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STEP 10:
Update your resume and
cover letter
STEP 11: Create your
online networking
profiles
STEP 12: Begin
collecting samples and
testimonials for your
Webfolio* (Professional
level careers and above)
STEP 13: Cancel ALL
Automatic Payments
STEP 14: Get your oil
changed in your car.
Deal with any basic
maintenance,
registration and smog
test issues now.
STEP 15: Get a general
e-mail address (yahoo,
hotmail, gmail) to use
for your job search
STEP 16: Update your
address book. Send an
e-mail out to everyone
in your network.
Each of these steps is
outlined in detail
including the how-to and
what to say in the
2009 Laid Off Now What
Recession Edition.
To get you started, I'm
including summaries of
the first six in this
article. If you'd like
the full chapter, simply
purchase the book and
we'll e-mail you this
chapter along with
others that have been
completed prior to
publishing.
STEP 1:
SCHEDULE ALL DOCTOR
APPOINTMENTS
(annual physicals, eye
exams and dental
cleanings) before your
benefits expire.
Do this immediately and
do not wait. Ask your
employer when your
coverage ends,
specifically. Then
verify it with the
insurance company. Some
insurance policies end
the day you leave;
others go through the
end of the month. You'll
want to use the next
week if your insurance
is in force to get your
annual physical, dental
cleanings and eye
exams. Schedule all
appointments for your
children as well. If
your children are in the
middle of orthodontic
care such as braces, ask
your doctor how this
treatment is handled if
you no longer have
insurance.
Health Maintenance
Organizations (HMO’s)
like Kaiser or Pacific
Care can make this step
difficult. They tend to
set routine appointments
months in advance. Do
not take no for an
answer and do not let
them put you off. If
you have to, bypass the
appointment setters and
speak directly to your
doctor. Insist on the
next available opening
and make sure he/she
understands you cannot
wait six to eight weeks
because you will not
have insurance then. It
could be a year or
longer before you have
insurance again. Most
companies have a 90-day
waiting period before
benefits go into effect
once you are hired. Do
what you can now to get
as much as you can from
the coverage you have.
During your final
check-up, ask for copies
of your family’s medical
records. Keep these in
a protected place such
as a safe, safety
deposit box, scanned
into a portable hard
drive or relative’s
home. Several people
I’ve spoken to have had
a doctor disappear for
various reasons, (some
legal and some not. As
the economy continues to
crumble even doctors are
getting caught in the
vise) and with him,
their medical records.
This is one problem you
don’t need now. Having
a copy of your records
prevents it. You have
a right to them. Do not
let the HMO or doctor
tell you differently.
Step 2:
Submit your expense
report
Make sure you get in
writing that your
former employer will
compensate you for any
company expenses that
have not been submitted
and any promises they
have made to you before
leaving. Most employers
will require you tender
your last expense report
within 5-working days of
your leaving. This can
include any approved
expenses such as
mileage, coffee and
sandwiches for meetings,
parking fees, travel
expenses, office
supplies, pre-paid
magazine or association
dues, cell phone bills
and other miscellaneous
expenses. To be
reimbursed you need
receipts and itemized
bills for phone or other
reoccurring expenses. If
in doubt, submit it.
The worst that can
happen is they’ll say
no. Make copies of
everything before you
submit it.
You may also get paid
for any unused vacation
time and/or sick time.
If you are in sales, you
can generally negotiate
2-4 weeks out on
collected revenues.
Step 3:
Health care Spending
Account
You may have several
thousand dollars more
than you thought if you
took out a tax free
medical spending
account. Typically you
elect to have a certain
sum pulled out of your
paycheck every month to
pay medical expenses.
This full amount is
usually available to you
by January 30th
of each year, even
though it will take you
a full year to of
contributions to fulfill
the total. Most plans
provide a credit card
for you to use. Here’s
how it works.
This is an actual
example: Let’s say in
October when you
completed your benefits
elections you designated
the maximum amount,
$4000 set aside.
Perhaps you have kids
who need braces or you
are anticipating surgery
or some other medical
procedure. Commencing
January 1st,
$153.00 is deducted from
your paycheck every two
weeks before taxes.
Suddenly in March, you
find out your department
has been laid off. At
this point you’ve
contributed less than
$1,000 but you can use
the full $4000. Check
your contract
immediately. Most do
not require that you pay
back what you haven’t
contributed which means,
you have an extra $3000
to spend on medical
bills, you didn’t know
you had. And since
these are medical
expenses, you may not
have to pay taxes on
that extra $3000 either.
