When Job Counselors Get Fired

For decades J. Damian Birkel has been offering solace and advice to those who have lost their jobs. He's written books, made videos, and been a frequent expert commentator on the subject of unemployment, offering advice and exercises on managing "job-loss grief" and providing motivational counsel on getting a new position.

Recently, Birkel was blindsided when his own employer laid him off out of the blue, forcing him to take his own medicine and follow his own advice on dealing with the sudden loss of his job. Birkel got no severance and found himself looking for a job for the first time in eight years.

The Wall Street Journal asked him to keep a diary of his thoughts and feelings after the layoff, and it's digested here. Powerful stuff, which just goes to show how traumatic the loss of a job can be. "Some days," he writes, "I am angry to the point of shaking." On this classic ranking of the stress level of major life events (PDF link), job loss is considered more stressful to the average person than a pregnancy or the death of a close friend.

How did Birkel revise his own advice after facing his own layoff? Structuring his day to work exclusively on his job search was key: Ignoring his worries during business hours took the stress out of the situation. Worry time came in the after hours. He also didn't work on household chores during the layoff, something many people do to "feel productive" but which really doesn't get you any closer to getting a job. Give the full story a read; it'll put things in perspective for you should you face a job loss of your own someday. (And yeah, you probably will.)

Here are some additional online job search and support resources worth visiting:

• Job-hunt.org
• LinkedIn
• Vault.com
• Monster Career Advice
• SimplyFired
• Hotjobs Career Tools