Fear of job loss exists in any individual at any stage of your career. So, we shall see here today, how shall we handle the fear of job loss?
Fear consists of four feelings, you need to handle each feeling as if the job loss have taken place today. Prevention is always better than cure or pre planning always is key to your success.
1. Feeling of helplessness and loneliness – Here networking is important. A good NETWORK adds to your NET WORTH. You can network through Alumni, Ex Colleagues and make new connections through industry events. Through them you will come to know what is happening in the industry and what type of projects are there. Moreover maintaining the network is equally important, it should not look like that, you are approaching them only when you are in need.
2. Feeling of un-employability – If you get this feeling, it means you have not invested time and money on your skill development. Those days only doctors and lawyers were supposed to study throughout their career, but now it is a mandatory requirement for every professional who looks to stay in the hunt for better prospects or to stay high on the ladder.
3. Feeling financially insecure – With every passing decade, job insecurity is going to increase. So for a worst case scenario, one has to set aside an adequate fund to run the home affairs for around 2 two years. An old wisdom says that you need to save 33% of your income to survive difficult times. If your earning is not sufficient, then look for an additional source of income.
4. Feeling of losing one’s lifestyle. – Uncertainties are ever increasing, and one should always be able to live one notch below what one can afford to. Our today’s lifestyle should reflect what we were earning around 5 years back. This approach will help you to iron out the many ups and downs in your life.
So, will the fear go away now or not? Still no. But certainly the intensity and frequency of fear, definitely will have reduced drastically.
Always make your mind to think that, “Every job is a temporary job”, sometimes I quit or sometimes a company may lay you off. And every lay-off is an opportunity for career growth. I will bounce back higher when I have lost, should be the mindset. In the new company you should look for financial stability and learning opportunities just for 2 years.
I quote here, what the famous Portugese football coach, currently football manager, Jose Mourinho had to say. “I am not afraid of losing my job, and when you are not afraid, you don’t feel any pressure. You are not too worried, you can express yourself in a different way. It makes you better, I think”
So, why don’t you make yourself better, take every job as a temporary job, and every lay-off as an opportunity for better career growth.