What can you spend it
on? Any medically
approved expense. Lasik
surgery, dental work,
medical weight loss
programs including
purchasing the food,
drugs, surgery for
deviated septum and
other issues. The bottom
line is, if you don’t
spend it. You lose it.
STEP 4:
CALL YOUR STATE'S
UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE
–or- Visit their site
online
Don't
feel guilty about this.
You and your employers
have been paying into
this fund your entire
working life. You've
earned the money you are
going to receive through
your own hard work.
File the day you are
terminated. Call your
state's unemployment
office or visit their
web site. Most states
begin the benefit period
from the day you call or
file, not the day you
were let go. You will
not get paid for the
first week of
unemployment in most
states (although in some
they count the day you
call as the 1st
week--let go Friday,
call, become eligible
the following Monday).
It will take 3-4 weeks
to get your first check,
longer if you were fired
because they must do an
investigation. In most
cases you will still
receive compensation
even if you were
fired. The exceptions
are termination for
misconduct (lying,
cheating, abusive
language etc.) or
criminal acts.
On the website for this
book, 15-Percent.com,
we’ve assembled copies
of the Unemployment
manual for each state if
available. Go here: to
download your state’s
handbook.
http://www.15-Percent.con/UIBenefits/index.htm
Step 5: Sign up for
Sxipper, RobboForm
or another form filling
Software
You want to save your
wrists, fingers and
hands from repetitive
inputting? If you use
Mozilla Firefox
as your browser,
Sxipper
is a free add-on service
that remembers how you
fill out forms online
and does the work for
you. I absolutely love
the service, especially
when it comes to filling
out online job
applications over, and
over and over again.
One little click and
your name, address,
phone, user and password
drop into place.
Sxipper keeps track of
an unlimited number of
usernames and passwords
as well as the personal
data you share every day
over the web.
Your privacy is
protected because
Sxipper asks you first
if you want it to
remember the information
and then asks if you
want it to release the
information. You can
learn more about Sxipper
here: http://www.sxipper.com/
RoboForm
is another
program that acts like
Sxipper. The company
has a free and a paid
version of the software
and it can work on most
browsers and operating
systems. Information is
available here:
www.roboform.com/
KeePass
is yet another option
from the open source
project. Information is
available here: http://keepass.info/
Any of these that you
choose will save you a
lot of time, mendacity,
sore fingers and
wrists. They’re
absolutely fabulous!
STEP 6: Make a target
list of companies
Most experts on
employment suggest that
you make a list of
fifteen to twenty
companies you would like
to work for. This is
your target list. Once
you’ve identified the
key companies, you’ll
want to do a complete
dossier on each
including the division
you want to work for.
Several online resources
exist to assist you in
researching a company.
Google, Bing and other
search engines are the
obvious starting place,
but they don’t always
provide you with current
information on who works
there and who you might
report to. That’s where
sites like
ZoomInfo,
zoominfo.com
Dunn and Bradstreet,
Edgar, Hoover and if
you have access, (or
know a journalist or
attorney who does),
Lexis Nexis can
assist.
ZoomInfo is tied into
international social
networking site Xing and
has dossiers on over
35,000 executives and
thousands of companies
world wide.
Dunn and Bradstreet
dnb.com is
a service I used to use
in media to determine if
a potential client had
the ability and credit
rating to pay for
whatever I was selling,
usually advertising and
marketing services.
Edgar
sec.gov/edgar.shtml
and
Hoovers,
hoovers.com
(which is part of Dunn
and Bradstreet) are
tools often used by
investors to research
companies.
Lexis Nexis
lexisnexis.com
provides intelligence on
people and companies.
New to the realm of
business intelligence
tools is Business
Week’s
Company Insight Center
(http://investing.businessweek.com/research/company/overview/overview.asp)
a resource where you
can find out useful
background information
on public and private
companies. This is also
a great place to
research competitors.
####
During your first week,
take care of as much as
possible and begin
preparing yourself to
move into survival mode.
This checklist of steps
will help make sure you
don't forget anything
important or overlook
assets and funds due you
that you may not be
aware of. If you
have children, they need
to understand that for
awhile, life is going to
be a bit different.
If you provide them with
something to do that
helps the whole family
stay on track, your
children will see this
as a learning experience
rather than a negative
time in their lives.
Keep them a part of the
solution. This can be as
simple as rewarding
turning off lights or
finding ways to save
money. Be
creative, be proactive
and you'll weather this
storm beautifully!
###
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Laid Off Now What,
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LAID
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What?!?
2003
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