Life Experiment #6: Survive A Layoff & Find A New Job

By Allen Rinehart
January 12, 2009

fired-225x300 Life Experiment #6: Survive A Layoff & Find A New JobThe dreaded pink slip has arrived and I will be joining the 11 million other Americans in the employment lines this month.  But unlike most people, I actually enjoy being fired.

Sometimes it can be all too easy for us to be stuck at a job that we don’t hate, but doesn’t inspire us.  I look at being fired like hitting the reset button on our careers and giving us a chance to learn new skills, acquire new knowledge, and build new relationships.

But what makes this job search different than every other one that I’ve done is the new habits that I’ve formed since starting this blog.  I know I’ll have no problem getting up at 5AM to begin working my resume after getting in a brisk workout in.

My the last time I was unemployed lasted for 6 months and I would sleep till noon everyday and I had no idea what I wanted to do or even why I wanted to do.  But now that I journal everyday I have a very clear picture of who I am and where I’m headed.  So come in join me as I set out in find a new job in the next 30 days…

Hypothesis: Not having a regular job and income can teach you a lot of things about yourself and I predict over the course of this trial I’ll learn how to live on less, seek out alternative sources of income, experience what it’s like to be self-employed and work at home and learn more about marketing myself.  My goal of this trial is to get a job as a copywriter for an ad agency in Houston.

How I’m Going To Survive Without A Job

  1. Reduce My Expenses. It seems easy to spend money when you know more of it is coming in, but do I really need everything that I use?  The cable bill can be taken away in lieu of some of more enjoyable and relaxing activity like going for a bike ride (free) or visiting some friends (also free).  Hey, I’m not sitting in a cubicle all day, so I can do these things whenever I want.  Does a person really need unlimited text messages every month?  I checked.  I only use about 150 of the 300 in my plan.  Another $10 bucks saved there.
  2. Sell Everything I Don’t Need. This is something that I’ve been putting off for a while.  I got a whole closet full of “Stuff To Sell On eBay” that’s just been sitting there.  There’s no real motivation there, when you have a regular income coming in, but what happens when the faucet runs dry?  You get busy selling!  I also have a ton of books that I can put on Amazon, too.
  3. File My Taxes Early. The IRS is allowing people to file electronically for their 2008 taxes as early as January 16th this year, so you can better believe that I’ll be on top of that to ensure that I get as much available cash on-hand.
  4. File For Unemployment. This is a given for anyone being laid off from a job.  The money usually isn’t a complete replacement of what you were earning, but checks can be enough to cover your basic needs like rent and food each month.  Here’s a list of the State Unemployment Offices.
  5. Take On Freelance, Part-Time, Or Temp Work. A little work here and there can be a big motivator when you’ve been looking for a new position for a while.  It will also give me a chance to get out of the apartment every once and a while to try something new.  I’ve heard of many times of a temp getting a full-time position for some part-time work, so we’ll see.

What I’m Going To Do To Get A New Job

  1. Update My Personal Website. Last time I looked for a new job, I used AllenRinehart.com to host my resume and portfolio of projects I’ve worked on.  I’ve since taken it down and need to update use for my job search.  I like having a website for a job search because it’s very easy to show potential employers what you can offer.Every time you contact someone via email, you can simply give them the link to your site and they can look around to see what you’re all about.I even put my picture on it, so employers already have a feeling like they’ve met me and I’m not another faceless resume.  I’m going to include my resume, portfolio of marketing projects I’ve done, a few case studies of certain projects I’ve worked on, a new marketing blog I’m starting, and possibly a report that people can download.  This is my main focus for the first part of the trial.
  2. Mailing Out Resumes. OK, so this may seem a little old fashion in the age of email, but everyone emails their resumes.  My goal is to separate myself from everyone else out there looking for the same job.I can also target the exact type of company that I want to work for.I used the Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies at my local library to look-up all the ad agencies in the Houston area and now I have their address, the name of their executives, names of their newest accounts, and how much they’re billing each year.  You can’t get much more information than that.  I’ve already found several job posting on the actual agency’s’ websites that weren’t posted elsewhere online.
  3. Social Networking. This includes being active on Linkedin, Facebook, and Yahoo Answers.
    Here are a few ways I plan to use these sites to my advantage.

    • Update my status to let people in my network know I’m looking for a job.  Who knows, I might already be connected to someone who works at a place that I’m applying at.  Using the status feature can let others know who I’m contacting and what I’m looking for.
    • Answering questions on Linkedin and Yahoo Answers.  Both sites have a Q&A section where you can both ask questions and answer them.  Answering questions builds your credibility and asking questions gives you the power to conduct research.
    • Researching personnel at my target companies.  Almost everyone at minimum puts where they work in their Facebook or Linkedin profiles, so if I’m interested in trying to find out more about a company a simple keyword search will give me a list of employees I can email.
  4. Traditional Job Boards. Although not my favorite search tool, these are still a necessary evil in a job search because employers still use these to find applicants.  Luckily, job boards have evolved a lot in the last couple of years, so all you really need to do is set-up your resume and job alerts and you can can automated emails alerts and RSS feeds for new positions as they are listed.The only problem is so can thousands of other people and my resume has the possibility of being put in a pile along with the others.  This is why its important that my resume is as specific as I can make it stand out.  Here is a list of job sites that I’ll be either listing my resume on or searching for jobs on:
    This trial’s going to be challenging, but I know I can do it.  There’s a lot of other people out there in my same position, but with the plan I have in place, I believe there’s no way I can fail.
    Are you in this same position right now?
    What are some of ways you’ve used to find work?
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