What To Do After a Job Loss

The worst has happened. Whether their fault, your fault or nobodies fault, you lost your job. We don’t want to make a bad situation even worse by making big financial mistakes. This is what to do after a job loss so you can stay or get back on your feet quickly.

We have all probably suffered a job loss at some point so we know how scary it can be. But there are lots of things you can do to mitigate the damage.

Preparing for a Job Loss

Sometimes you can see the writing on the wall. Whether you’ve been slacking off at a job, you hate and know the ax is about to fall, or the company is showing signs of distress so dire that you can see it’s about to go under, sometimes you know you are about to lose your job. This is how to prepare for the inevitable.

Emergency Fund

This is exactly what an emergency fund is for. If you don’t have one, or your’s is a little skimpy, start beefing it up. Before the end comes, you want to have two to six months of expenses saved up, depending on how confident you are in your job prospects.

If you are going to save a few months worth in addition to your current emergency fund or are starting from scratch, don’t invest that money.

Because the need to dip into your emergency fund is rare and it’s a big chunk of cash, we recommend, although not without some controversy, that you invest your emergency fund somewhere like Betterment.

It’s too much money to have sitting in a low yield checking, or savings account for years on end.

But you are going to need to live off this money in the very near future so it needs to be somewhere readily accessible which means your checking account since you will be paying bills and other everyday expenses with it.

Update Everything

Even if you are thrilled and secure in your job, you should update your resume once a year. You never know what opportunity might cross your path and you want to be ready for it.

If you have recently completed a big project, update your resume to include it while it’s fresh on your mind.

Keep your LinkedIn profile updated as well. And while you’re at it, ask for LinkedIn recommendations from the people at your job (or past positions) who think you’re fantastic.

It’s always painful to ask but just do it, most people will agree and may even ask you to do one for them which makes the whole process feel less needy.

Google Yourself

Nearly all potential employers are going to Google you and what they find might be embarrassing. If you have a Google account, you can control what comes up under your name if you control the content. If you do not control the content, you may still be able to have it removed. 

Know Your Worth

Understand your worth in the job market. You can use sites like Glassdoor and PayScale to see how much others in similar jobs and similar locations are being paid. Take a look at Indeed to see how many openings there are for your job.

If there is not a lot of demand for what you currently do, you may need to learn some new skills that are in demand. This doesn’t mean you have to go back to college or spend a ton of money. There are a lot of free or low-cost sites that will teach you new skills like Udemy and Coursera.

After the Loss

Okay, now it’s happened. You are officially unemployed. These are your next steps.