Steps to life after a layoff

She didn't waste time. When Becky Johnson Sabin, a 37-year-old Sacramento communications manager, was laid off from her job with Teichert Construction in October, she decided to leap into whatever might come next in her career.

"I skipped denial and anger and went straight to acceptance and knowing something better was out there for me," Sabin says.

Really, how emotionally healthy. And what a good role model for other people who are frightened by the all-too-real possibility of losing their jobs in the current gloomy economic climate.

You know who you are: state workers and high-tech whiz kids alike; wage slaves as well as top-tier managers; the young who don't have much work experience and the old who worry they have too much. In the public and private sectors, in blue-collar work and white-collar jobs, at almost every level of the workforce, job security is nothing to take for granted these days.

Clearly, living through job loss has become a new lifestyle, albeit one that most people would never choose, since it brings with it alarming worst-case scenarios like losing both health benefits and home.

Still, there's a bit of good news.

"In the long run, there is life after layoff," says Davis career counselor Andrea Weiss.

And in the short run, layoffs don't carry the sting of stigma that they used to. In the worst economy in decades – with 2.5 million people laid off in 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and California's 9.3 percent unemployment rate the highest it's been in 15 years – how could they?

"How do you shift your thinking about your circumstances?" says Rayona Sharpnack, founder and president of the Bay Area's Institute for Women's Leadership. "This is an opportunity to rethink your identity. Most people consider their identity to be what they do instead of who they are.

"What we can control when everything's out of control is how we hold our circumstances."

Facing potential layoffs, you've braced for impact – but maybe you should embrace the possibility of reinvention instead.

Which brings us back to Becky Johnson Sabin, who powered from unemployment to a new job as communications director for Siemens Mobility in an impressive five weeks' time.

"I sent an e-mail to one of my old bosses at Teichert." she says. "I said, 'Thank you for letting me go. It forced me to do something different.' I think it's the only time anyone's ever thanked him for getting laid off."

The nuts and bolts of it

A few practical suggestions on how to survive job loss:

If you think you might be laid off, Nancy Collamer, a Connecticut-based career counselor and author of the e-book "The Layoff Survival Guide," says you should make sure you've already taken home copies of your performance reviews as well as your contact information list, which will be the backbone of a new job search.

"Those things are just good career management," she says.

The day of the layoff, she says, don't get angry at your managers, and don't sign anything.

"I'd ask for 48 to 72 hours to review the paperwork," she says. "Sometimes, employers try to get you to sign a release in exchange for your severance. You're not thinking clearly. Don't sign anything then and there."

Remember that getting laid off isn't personal, suggests Sabin.

"It's just numbers," she says.

So why do so many employers insist on having security escort laid-off workers from the building immediately?

"Some of them are concerned about sabotage," says Collamer. "The more common reason is that they're concerned about what those people will say and do in the office.

"Being escorted from the office leaves people feeling like they've done something criminal. But you have to recognize that it can and does happen."

In the first three days after a layoff, your job is to review your separation package, make sure your spouse and kids are aware of the situation, e-mail your contacts and file for unemployment.

And breathe.

Many career counselors, including Weiss and Collamer, think it's a good idea to take a week or two to mourn what you've lost.

"You go through a grieving process," says Weiss. "You won't be seeing your quote-unquote family that you've spent eight hours a day with for years.

"There's some mental health management that people can do to acknowledge their feelings of being upset, depressed and angry. Stress management is key – getting enough sleep, exercising and blowing off steam."

On the other hand, Sabin started interviewing only two days after her layoff.

"It was a great ego boost to me," she says. "I took it as a good sign that I really am marketable.

"People asked me if I was going to take time to relax. I'll relax when I've earned vacation time. I wasn't getting paid to relax."

If your previous employer offers outplacement services, make good use of the chance to polish your résumé and brush up your interviewing skills.

"People blow that off because they're upset," says Weiss. "But I strongly encourage people to take advantage of it."

Structure the job search

And so to the job search. Sabin says she got up every day, put on good clothes and treated looking for work like a full-time job. Not a bad idea, say the professionals.

"Statistically, very few people find jobs through online job boards," says Collamer. "You have to network and work the system. You've got to put yourself out there. You have to set up a schedule and surround yourself with support.

"The people who are most successful at this put structure into their job search and take steps every day to maintain their emotional well-being."

Not everyone is lucky enough to find work quickly. When Collamer's husband was laid off in 2001 from his high-tech job, his job search took a year. Frustrating, yes. But Collamer says she and her husband now treasure their memories of his time at home with the family.

Says Collamer: "I personally think volunteering is one of the best things you can do when you're laid off. It gives you perspective on your situation and the opportunity to be of value.

"I say to people, 'Don't stop living. There's no reason.' "