Sometimes, losing your job turns out to be the best possible thing for your career, in the long run – but happy thoughts like that are hard to summon up, when you just got your pink slip. In this week’s roundup, we look at what to do when you’re still in panic-mode, to make things better in both the long- and short-term; plus, how to look good on Periscope, and how to have difficult conversations at work.
(Photo Credit: WarmSleepy/Flickr)
Alison Doyle at Career Tool Belt: 20 Things to Do When You Lose Your Job
“Give yourself some time to mourn a bit, especially if you loved your job,” Doyle writes. “It’s a loss and giving yourself some time and space to grieve will help. Then you need to get practical and get over it. The quicker you get a job search up and running, the faster you’ll be thinking about your new job instead of the one you lost.”
Here, she says, is what to do next. (Sample advice you probably haven’t thought of: Google yourself. Especially if you’ve been at your job for a while, you might be shocked to discover the portrait your search results are painting for a hiring manager.)
Lindsay Shoemake at That Working Girl: How to Look Amazing on Periscope
Periscope is a relatively new social app that lets users share video. If you’re one of those rare souls who’s comfortable on video conferencing, you’re probably already using it to build your personal brand. If, on the other hand, you’re someone who turns off the camera at the soonest opportunity, well, let’s just say that you’re probably not going to be an early adopter.
But, maybe you can be. Shoemake’s tips, which encompass everything from how to look your best on camera to how to use the technical features of the app will help you get comfortable.
Leslie Moser at The Daily Muse: Your 5-Step Formula to Having a Difficult Conversation at Work — and Coming Out Ahead
Even if you’re working at your dream job and love all your co-workers like family, there will come a day when you have to have a difficult conversation with someone – a boss, a report, even a teammate with a different idea of how to get things done.
“Unfortunately, tricky conversations are just that: tricky,” Moser writes. “To make sure you come away from the discussion with the results you want, I’ve found that it’s best to spend some focused time preparing. This helps me think through different scenarios and get clear about exactly what I want to say, no matter how the situation progresses — especially when I think the conversation could get emotional, like when I have to give a performance review or when I want to discuss something that upset me with my manager.”
Her five-step approach will make things as easy as they can be. Even better: it might help you make the conversation productive, which is the point of having it in the first place.
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