I would appreciate any financial guidance.

I’d like to read this entry out loud on Monday during my next Money Cooler online group discussion. Let me know if you’re interested in joining us, Dan.

Best of luck to all of you (us) that have, or will have, lost their jobs this year. Most of this has nothing to do with you personally: Business has especially contracted this time around. It may be a while before the “job market” rebounds, but rebound it will.

In the mean time, keep your chin up, be ready, always network, and start a business of your own!

My husband was laid off in mid-January. He’d suspected it was coming and already had his ducks in a row the morning he had to do the box walk. After the first week of tying up loose ends and getting his resume more heavily in circulation, etc. there was no way he could fill 40 hours a week looking for work.

He made a deal with himself that aside from the ten minutes of CNBC he’d always watched in the morning, he wouldn’t watch any TV during the day (a big time suck from what we’d heard) and limit his computer usage to job related activities.

Still, that left a lot of time, esp. with the few interviews he landed.

To fill the days he volunteered, which ended up being a great way to network though it wasn’t his intent going in. He volunteered as much as he could in our children’s school, and in the spring he coached our son’s Little League and soccer teams.

He also started volunteering at the nonforprofit he’d been involved in through his former employer. He did this to keep his skills fresh and give some structure to his days.

Then two weeks ago, they hired him at a rate less than what he was making previously but comparable to the jobs he’s been interviewing for, with a much better commute.

I won’t say the past six months have been a picnic, but I think they could have been a lot worse. Fiscally, we were already frugal going into it, so we’re in no worse shape than we were before. I keep reminding myself that that alone is a significant victory.

Emotionally though, it’s actually been a really good thing. My husband is much less stressed than he was back in December, and he’s a much more involved parent. It’s as if our family has been given a reset button, and it’s a nice feeling.

Now if I could get him to pick up his socks and sort the laundry, life would be perfect

Sherry, I’m sorry to hear of your underemployment. The number of underemployed workers is estimated to be not that far behind the number of unemployed Americans, which would mean well over 20 million people in the civilian labor force are not fully employed. Your tragic story shows that even the healthcare industry is not immune from this recession.

Being laid off taught me what was mentioned in several earlier posts. Attitude is everything & when one door closes another opens. I know that sounds trite but it is sooo very true.

If I can add my two cents here… In this economy such that it is, everyone should prepare for a job loss. What’s remarkable about this downturn is that the losses are virually accross the board, unlike previous times when layoffs were centered in certain sectors or industries like manufacturing, banking, autos, etc. No one is safe and we need to prepare.

That means rehearsing a layoff in your mind so you’ll have a bankable response when you’re confronted. The news will most likely come at an unexpected time, such as with Dan’s lunchtime phone call.

It also means saving up some money, paying down (or off) debt, not taking on new debt and in general learning to live on less.

For a lot of people, either the job or the salary they’ve known won’t be there in the future, so it also helps to have a career plan B as Josephine recommends. It will be well worth anyone’s time to develop alternate skills to prepare for what ever may happen. Skills, not a job, will be the biggest driver affecting your employment.

Also, now is an oustanding time to look into business ideas as well. Many of us will need to create a job for ourselves going forward, so now is as good a time as any to start working on that dream business, even if you’re still employed.

How great would it be to be laid off but already have a plan of action in place?

Money energy, you’re absolutely right. Those who are looking for a new job with a job in hand, and those who are employed and not looking, can benefit from reading the stories people like Josephine, Kent, Garry, and myself have to tell. If nothing else, it should spur them to put more money into their emergency fund so they can go to an interview without being desperate for a paycheck-any paycheck.

Tammy, thanks for your comments. Whining and blame are sometimes the first emotional responses to an event like a layoff, but they are totally unproductive.

Josephine, thank you for your input. When I left the Air Force for the corporate world, I knew that downsizing was one of the factors that came with the territory. I never really thought too much about layoffs until they first started at my company. One of my colleagues was let go, and I was concerned for him. Being laid off myself has definitely given my a different, more compassionate view toward unemployment.