-time jobs aren’t paying well, families need to eat and unemployment is running out. For those who were the breadwinners, guilt, failure, hopelessness and stress can feel overwhelming. So how do you take care of yourself if you find yourself in this predicament?

Whether your company has made a round of layoffs or you've had a sinking feeling for a while that you have fallen out of favor with the boss—if you find yourself "fired," you're not alone. Along with the usual trauma that a pink slip involves, your dignity, confidence and self-esteem, as well as your family and marriage can be under siege too.

Here are nine tips for handling this particular setback with your head held high:

1. Don't argue. It's counterproductive to make excuses and plead your case as your boss is letting you go.

There you are, newly hitched and thrilled about it. This is a time when your two-income family abruptly becomes a stable one-income family. "Downsizing" sounds like one of those fancy made-up-kind-of-words until it happens to you. Then you realize the awful certainty of what it really means—fired. And you soon find out that getting a new job just isn’t that easy.

Companies don't want to hire you at the pay scale you were accustomed to, but would rather go with that fresh-faced 22-year-old (which you were not so very long ago) and suddenly life gets very scary.