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Stallone-Obaraemi Samuel: Dealing with Job Loss

President Muhammadu Buhari carefully advised Nigerians to brace for the worst, economically speaking. One of the glaring pointers to economic hardship is unemployment. According to Ventures Africa, Nigeria’s unemployment rate increased to 9.9 percent in the third quarter of 2015 from 8.2 percent in the second quarter of 2015. This is worsened by the wanton loss of jobs in 2016, occasioned by macro-economic strain, bad management, mergers and acquisitions, organizational restructuring, and the likes.

There are no two ways about it: Losing your job is hard. Whether it has everything to do with your performance or nothing at all, it’s hard. Our jobs are much more than just the way we make a living. They influence how we see ourselves, as well as the way others see us. Our jobs give us structure, purpose, and meaning. That’s why job loss and unemployment is one of the most stressful things one can experience.

Beyond the loss of income, losing a job also comes with other heavy losses, some of which may be even more difficult to face:

  • Loss of professional identity
  • Loss of self-esteem and self-confidence
  • Loss of daily routine
  • Loss of purposeful activity
  • Loss of work-based social network
  • Loss of sense of security

However if you look at job loss, like any setback from an enlarged perspective, you realize that success in life is measured far less by our opportunities than by how we respond to life’s setbacks and challenges.

1. Take care of yourself.

Following job loss, it is all too easy to plant yourself on the couch, remote in one hand, beer or bag of chips in the other, and wallow in self-pity. Many do!  However, I encourage you to deliberately take care of yourself. Be determined to be emotionally and physically fit. Do not forget that the topmost fitness you need is spiritual fitness. Put away negative emotions. Look great, feel great. You deserve it. Avoid negative people. They sap energy.

2Be prepared to lose “friends”

Some of the people you thought were friends have probably stopped calling or checking up on you. Do not be deceived, most people call you “sir” or “madam” as a selfish mark of respect for your office, not your person. Probably because of favors they possible think they could get from you. The moment you are out of that office, they scamper and scurry-scuttle. They no longer take your calls; even when they do, they sound different. Do not let it get to you; they are defining you by your job role. But you were not created to be confined to the measures of a job role.

3. Be Kind to yourself, stretch out a helping hand to others.

It is the plain truth. Extending kindness toward others makes us feel good. It’s not just a nice thing to do something for others; it’s actually a helpful thing to do for ourselves. Yes, scientists have found that acts of kindness produce some of the same “feel good” chemicals in the brain as anti-depressants. In addition, when we give our time to help others, it helps us stop dwelling on our own problems, and makes us realize how much we have to be thankful for. It can also be an effective way to build your network and show potential employers you are not sitting idly by waiting for work to come your way. There’s no better mood booster than making a difference for someone else, even when you wish your own life were different than it is.

4. Write about how you feel.

In my over 10 years of serving as a human resource professional, I have witnessed and been part of several performance management processes between employee entry and exit points. Some processes and exits have been painful, and in some cases results have been ugly. When it is a not-too-pleasant exit, it can be emotionally draining. You can be consumed by anger. If that is the case with you, include all the things you would like to have said to your previous bosses but didn’t. Continue expressing your feelings over and over until you feel emptied. Do this once a day for a week. Afterwards do this anytime you have a flashback. Writing about your feelings is especially important if the way you were terminated was emotionally painful. Doing this helps you to overcome emotional trauma, begin to heal, and stop feeling like a victim wounded for life. Do pleasant, enjoyable things each day. Do what revitalizes you! Positive emotions expand your problem solving skills and strengthen your resiliency.

5. What if you seem to be losing your self-esteem?

Make a list of everything you like and appreciate about yourself. Include all the things you’ve done in the past year that you like yourself for doing. Obtain letters of appreciation from recent co-workers and managers about how much they enjoyed working with you. These may be short paragraphs describing either specific or general contributions you made. Yes, it takes courage to ask people for these endorsements, but you will be pleasantly surprised and touched by people’s eagerness to help. You will be moved by their appreciation of strengths and qualities you may not have realized anyone noticed. After obtaining these endorsements, type three or four paragraphs from the letters on a single sheet and attach it to your resume.

 

Stallone-Obaraemi Samuel is an executive coach, a corporate learning and development consultant and keynote speaker. He currently serves as the lead consultant and CEO at DellonVille Global Associates.

Stallone.samuel@dellonvilleltd.comobaraemicity@gmail.com

www.dellonevilleltd.com                           

www.sosfountain.wordpress.com

www.facebook.com/sosfountain

 

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