The saddest stories of those who enter Career Counseling Connecticut’s offices are those where our client’s life has been upended and the client had no plan in place to get back up. The unexpected firing is the most common.
Those that “knew it was coming” or had notice that led them to make a plan always do better. Here’s the reasoning:
(1) the shock to the system is something that is underestimated. Perhaps now, most will understand this concept. Shock usually leads to paralysis or frenzied but ineffective action, not effective job searching or retooling When people get fired/laid off unexpectedly, they need to go through those stages of grief. It’s just the way we are wired. Sure, some use their panic and apply to 50 jobs on Indeed. But that leads nowhere and just creates more anxiety. Those with a plan have already dealt with the emotional component.
(2) When the termination occurs, rational planning is not easy. Self-preservation leads to focus on money or the well-being of one’s family or other anxious – often irrational – worries. Those who planned before the event were able to do so rationally. This makes their efforts effective.
During the Covid-19 crisis, we all are “on notice”. Besides toilet paper manufacturers and other businesses that flourish during crisis, most every one with a job or a business should craft a career/job plan outside of their current situation.
It just makes sense.