How to bounce back from redundancy

By Ian Stephens

Costs are up. Revenue is down. Unemployment rates are on the rise, and corporate Australia is tightening the belt. For the first time, previously secure middle and senior level managers are finding themselves in unfamiliar territory - unemployed. Peak performance coach Ian Stephens shares four universal laws which underpin the science of finding and landing your next job.

• Get active ... and landing the job will take care of itself
  
  Inaction breeds depression. Take a lesson from the dictionary:-'activity' comes well before 'results' in all areas of life. Let me change your thinking - you have no control over the result of landing a job. You can only control the 'activities' you do. Get active. Universal law -Activities produce results.

Create a reverse plan. Success in the re-employment stakes is a numbers game. Let me explain. Getting one job will probably mean getting to three 2nd interviews, which means getting nine 1st interviews (3:1 ratio), which means submitting 45 applications (5:1 ratio), which means tailoring your resumes and a personalized covering letter, which means making 90 phone calls to determine if job is the right fit (2:1 ratio). The result won't happen until you do the activity. And the good news - every knock back means your one step closer.

• Time is limited ... make landing a job your new part-time job
  
  Time stands still for no-one. Sure, take a couple of weeks to get over the grief of your job loss. You will go through the stages - denial, disbelief, blaming, fear.

But time-frame it and pick a date to start your new short-term job - getting yourself a job. That's right - act as if you already have a job. You're now in sales ... the product is your skills and talents, your major client is your family unit, and what's at stake is your self-esteem.
Sitting on the couch watching Dr Phil won't get you a job. Schedule daily diary time to do the 'job search activities'. Don't procrastinate. You are about to do the most important work - landing a job. Treat it accordingly. Plan, schedule and implement job-seeking activity. There is a limited amount of time. Click here for a free download if you want a simple 'Activity Planning' sheet to plan and track your job search activity.

• Create and maintain momentum
  
  Understand the psychology of momentum - success breeds success. On the reverse side of the coin, if we focus on a negative, notice how things get worse? Harness the universal law. Take massive action and get a heap of applications into the market place, and then don't stop. Keeping pouring over job advertisements and keep doing the daily and weekly activity. Get into a rhythm. Get on a roll. Before long the requests for interviews and 2nd interviews will start flowing.

More importantly, potential employees sense your state and energy levels. Create a sense of pride and achievement though continuous effort.

• Manage your 'state of mind' and persist ...
  
  More than ever your ability to 'manage your own state of mind' becomes critical. You're in for an emotional roller-coaster ride complete with the thrilling highs of getting short-listed, and the lows of being told 'we have gone with someone else on this occasion'. The trick is to avoid the two extreme states and remain even keeled. The universe operates in perfect balance at all times. So should you. Don't get over infatuated with any one job, and accept that rejection is par for the course. Operate from a place of balance, with a deep peace that your unique skills and talents are required somewhere. It's just a matter of time.

Have a quick ritual you can go through to put yourself in a good state of mind. I remember a powerful, confident building memory. I re-play the memory in my own mind and this instantly puts me in a better and more resourceful mood. Repeat the ritual at the start of any job search activity session and just as you are about to walk into any interview.
Think big about your future and persist. Get a well-formed outcome and start each day with a visualization process of yourself, gainfully employed. See the surroundings, hear what your new colleagues are saying, and listen to your own positive self-talk about the effort which produced results. Embrace the power of persistence. It creates miracles. Even when the going gets tough, stay focused on doing the key 'activities' that will eventually produce the ideal job.

Landing your next job is not rocket science, but it is a science. Adopt and embrace these four universal laws, and harness the natural laws of effectiveness. I have seen numerous people honor these laws, only to find themselves with three job offers and the luxury of 'choices'.

Ian Stephens is Australia'' No 1 peak performance coach. In 2006-08 he was listed by Saxton Speakers Bureau in the Top 10 motivational speakers in Australia. He has a passion for understanding and implementing universal laws of effectiveness. He has assisted long-term unemployed to re-kindle their careers and is the co-founder of the 'Activity-Based Job Search' methodology.
For more information visit: www.ianstephens.net.au