Advice from someone who lost his job: He made the search his profession. Earlier this week I received the message that follows. It wasn’t a request for advice. It described how someone dealt with losing his job. The ideas didn’t seem to need anything from me beyond a space to publish them, and the author gave permission to use his name. – Bob Dear Bob … A little over a year ago, I was informed that my job had been “made redundant”, and asked to leave the company. It was quite painful. Over the course of eleven years, I had shared some of the ups and downs as my company went from a small company into a subsidiary of a larger company. That company is now a small footnote to business history, with two thirds of the staff left without jobs, and the remaining third taking positions as contractors for the larger entity. I spent seven months looking for work. In the end, I took a job for less pay, and a commute 6x farther away (over an hour one way). Yet, I consider myself lucky (at least so far). I had to give up all of my old expertise (ten years as a Lotus Notes developer, eight years as an IT Manager), but I’ve been given the opportunity to learn some new Microsoft products [CRM and SharePoint], and get paid to do so. I’m no longer a manager — but in my last job, I had reached a “Peter Principle” point in my career. I had been promoted beyond my competence, and while I miss some of the perks and the compensation, the current job is far less stressful. I may even find a spot here where I CAN provide leadership — but I’m willing to take a little more time in getting there. Finally, while I had to cash in what little stock I had been awarded as bonus over the years, I did it in February, when it still had most of its value. I thought I’d share what I consider some of the more important factors in getting employed again: 1. I told EVERYONE I knew that I was looking for work. I was amazed the number of responses I got, including quite a number of leads. None of these panned out, but it was helpful just to establish a support group. 2. I made a point of having a discipline about the job search. I did research from 8:00am — 12:00pm every day, unless I had an interview. I made phone calls in the afternoon, and kept careful notes on all transactions. 3. When I felt down, I remembered the woman who told me I was redundant. I would think to myself, “if you give up, she wins.” It was helpful to have such a motivational target. I wish everyone luck in the future. Well, considering item three above, I wish ALMOST everyone luck … Regards, – Rob Pawlikowski Technology Industry