The Great Resignation trend of 2021 shook companies into reevaluating how they see their employees, work conditions, and workload. This year, it was countered by the massive firing in many big companies across the US. The massive layoff in huge companies has caught their workforce off guard. The layoffs were first reported in many technology and crypto companies back in May.
Have you or anyone you know been part of the layoffs this year? As workers in an ever-changing economy, you could feel deeply hurt by the circumstance. You could be afraid and think the worst. You may also be scrambling through your resources and contacts, thinking of the soonest possible way to get out of this low point in your life.
How do you cope with an incident with such a huge impact on your life? What are your ways of keeping your mental health in check in 2022? Before we provide our recommended checklist, let’s first understand the impact of unemployment.
What Unemployment Can Mean to You
Unemployment means different things to different people. When you become unemployed, you can lose many things that are meaningful to you. Humans thrive with a sense of purpose and routine. With work being a staple of daily life, losing this constant could you so much stress.
Unemployment can deeply affect your whole being and not just your finances. Here are more of the ways unemployment can impact the different aspects of life:
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Loss Sense of Self
You could be someone who attaches their meaning to their job. You could be doing your job for 10 or even 20 years and just waiting for retirement. But then, you got the retrenchment email from your boss. Although your worth cannot be tied to a job, losing it can also stir doubts about yourself, like how retirees experience identity crises.
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Inability to Provide to Self and Loved Ones
Inflation is inevitable, and losing a job can hurt the most while experiencing it, especially if you have been living from paycheck to paycheck. You could be a single parent handling the household finances of two households, your parents and your own. The sudden inability to buy basic goods such as food and water or being unable to pay for rent and basic utilities can shock anyone to their core.
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Negative Impact on Relations
Your relationships can be negatively affected by job loss. You could be a newlywed paying for your mortgage and worried that your spouse would be unable to cover this expense. Maybe you need to pay off your student loans in hopes that the job you were fired from could help you pay most of it, if not completely. Losing your job can make you feel like you disappointed the people who trusted you to help them.
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Lack of Safety Nets
Unemployment can prevent access to healthcare and a good credit standing. A study reported that unemployed individuals are more likely to need psychosocial support due to a higher chance of experiencing psychological distress. In addition, the lack of safety nets makes the unemployed more vulnerable to poor health conditions and the inability to access good housing options.
Your Simplified Mental Health Checklist
Mental health during unemployment can be difficult to manage when looking for ways to yourself. You must first recognize that your job loss could be due to factors outside your control. Reasons for laying off people in great numbers can vary from low profits to being unable to maintain high operation costs and changing economic landscapes. To manage your mental health in case of job loss, here are a few steps you can take:
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Validate Any Feelings of Discomfort
Your feelings matter, and recognizing feelings of being hurt will help you process your emotions moving forward. Mental Health America (MHA) reports that nearly half of US Americans are susceptible to developing or having a diagnosable mental health illness. Anxiety and depression reportedly affect about 6.8 million adults in the US,
Experiencing anxiety and depression over a job loss is normal. The first step in understanding your feelings is recognizing that you have them. It is only human to feel emotion. To be vulnerable is not a weakness but a recognition of the help that you need at that stage in your life. By validating any feelings of discomfort after the job loss, you can prevent the emotion from overflowing and affecting everyone around you, including your loved ones.
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Regain Confidence and Trust in Yourself
Believing in yourself again can be hard. The difficulty in overcoming the anxiety caused by job loss can take time. The proactive move is to start regaining confidence in yourself that could have been diminished or lost because of unemployment. Attaching your worth to your job must be avoided. Instead, you can look back on the tasks you were able to do in your job and how that has molded you differently.
You can also upskill and reskill. Upskilling and reskilling make you a more attractive candidate for employers. Upskilling involves learning new skills that are valuable in the workplace. This can include learning new software or venturing into fields like artificial intelligence. Through reskilling, you can polish your existing skills and prove to your future employer that you never lost your touch.
Upskilling and reskilling can be done virtually or in a classroom setting. Many massive open online course providers, such as Coursera, EdX, and Udemy, provide certificates to those who want to learn more skills. In addition, universities and colleges offer online alternatives to students who prefer to learn online. You can then easily explain any gaps in your resume through your efforts to upskill or reskill.
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Continue to Secure Your Social Connections
After unemployment, you may have the urge to start anew and burn bridges. For professional relationships, it is not advisable to do so. Unemployment is a great opportunity to secure your existing social connections. Revisit your old phonebook or contact list. Remember which person is from which company.
Contacts in your most recent company can also help you apply for the new one. If your previous supervisors are still with the company, you can ask them to participate in reference checks for your job applications. Moreover, your former colleagues can help you look for further openings in your area or even closer to home.
Your social connections, professional or otherwise, become all the more valuable during employment since they can help you network for more and better job opportunities.
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Reach Out to a Recruiter
You don’t need to wait too long to reach out to a recruiter. The period of job hunting after unemployment can feel hazy. Thus, having a recruiter assisting you is like having a friend to hold your hand in the dark. Recruiters aim to get you hired, so they will sort through different job openings to find you the best match.
Even if you are only doing it online, the application process of multiple job openings may take its toll on you. To help you save time and effort, a recruiter can connect you directly to companies looking for your set of skills and your work experience. They can help make it easier to land the next job you deserve without breaking a sweat or the bank.
AGILE WORKPLACE STAFFING CAN HELP FIND YOUR NEXT JOB.
Opportunities do not run out when you become unemployed. You can use this time to reevaluate your worth better with experts to guide you along the way. You can count on Agile Workplace Staffing to be your guide with its relational approach to job placement.
We do not only claim to be there for you. We will be your strategic career partner. From day one, we will be here to help you be employed. We will provide you with the support you need to overcome unemployment and come across it with a healthier perspective in life. Contact us today!
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