Wow, look at how time flies. In just a couple of weeks, we’ll be celebrating Christmas again! Unfortunately, not all is merry during this time of the year. Many companies continue to lay off their Filipino workers this season, despite the decrease in the unemployment rate this quarter. This means that many Filipinos will be celebrating Christmas on a tight budget or none at all.
If you’re one of the Filipino workers who were laid off during this holiday season, then this article is for you. Here, I will discuss ways you can cope with this event and bounce back; better than before. Yes, I know being laid off right now is a significant blow, but it’s not the end of the world. There’ll be plenty of opportunities for you again, as long as you get up and try again.
Let Yourself Grieve.
Suddenly receiving a notice that you’re being laid off can be a traumatic experience, especially right now. One can easily imagine the shock of being laid off when you already have plans to celebrate Christmas with your loved ones. This can leave you speechless and drained of energy to do anything.
When this happens, remember to let yourself grieve on what happened. It’s alright to feel unmotivated and depressed over it. You just suddenly lost your job, after all.
During this period, try to also come to terms with your emotions. If it helps, talk to your loved ones about it. Another method you can do is by writing your feelings in a journal.
Take a Break if You Need It.
Connected to my previous advice is this one. After being laid off, don’t immediately start looking for a job unless you absolutely need to. Take this time to rest and do the things you love. Doing this lets your mind focus on other things aside from what happened and helps give you peace of mind.
You can also use this break as a chance to do some self-reflection on your life’s current situation and your plans for the future. This allows you to think about where you’re life is going and how you aim to bounce back after being laid off.
One thing to remember is that this break shouldn’t be permanent. You will still need to resume your search for work again once you feel like you’re ready.
Assess your Financial Situation.
After calming down a bit, it’s time for you to take an objective look at your financial situation. Losing your job means losing your, and probably even your family’s, primary source of income. Thus, you need to take stock of your monthly expenses and see where you can save some money to pay for other bills and expenses.
This is particularly difficult to do during this holiday season, as this means sacrificing celebration for paying bills. To help you with this, talk to your family about your financial situation so they can understand the need to lessen your celebration. You can still celebrate Christmas if you want to. Just be aware of your bills as well.
Update Your Resumes and Portfolios.
Since you’re looking for a job again, you need to update your resume and portfolio. Doing so improves your chances of getting hired as you now have more work experience to put in it. Always remember that when updating your resume and portfolio, make sure to never EVER lie on your qualifications.
I know it’s hard losing your job, but that’s no excuse to deceive others. Lying about your skills can lead to grave consequences. Not only will your reputation plummet, but you can also face a lawsuit if your employers find out you were lying.
To avoid having to experience this, just be honest with yourself and your employers. In fact, employers prefer employees who require only additional training than liars who can’t get the job done.
Expand Your Skillset.
Another way that you can cope with being laid off is by expanding your skillset. Since you don’t have work anymore, now’s the perfect time to hone new work skills. Knowing more skills opens more work opportunities for you to apply to.
So how do you learn new skills? Well, there are plenty of e-books and online courses on a wide range of topics available these days that you can avail of.
These topics range from new ways to cook your food to even learning basic programming skills on your own. And since it’s Christmas time, maybe you can even get these at a discount.
Conclusion.
And that is it! Here are the things you can do to better cope with being laid off during this holiday season. It is not easy to accept you are now out of a job, especially with Christmas just around the corner. Instead of celebrating, you are worrying about bills and making ends meet.
But by following these tips, you will have an easier time coping and getting back on your feet. I hope that these tips will be of great use to you in getting through these tough times and into the road to getting back on your feet.
