How did you survive getting laid off?

You know, no more job?

I've been laid off twice. Once for two years and for 3 weeks this year.

Looking for another job became my job. I also took up hobbies I hadn't tried. During my two year hiatus, I took up painting. It is fun, even though I can't draw worth a damn. Just working with color is a good emotional release.

That's the other thing: work on stress management as much as possible. Do whatever relaxes you (apart from drugs and alcohol).

Of course, initially it's a shock, but it's happened to me a few times now and I have always survived. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but I kind of looked at it as a sabbatical - take stock, relax and get your head clear and give yourself some time before jumping right into the next thing.

Some people would start pounding the pavement right away, but unless you really love what you were doing, it may save you some pain in the long run to thing about what you might really want to do with your life (and not JUST career wise.) Determine your values and go from there. Good luck!

Not recommended if you can possibly avoid it. My wife and I were laid off around the same time. Even after finding employment again, it took us about 10 years and a real-estate boom to get out of debt to those sharks.

First, sign up for unemployment. Some people feel that it's beneath them, but cast aside the pride and sign up. I've been laid off twice, and unemployment benefits saved my hide.

Then, send your resume to every temp agency in your area. The best thing about temping is you never take your work home with you. That leaves weekends and nights to look for a real job.

Being laid off sucks! :(

And it sucked!

Moved from New Delhi to Bangalore when the dotcoms crashed in 2001. Landed in Bangalore on Sep 10, 2001 (how can I forget?!). For the next six months, I massaged my writerly ambitions with a longish story written on nights, because the days brought nothing but rejections and more rejections. Finally landed a job at Hewlett-Packard's outsourced BPO unit.
Those six months were really difficult to deal with. Asking for money from friends is a terrible thing to have to do.

and diminished expectations.

Luckily, I was married and had some savings. I don't know how people do it when single or without savings. Times are tough :(

Hope it works out for you, though.

It was like a paid vacation for once. Only I was not laid off, I was fired, just a few weeks before my 40th birthday. First job I ever got fired from too. I was fired from a customer service job because I cannot sell. So I call customer service six months later, and twice get people who know less than I do.

It did not pay that well, but I am not even sure I dipped into my savings. Plus I had built up some savings because I had expected to get fired. Also it was kinda nice because I expected to be able to do substitute teaching in the fall, or I could always go back to my old temp job, or some other temp job, but I ended up getting a pretty good job.

I felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders when I left.

second time, I got another job; third time I got another job....next time, I'd like to get out IT but haven'd decided what to do yet

That's when I start worrying.

Freelance work. Savings. Much tighter budgeting. So far, so good. But I'm running out of rope.

it was very, very depressing. :-(

...and the constant effort to not let our 5 year old have any reason to feel insecure!

I got a crappy job for about 60% of my former salary, but instead of a 90+ mile round trip every day I can roll out of bed and into work. And there will be health insurance and a 50% company match of my 401K contributions, so I can't kick too much!

Good luck to you!

worked out well, too. I got 10 weeks severance and found a good new job in 11 weeks, so it was basically like getting a 2 and a half month paid vacation.