5 Painful But Important Things to Do When You Lose Your Job

5. Prepare Your Narrative

You may want to put your layoff behind you, but there’s no denying it’ll come up during a future interview.

Come up with an honest but professional narrative and practice it a lot.

Each time I mentioned that my previous employer had restructured in interviews, it was met with understanding. From there, I discussed how my skill set would easily transfer and how thrilled I was to have the opportunity to be considered for this new role.

After the initial shock wore off, I was able to admit that neither of the jobs I’d lost had been an ideal fit. I’d stayed with both of them far longer than I should have because it seemed like the easier option and I needed the benefits.

In time, I came to view my layoffs as do-overs—each a new chance to get it right. Once I adopted this mindset, I embarked on my job search energized and with renewed optimism.

So, though you may want to retreat for a while and wallow in everything from comfort food to compulsive binge-watching, the best thing you can do is catapult yourself back into the career arena.