How to Bounce Back from Being Let Go

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Have you ever been fired?

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You know, gotten ax terminated?

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Shit canned, released from your position?

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Well, if you have, then you're not alone.

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40% of people will be fired at some point in their career.

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Welcome to episode 1 26 of This Shit Works, a podcast dedicated to

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all things networking, relationship building, and business development.

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I'm your host, Julie Brown, speaker, author, and networking coach,

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and today I'm discussing how to bounce back from being let go.

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I've been fired a couple times in my life.

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, I.

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Shocker, but one particular time I was let go felt like an absolute calamity

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and made me question my sense of self.

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According to experts losing a job ranks in the top five most stressful life events.

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The four others being losing a loved one, divorce, moving

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or serious illness or injury.

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So, . Losing your job for any reason completely punches your ego.

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In the tits it hurts.

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It can be embarrassing and it can take some time to recover from.

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There are a lot of emotions that stir inside of you when

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you are let go, including anger.

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Guilt, fear, maybe even relief.

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With all of these emotions tumbling inside of you, it can

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be easy to make bad decisions.

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In general, we never make good decisions when anger, guilt,

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and fear are driving the bus.

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So if you do get let go, don't do anything rash like sending half-cocked

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emails to people in the company ranting on LinkedIn or anything

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else that might make you look un.

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With that said, here are some tips for navigating and

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bouncing back from being let go.

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The first thing to do is to just breathe.

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Take a few days to catch your breath, to process what has happened

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and think rationally about what you want your next steps to be.

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A lot of people just jump right into go mode, looking for a new job that same day.

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You shouldn't do that.

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You should give yourself a couple of days to settle and think long and hard

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about what you want your next step to be, what you want your next job to.

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During these days, also go online and file for unemployment benefits.

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You may not need them.

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Hopefully you were given a severance package or you were able to negotiate

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one, but get the ball rolling.

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In any case, if you were given a severance package, please do not

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sign it until you have a lawyer.

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Look at it.

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And hopefully you've networked enough that you have a lawyer in your network who you

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can call on and they'll do you a solid.

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This is what I did when I was let go.

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I asked if I could have a lawyer look at the package and the company said yes,

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and I ended up doubling my severance package and also my continued healthcare

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package with the guidance of my lawyer after he read the severance package.

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That, I won't lie, it felt awesome to, to more than double my severance

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package, but it also allowed me to not have to rush into another job because

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I was, I, I wasn't worried about the fact that I wasn't collecting a

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paycheck or didn't have healthcare.

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I had it for enough time that I could take my time and think

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about what I wanted to do next.

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of course, I'm gonna tell you to start reaching out to your network.

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But before you do that, you need to have the narrative around

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you being let go, figured out.

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Meaning what are you going to tell people?

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Were the circumstances of you being let go?

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Was it company restructuring?

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Downsizing, whatever it was.

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Make sure you have that story ready to tell so everyone is

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getting the same story from you.

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And if you work in a rumor mill kind of industry, this can help you mitigate

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some of the chatter, uh, that might go around about why you were let go.

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Then it's time to get clarity on what you want.

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It's hard for your network to go to work for you if they don't

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know what you're looking for.

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So be clear on the kind of job you are looking for and the kind

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of introductions that are most beneficial to you so that you can

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be really strategic with your time.

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Remember, 85% of jobs are filled through networking, so this is the

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time to make networking your job while you are looking for your next.

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At the same time, you know, clean up and update your resume,

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including your LinkedIn profile.

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Take the time to ask people in your network who are close to you or

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who have worked with you to write positive recommendations for you

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on LinkedIn so that you have a ton of social proof when companies and

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recruiters are looking at you online.

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Speaking of recruiters, now would be a good time to connect with them so that

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they can help you look for your next.

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Now remember, like I said, at the top of this episode, 40% of people will be let go

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from a job at some point in their career.

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You may feel isolated when this happens.

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You may think it doesn't happen to anybody else, but the truth is it happens to

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almost half of the population at some.

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Also remember that losing a job, it does rank up there as one of the top five most

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stressful events to happen in your life.

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So give yourself some grace.

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This is hard.

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It can be heartbreaking.

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It can bruise your ego, but you will get past it.

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Make sure you are taking care of yourself physically and mentally during this.

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I know from experience that being let go can be one of the most devastating

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things to happen in your career, but it can also be the catalyst for you to

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make big moves to change everything and being let go might just end up being the

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best thing that ever happened to you.

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That's what happened to me, and that's what I will be talking about

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in my next solo episode in two.

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now onto the drink of the week, which continues the theme that there is

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always a drink for every episode.

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This week's drink is aptly named Keith's termination cocktail.

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Here's what you're gonna need.

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A third ounce of Jose Cuervo gold tequila, you know, or any, um, gold

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tequila, a third ounce of Jack Daniels Tennessee whiskey or any whiskey, um,

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and a half an ounce of Jagermeister.

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Combine the tequila and the whiskey in a shot glass using a small funnel.

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Carefully layer the Jagermeister on the bottom of the glass.

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They say if layered properly, the shot should have a dark bottom

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layer and then a gold layer on top.

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I'm not exactly sure , that this has anything to do with being terminated

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other than maybe people like, or like, I just got chicken canned.

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I'm gonna drink some yay rams.

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I don't know.

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Anyways, that's all for this week.

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Friends, if you like what you heard today, please leave a review

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and subscribe to the podcast.

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Also, please remember to share this podcast to help

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it reach a larger audience.

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If you want more, Julie Brown, you can find my book.

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This shit works on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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You can find me on LinkedIn at Julie Brown bd.

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Just let me know where you found me when you reach out.

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I'm Julie Brown, underscore BD on the Instagram, or you can just pop on over

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to my website, Julie Brown bd.com.