Gone through it before…
Best advice is to think of yourself as a business, you have to reinvent yourself.
Reinvent yoruself with a new strategy, reinvest money into education / skills, network, and keep an open mind. Also, read as much books as you can, take the CFA, work out, take courses,
Be positive. I hope this helps!
Thanks all! This is all very helpful advice. No more moping. Fck it. I’m over it.
forget finance… move to North Dakota, learn how to operate heavy machinery and about the oil and gas industry, and get a job doing that, and then make bank while living costs are a third of where you probably live now
Very very true. Do writeups if you think you need to stay sharp and in markets. Or trade really really small sizes just to say you’re thinking about things, but dial down the risk. You don’t need to have that kind of fear clouding your judgement with real money on the line.
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This is the time where family and friends are really important. It may also be a sensible time to take two weeks to clear your mental palate and do things that you’ve been wanting but haven’t been able to. If there’s a girl that you’ve been wanting to go see in another town, go see her. If you’ve been wanting to see some place in the world or the country, go do it. If you’ve been wanting to ride motorcycles to Yosemite park, do it.
Take two weeks. Research suggests that most people need one week to disconnect from the world, and a second week to get restorative effects.
Working out or some kind of exercise regimen helps a lot, though it helps to have exercise(s) that you enjoy doing. I started taking much better care of my health initially because of the mental health benefits. Physical health benefits on their own were never particularly compelling to me, because I was not good at sports as a kid, and physical activity for physical activity’s sake just brought back bad memories. The endorphins from exercise, however, are good for mental health.
When you’re back from your holiday, then hit the phones and let everyone you know that you are looking. Remember that budgets reset on Jan 1st in many companies, and that there’s also a hiring spurt in Feb or so when many bonuses are given and some people jump ship elsewhere. All of that takes groundwork which you’ll be working on now (or after your vacation).
I agree with iteracom that 4-6 weeks is optimistic, but disagree that it can’t be done. Be prepared for something closer to 4-5 months. If you have enough savings to go 6 months, then I would try not to let those things worry you. Getting despondent is its own ball and chain (I speak from experience here) that saps your attractiveness to employers, so don’t dwell on those things.
Look in the mirror every morning, look deep into your own eyes and say to yourself: “You am very talented at what you do and you need to let people know all the things you can do for them.” It sounds all new-age and silly, but it really does help you sit down and get hammering.
And finally, review where you want to go in your career and any knowledge gaps that you think you might have between here and the next logical step. Use some of this time to try to fill those gaps: learn a new programming language, learn a new spoken language, learn a new sector or asset class, whatever seems relevant to you.
Good luck and keep us informed on how it goes!
^Respect.
I also was laid off and more than once. the worst was after 9/11. i was laid off for 23 months! no one prepares for this. but i got through it and came back stronger than ever. that got me to ABL - Always Be Looking. In 2008 I got the feeling that I was about to be ‘right sized’ again as I saw all of the offshoring going on. No problem, 4 hours after layoff I had my new offer (I never stopped interviewing), then double dipped on the severance pay and new salary for 3 months (hence my name.)
Being laid off SUCKS but don’t let it destroy you. take a week or two, lick your wounds then decide you will make unemployment your B!TCH. that’s what I did. No sleeping in or feeling sorry for yourself allowed, this negative energy will not be productive. Running helped me a lot. I found that it’s possible to hold one thought in your mind at a time, so i focused on POSITIVE thoughts. These crowded out the negative and helped me get through the day. The next day I’d do it again. The problem is that no where are people trained in how to deal with temporary setbacks like unemployment so everyone ends up discovering this on their own. it’s really inefficient and a huge time suck. make sure to make humor part of your day as well. And take a job, any job. I worked in retail for awhile during my layoff and it helped a lot. first it got me out of the house, and forced me to interact with people. i couldn’t stay home moping when i was at work, helping people with their problems. second, it taught me sales skills, invaluable in getting myself hired. I did lots of other stuff during this period including helping prep people for finance interviews. after all I was an expert at it, having interviewed practically everywhere. That kept me on top of the material and also helped a lot in interviewing. You’re in my area, but I don’t care if you do this anyway I am too busy to do this now so have at it. You can put ads on Craigslist and also if you are in shape, do personal training. You can do resume reviews too. Interview prep and resume reviews pay good money and it’s cash, and you can be your own boss. I also used to work for a company doing earnings conference call writeups. I specialized in certain industries and this also kept me knowledgeable for interview time. You will find that there are lots of ways to make money outside of traditional jobs if you start looking.
here is my best advice: take it ONE DAY AT A TIME. Don’t freak out about the future thinking you will never find a job. You WILL find a job. You just don’t know what, how, where, or when. But it WILL happen. Have faith in yourself and your abilities and as others have said work on polishing your skills, so you can go in there and get the job when you get the interview. I did a lot of work on brushing up my skills while out and it helped.
keep us posted.
The “get a job, any job” is great advice. Gets you out of the house, keeps cash flow coming in, and makes you more social.
I had too much pride when I wasn’t working at age 23 to interview for anything less than an analyst position. Now with a little hindsight, I know EXACTLY what I would do… Go find a job at a nice restaurant that is crawling with hot waitresses. You will make decent money in cash tips, work hours that don’t prevent you from continuing your finance job search, and probably get some notches.
The longer you are unemployed, the harder you become “employable”. Take anything for the moment. You will make more contacts doing something than staying home all day by yourself.
When they ask to explain the lapse in your resume, just tell them you took off to try to seduce a female for $65mm.
DoubleDip,
good advice!
I have been laid off twice, when we had a single income (mine), a kid and a mortgage. lockheed has none of these (ahem, not even a single income, now 
)
It’s not the end of the world. Get up and find a job. If you can afford it, wait for a good one, otherwise just get one to pay the bills. Then keep looking for better jobs.
The first time, I had to look for 3 years to find a better job. The next time, 1 month. You never know.
Thanks All… having the ‘ye’ ol ramen pride tonight. Love it. sprinkillled some paprika on it.
gotta love it. GS had a bump up to over $115 today… i’m still up on it… but about 10% profit of what I was yesterday…
great beatles song… not ‘yesterdays’, that song is blah… I like… 'she came in through the bathroom window… protected by a silver spoon…"
Well, well, well Lockheed looks like you aren’t as smart as you think you are. Remember the market is always correct and your company decided that you were not worth what they were paying you.
That being said, I would dust yourself off and maybe consider other industries depending upon your skillset.
Is Blake’s sig ironic? I feel Blake is going to blast me for asking the question. So I’m going to run away.
Well put, Mr. McCallister, well put. I’m still sticking to my short GS 110/115 call spread Oct 12… Market is always right. That’s a platitude…
With that said… how’s Mummy? I bet, I can beat, you and Mummy at Jenga… 10 to 1.
Blake remember to : eat pray love
if you’re in NYC it is fun to go to a casting call for extras for movies or TV shows. you’ll meet a ton of chicks and get free food (you also get a check a few weeks later in the mail).
One of the best threads I have seen in my 3 years on AF!!!
^ Respect
make sure to apply for unemployment as well. it helps. And see if thinking of this as a journey can help, caterpillar going into a cocoon for eventual transformation to something much better, or going through the hell of a sweat lodge to come out the other side. That kind of thing - seeing layoff as a transformative event that while painful would eventually bear fruit - helped me. I did a lot of writing while laid off, which I didn’t have time for while working, and this actually led to my first job to break the layoff cycle - writing policies on interest rate risk management, hedging, ALM and so on. I wouldn’t have gotten that job had I not been laid off and been able to do all the writing. That job led to the next, and the next, and the next.
For me the key was flexibility - I constantly reinvented myself and went wherever the need was and continued developing skills.